The 'religious' after Christianity: contemporary theological perspectives

The 'religious' after Christianity: contemporary theological perspectives. By Yves LABBE. Christian faith must continue to allow itself to be questioned by atheism, especially when the latter presents itself as post-Christian. This is the intention of cross-bench interpretations undertaken by contemporary anthropologists or philosophers whose appeal extends beyond a specialised readership: R. Debray, M. Gauchet, L. Ferry, A. Comte-Sponville. The first two are interested in social ties, the last two in successful living. Yet notwithstanding some further obvious differences, each of them continues to appeal to the religious, or better, the meta-physical, or better still, the meta-ethical, i.e. to something transcendent that is immanent within nature, society or the subject. This encounter with atheist spirituality surely invites Christians to reconsider their witness within a secular culture, as well as the attention they devote to signs of transcendence. Doing so would open up their lives increasingly to individual responsibility, and open up their thinking to the meaning of communion.