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Rating: 
Summary: Good, but questonable in some ways
Review: The central thesis of Gauchet's book is that the grow of the state, which was permitted especially by Christianity, has led to the inevitable and irreversable decline of religion, because it has fostered a new power in human social life that can organize group life, define the meaning of reality, and determine human identity. The manner in which he lays out the path things have taken to the here and now is dazzling and well worth the effort to read. However, I cannot help but suggest that he is overstating his case somewhat. It may be - and in fact it is - a matter of historical fact that the State, in both ancient and modern times, served as a creator of meaning, but this is not necessarily irreligious, even if it is not religiously desirable. The Greek polis, for example, completely integrated the worship of the Olympians with political life; hence they saw Socrates the "atheist" as a threat to the state because he denied the gods of the polis. That is not a secular attitude. Likewise, in modern times, we have seen the rise of the totalitarian state that competes with religion for the spiritual allegience of the citizenry - but that is not necessarily an outgrowth of state power unless you assume that the state necessarily has religious or spiritual functions, which is to beg the central question under discussion. To put it another way, the rise of a competing power structure is clearly a possible threat to the priestly monopoly on spiritual activities, but there is apprently no necessary reason for it to become an actuality. Things can develop that way, but there isn't any clear cause as to why they must. This notwithstanding, Gauchet's book is a valuable study and comes highly recommended to anyone interested in the battle between secularism and faith, and it's historical antecedents.
Rating: 
Summary: one of the major books of the eighties in France. Secularisa
Review: This book was published already in 1985 in France and has had an significant influence in intellectual circles. The main argument of Gauchet is that secularisation of society (the word "désenchantement" directly refers to Max Weber's Entzauberaung) is both rooted in christianity and a process against christianity. The christian religion, by laying down the ground for it, made it possible for modern societies (say, after 1789 in France and continental Europe) to abandon heteronomia (government of the society and of the self by an external authority, beit God, tradition, etc...) and to swich to autonomia (in the kantian sense, this is the self government of the individual and of society). Gauchet recently (1998) published a short book on the same theme, La religion dans la démocratie (Ed. Gallimard). Although I quote the theme of the book under "secularisation", Gauchet rejects this concept, precisely because it is too much influenced by the religious "Weltanschauung". He rather speaks of "la sortie de la religion" (the exit of religion). I would say that this book is the book of an anthropologist of Wertern societies rather than of an historian or a philosopher.
Rating:
Summary: one of the major books of the eighties in France. Secularisa
Review: This book was published already in 1985 in France and has had an significant influence in intellectual circles. The main argument of Gauchet is that secularisation of society (the word "désenchantement" directly refers to Max Weber's Entzauberaung) is both rooted in christianity and a process against christianity. The christian religion, by laying down the ground for it, made it possible for modern societies (say, after 1789 in France and continental Europe) to abandon heteronomia (government of the society and of the self by an external authority, beit God, tradition, etc...) and to swich to autonomia (in the kantian sense, this is the self government of the individual and of society). Gauchet recently (1998) published a short book on the same theme, La religion dans la démocratie (Ed. Gallimard). Although I quote the theme of the book under "secularisation", Gauchet rejects this concept, precisely because it is too much influenced by the religious "Weltanschauung". He rather speaks of "la sortie de la religion" (the exit of religion). I would say that this book is the book of an anthropologist of Wertern societies rather than of an historian or a philosopher.
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