Formations Of The Secular: Christianity, Islam,... Apr 2026

The first speaker, Dr. Sarah Jenkins, an expert in European history, leaned into the microphone. "We often treat 'the secular' like an empty room where religion used to live," she began. "But Asad teaches us it’s actually a remodeling project. In the West, secularism didn’t just push Christianity out; it used Christian tools to build the walls. Concepts like 'conscience' and 'belief' were redefined so the State could decide what was private and what was public."

"So," Elias finally stood up during the Q&A, "if the secular is just a set of boundaries drawn by those in power, is there any space left for the truly transcendent? Or are Christianity and Islam just being forced to speak a language—the language of 'Rights' and 'Law'—that wasn't built for them?" Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam,...

The bustling halls of the International Symposium on Global Thought were thick with the scent of espresso and the weight of dense manuscripts. Dr. Elias Thorne, a scholar of religion with a penchant for tweed and mid-century fountain pens, sat in the front row, his copy of Talal Asad’s Formations of the Secular bristling with yellow sticky notes. The first speaker, Dr

Elias nodded. He thought of the cathedral in his hometown—now half-museum, half-monument. It wasn't that the sacred had vanished; it had been reorganized . "But Asad teaches us it’s actually a remodeling project