Verby die geweld van die metaflsika: Die Christelike erfenis en sekularisasie

Abstract

Beyond the violence of metaphysics: The Christian tradition and secularisation. This essay reinterprets Christian faith in terms of the contemporary philosophical discourse on nihilism and the "end" of metaphysics, especially Heidegger's ontology of "decline." If Christianity is to regain its relevance in the contemporary world, it should purge itself from remnants of the natural religions as well as metaphysical beliefs, because they are instrumental in concealing (and thereby perpetuating) the arbitrary violence on which communities and their moral systems are founded. Christianity can play a meaningful role in unmasking these beliefs, thus paving the way for a "healthy" secularism and an ethics of love and non-violence.