Solo

In many respects, the Roman Empire was a model of secular society not equalled until the Enlightment. In many ways it was not. The republic gave way to Caesarism and the rule of law in governance was undermined by a succession of tyrants well before 3rd century CE.

I guess that's another version of Gibbon's argument that Rome was destroyed by Christianity from within, in turning a secular and practical minded outgoing Rome, into an inward looking, soul-searching, superstitious Imperial Cripple.
Will Durant I think had a good answer to the charge, arguing that when Rome embraced Christianity, the empire was in already in deep decline brought about by the corruption of its civil edifice, fractured consensus, and a declining moral standards.

Thinking along Durant's lines I would venture that Christianity was to Rome, what Political Correctness is to the West today - goodness to an ailing spirit, but terribly misplaced as medicine.

I think it's a little more complicated. I agree that Rome in decline would not be a good place to test Christianity's tolerance of the secular realm.
But while the Church replaced old forms of superstition by new ones, on the whole, over the long haul, not competing directly with secular powers (excepting a few popes), it generally left significant secular space, having a theology which sharply separated the values of this world from those of the next one. In this it sharply contrasts with Islam which knows no such dividing line.

Jiri

Amaleq13

I don't understand why you characterize the above as "much later" when it appears to be thoroughly grounded in the Hebrew Bible? I assume that is where Christians obtained it.

post tenebras lux

As if the final version of the hebrew bible is as old as the story of Moses and his burning bush.

Why did only the High Priest know the full name of YHWH (which is why no jew now knows it)?

No Robots

The point is that "Jahve" is a word that literally means "Beingness", and it existed as such within the Bible long before it would have been needed as any kind of "post hoc rationalization of magical belief". The case is, in fact, the reverse: the clear insight provided by the word for "Beingness" was gradually eroded to the point where it was understood as referring to an anthropomorphic god. This distortion grew to such an extent that it became a deadly sin to pronounce the word at all.

davidbach

The original question was "does the bible promote secularism". The reply is a somewhat tentative "maybe".

Clearly, Christianity does not promote secularism. And in particular, the RCC does not promote secularism. It promotes all sorts of mysticism. The RCC, being a political entity first and a religious movement second, is at least partly responsible for the dark ages and setting back human development in most of Europe by about 1000 years. But that was not the question.

Notably, the rise of protestantism (with its emphasis on the bible) signalled a flowering of rationalism which set in motion rapid development of science and industry. Corroborating, if circumstantial, evidence.

History is never simple. We now have certain sects worshipping the bible itself. Will they ever learn?

David.

demoninho

Did protestantism really? From what I understand the first attempt to secularise were made by the dutch during the dutch revolt in the oath of abjuration. The dutch revolt however was started for trade taxation issues, not religious ones. Well it was a religious issue for the spanish but not the dutch, who wanted to do business with mohammedans and protestants alike but couldn' t.

And if I am correct other seculariser (the french and american revolutionists were deists at best not protestants...)

demoninho

Maybe I didnt put this thread in the right subforum... I am interested really which good things christianity brought to Western Europe, I can not think of anything, which wasnt an obvious truth already.

My idea is that christianity gave Europe: poor womens rights, homophobia, anti-semitism, unquestionable myths and divine rule...

ceres

To answer the original question.... No.