The Action of the Sacred as Essential Substance of Theological Praxis in a Plural Society
Contemporary society is intensely secular and pluralistic. Postmodernity places its emphasis on rationalism and on scientific progress, and as a result conservative values and Christian orthodoxy are regarded as outdated and obsolete.
The Christian religion, however, remains an indispensable check on the disorders that arise from the destructive side of human nature. It acts as a force of resistance on behalf of the ethical and moral values that serve the common good, dismantling the assumptions of an exhausted modus operandi.
For this to happen, a workable relationship between the sacred and the profane is required. Only then will the sacred be able to exert its influence on culture, politics, and human rights. There must be a bridge, in other words, if the Gospel is to make a positive difference in the social sphere.
Amid such human plurality, the pursuit of the common good calls for interdisciplinary dialogue between theology and the technological and rational sciences. Religion can and should position itself strategically, offering society a point of balance and a path toward life in its fullness, whatever the beliefs of the individuals within it.
Without the manifestation of the sacred in a plural society, the essential meaning of life is lost, and that loss can open the way to mass self-destruction under the influence of Nietzschean nihilism. In a society that prizes technology and reason above all, religion proposes humane values directed toward the good of all. There must, then, be common ground between the sacred and the secular: Christian values.
