On page 180 of The House of Government, Yuri Slezkine writes, "there is no
such thing as a 'disenchanted' world . . ."
In Marcel Gauchet's The Disenchantment of the world, a political history of
religion he writes, "The current twilight of the gods highlights religion's
former role in two ways: first it shows how abandoning religion has
distanced us from it; second, it shows how the metamorphosis still binds us
to it."
Gauchet's thesis argues that though the West has overtly moved away from
religion in its personal beliefs and political dealings, the religious
inheritance (whether Catholic, Protestant, or Orthodox) is still with us.
It as though Judeo-Christianity has formed our Superego. We may move about
conducting our business and politics as though there is no God, but we still
function in accordance with the Judeo-Christian principles that formed us.
Slezkine, of course, would disagree with Gauchet.
Lawrence
