From Sacred/Profane to Free/Unfree

The Religious Roots of Secularism and Disenchantment

In the ancient world, the distinction between “sacred” and “profane” was primary. Sacred things were useless, profane things were useful. Sacred things were set aside, profane things were mobilized.

Giorgio Agamben argues that sacredness and profanity do not inhere in objects as stable states, but are rather vectors of movement; the sacred and the profa…