Breaking with the secular: Toward an authentically religious postmodernism

The author gives a full exposition of John Milbank\u27s critique of the secular. Tracing out the dominant forms of secular reason with particular focus on the postmodern period, he goes on to analyze the secular theme of primordial violence. It is this theme that is the guiding thread of the remainder of the paper, which looks in turn at Derrida and Kierkegaard. Using the critique of the secular, Derrida\u27s key works in the philosophy of religion are exposed as secularist, and therefore modernist, documents. The wisdom of basing a postmodern philosophy of religion (particularly one concerned at all with orthodoxy) on such source materials is questioned. Kierkegaard, on the other hand, is analyzed as an opponent of primordial violence and thus a worthier model for postmodern philosophy of religion