Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
BILIMNAME, cilt.47, sa.1, ss.303-342, 2022 (ESCI)
Secularization, as one of the most productive discussion areas of sociology, has been creating serious disagreements for the last half century. The secularization literature, which was founded by the prophecies of the founders of sociology for the future of religion, continues to expand with the different approaches of modern sociologists who opened more space to religion. In this literature, which has an interdisciplinary nature as it has some connection with many fields of social sciences, some concepts and approaches have attracted more attention, while some views have not been as effective as others. One of the secularization approaches that has not been adequately studied, especially in the Turkish literature, is the conceptualization of "post-secular". Although it appears in the works of some social theologians since the late 1950s, sociologist Jurgen Habermas has made the concept of post-secular a part of broader discussion. In many of his texts he wrote after the 2000s, Habermas argues that countries that have experienced secularization processes, such as European societies, are moving to a "post-secular" stage. Thus, he argues that secular and religious citizens who diversify in terms of worldview in that society should come together at a common point of consensus. This article, which problematizes Habermas's project of post-secular society, also aims to draw a portrait of Habermas, who has experienced an intellectual transformation in his approach to the phenomenon of religion. This study, in which the literature review method will be used, aims to make a comprehensive evaluation around the concept of "postsecular society", which has been criticized for being ambiguous, having utopian aspects and offering a Eurocentric perspective. This study concluded that the concept of post-secular society, although it has some dilemmas, should be considered important in order to overcome the secular-religious (sacred) dichotomy and to develop a more encompassing perspective on the issue. This study also draws attention to the fact that Habermas, whose views on religion are neglected especially in the social sciences literature of our country, should be taken into consideration more as a sociologist of religion in his analyzes on the subject.