Apr 22, 2010

Protestantism and the private self

It seems as if the idea that protestantism shunts religion off to the private sphere is somewhat wrong because there is no private sphere in the requisite sense for religion to be shunted to until the late 17thc. The emergence of the modern private sphere is connected to protestantism but only through its negotiation with state constitutions. Hence the importance of the 1688 settlement for the emergence of the private sphere.
(I know this is very laconic: it's a note to myself really.)