Bloomsbury Sacred and Secular Agency in Early Modern France: Fragments of Religion

Product Description The opposition between 'religion' and 'modernity' has long held the status of a self-evident truth. Recently, however, there has been a growing realization that religion has not died out and may be more compatible with modern society than previously assumed.This development is particularly striking in France where laïcité has long been the official doctrine.  How did religion become opposed to the secular and modern? If distinctions between sacred and secular are less adequate than commonly believed, how do these two categories interact?Addressing these questions, this book explores the persistence of religious categories on the cultural landscape of early modern France. France was the birthplace of Europe's first secular state and the centre of two movements considered indispensable to secularization - the Enlightenment and Revolution of 1789. As such France is vital for understanding how religious antecedents informed modern political institutions and ideals. By uncovering the role of religion in shaping categories most often associated with modernity this book offers a new perspective on the master narrative of secularization. Review 'A stimulating, timely, and admirably interdisciplinary intervention in the ongoing debates concerning the secularizing evolution from the Renaissance to the Revolution, this volume will keenly interest and amply reward scholars and students from across a wide range of early-modern fields.'--Sanford Lakoff"This is an exciting and important book which overturns a series of platitudes about both early modernity and France today. It marks a timely intervention in the field of French studies and more broadly in historical debates about secularization. Perovic's collection makes an invigorating and illuminating contribution to early modern studies, but more importantly it proposes that we think about the relation between early and late modernity in a new way."--Sanford Lakoff"This is an exciting and importantbook which overturns a series of platitudes about both earlymodernity and France today. It marks a timely intervention in the field ofFrench studies and more broadly in historical debates about secularization.Perovic's collection makes an invigorating and illuminating contributionto early modern studies, but more importantly it proposes that we think aboutthe relation between early and late modernity in a new way."--, About the Author Sanja Perovic is Lecturer in the French Department, King's College London, UK.