‘The Rise of the Historical Consciousness’
‘The rise of the historical consciousness’ represents a grand narrative that is closely linked to other meta-histories, especially modernization and secularization. The idea that critical thought about history arose uniquely in a certain place (Europe, particularly Germany) and at a certain time (th...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2009
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| In: |
Religion compass
Year: 2009, Volume: 3, Issue: 1, Pages: 86-98 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | ‘The rise of the historical consciousness’ represents a grand narrative that is closely linked to other meta-histories, especially modernization and secularization. The idea that critical thought about history arose uniquely in a certain place (Europe, particularly Germany) and at a certain time (the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century) is widespread and powerful. As an ideology this notion, which is also known as historicism, actually operates in two principal directions. First, it poses a direct challenge to other powerful epistemological systems of the West, especially those supporting the establishments of science and religion. Second, historicism is a key element in the imperialism, cultural and otherwise, by means of which European and American societies have dominated the rest of the world in the capitalist age. Finally, this dual operation of historicism means not only that it has come in for much criticism, especially in recent decades, but that such criticism has come from both ends of the very wide spectrum in contemporary cultural politics. Rather confusingly, historicism remains both the darling and the bête noire of both‘conservative’ theological apologists and ‘radical’ postcolonial critics. |
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| ISSN: | 1749-8171 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religion compass
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-8171.2008.00132.x |