ABSTRACT
This essay introduces the cultural and philosophical dimensions of secularization. The author argues that Christianity was instrumental in initiating the cultural shifts that led to secularization. Ormerod draws special attention to shift from a cosmologically oriented culture to an anthropological one, while analyzing the emergence of the cultural phenomenon of “personal faith.” Moving from diagnosis to prognosis, he analyzes various responses, distinguishing, for example, between a form of secularization to be welcomed and another form to be resisted.
