De-sanctification in Modernity and New Interpretations of Faith
Hojat-ol-Islam Mohammad Taqi Sobhani discussed this topic recently in a seminar dubbed “faith and challenges of the new era”. Here is a summary of his remarks:
Faith is the most important axis of religious life in divine religions and all religions are the starting point of the rise of faith. Faith invites man to draw and adjust his spiritual and religious support.
Taking a closer look at ancient Iran and Iran after the rise of Islam shows that faith has always been part of the social and spiritual life of people living in this land.
Modernity and de-sanctification
Studies show that we are facing three important factors that are confronting faith: "elements and components of modern life and modern thinking", "Schools of thought in the new world" and "political, economic and social developments".
Modernity, from its outset, has been associated with the de-sanctification of human life with a focus on this world and negligence to other. Modernity has proposed a new culture, civilization, and lifestyle, and its insistence on this aspect becomes more intense over time.
There is no doubt that today’s modern world, which has arisen from European thinking, has found a point of contact with religious faith. Some scholars believe that trace of faith can be found in all thoughts of humankind before the 16th century as no anti-faith aspect can be spotted in them.
The de-sanctification movement and re-interpretation of faith under philosophical approaches of modern science have led to the formation of a field represented mainly by modern scientific atheism. The effects of this approach can be found in biology, cosmology, fundamental physics, and cognition.
The nature of faith is one of the important categories that has been taken into consideration. We had a simple and easy formulation of faith in the past. According to Islamic scholastic theology, philosophy, and studies on faith, faith is a psychological and epistemological issue that its complex dimensions still remain unknown.
New interpretations of faith
These studies guide us toward new definitions and interpretations of faith as well as new research in this field; research shows that skepticism as well as indefinite and non-biased conceptions are not necessarily at odds with faith.
It is some 80 years that the topic of practical studies of faith is being meticulously investigated in the Western Christian world. New research can enable us to arrive at a clear view of how believers and religious leaders confront the topic of faith. The issue of preaching is only the starting point of encountering faith, and the complex faith in the modern world requires protection, analysis, and treatment.
