Secularization — Causes and Consequences. An Analysis in Theological and Cultural Context, in the Theological Thinking of the Priest Professor Dumitru Popescu
The metamorphoses of European culture, starting with the Medieval era, continuing with the Modern or Enlightement era and then with Postmodernism, have led to considerable changes on the European culture scene. Gradually, man replaced God, science replaced theology and material values replaced spiritual ones, the secular character of culture thus becoming more and more clar. The preponderance of these forms of cultural manifestation had the effect of deepening the Christian roots of European culture, having at same time dramatic consequences on the human being, gradually cutting off both the roots anchored in the divine transcendence and those rooted in the immanence of the world, thus causing the emergence of the ”man without roots”, solitary and autonomus, isolated from God, from the world, from other people. According to the Priest Professor Dumitru Popescu, one of the most acute problems facing European Christianity and today’ssociety is the phenomenon of secularization.