Nästan religiös. Katedraler och sekulära teologier

Abstract

Through the lens of Bengt Kristensson Uggla’s book Katedralens hemlighet (The Secret of the Cathedral) this article discusses new trends in the debate about atheism, secular humanism and spirituality. It attempts to frame the theologically relevant content of these debates in terms of post-Christian theology, which means that the new secular humanist attempts to fill the vacuum after the harsh critique of the so-called new atheists are inter-preted as theologically important as long as theology is understood as standing dialectical and problematized relationship to Christianity, both as a historical and contemporary force. Kristensson Uggla’s Christian theolog-ical critique of the idea of God’s omnipotence, together with his emphasis on the cross and the kenotic aspects of Christian faith, becomes a backdrop to a theological interpretation of secular humanist attempts to relate to the loss of religion and the need for new notions of self-transcendence and love. These attempts are viewed as post-Christian rather than anti-theological.