Thursday, July 06, 2006

On the Desecularization of the West: Doctoral Research about the Baha'i Faith

The Baha'i Faith provides a fascinating subject for academic study. From the Curriculum Vita of Hutan Hejazi, blogger of th3 4n4lytic nom4d,
is this description:


Doctoral dissertation in progress

My research focuses on the processes through which secular actors become religious adherents in the context of contemporary Spain. This research attempts to shed light on the understudied but increasingly familiar phenomenon of what may be called "desecularization." It focuses in particular on converts to the Bahá'í Faith, a world religion originating in Iran in the mid-nineteenth century promulgating, among other things, spiritual solutions to present social challenges and hence, transforming the meaning and scope of modernity.

What a great term, "desecularization"! The West in general, Europe in particular, has been in the throes of secularism, for centuries actually. Yet the pendulum is now swinging the other way, it can be argued, as secular Westerners "find religion" in the Baha'i Faith.

1 comment:

Victor said...

Fascinating!

David Brooks wrote a great piece on this very topic a few years ago, a portion of which is available here:
http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=2026