“Transdenominationality as a Form of Non-Western Postsecularity”

Okpaleke, Ikenna Paschal
(2025) Religion, Politics, and the Postsecular — Location: Higher Institute of Philosophy, KULeuven (6.May.2025)

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The argument that the privatization of religion of the secular regime does not imply the disappearance of religion has been sustained in the secularization debate by scholars who consider the crisis of the secular world as an opportunity for the rearticulation of the Christian faith. In this rearrangement one discovers the datum of multiple identities that arise from the postmodern breaking down of the grand narratives. Consequently, against the declaration of la mort de Dieu by the end of the 19th century, the persistently changing world of religion provokes a ‘desecularization’ debate (Peter Berger) that coincides with the post-secular narrative, at least in the West. Yet in other contexts, specifically Africa, one observes a movement within the religious circle that already displays the characteristics of the post-secular religious multiple identity, despite not sharing the same historical pathway of the West. In this paper, I argue that this parallel movement is articulated in the concept and praxis of transdenominationality, which emerged au debut as an ecclesiological utopia by Western theologians (Hoger Haight) but today unpacks itself in a praxis that is yet to be theologically articulated, at least within African Christianity. Before developing my argument, I would like to equally remark that the emergence of transdenominationality in African Christianity has a double root: first is the effect of the post-secular/postmodern world influence, and second is the persistence of the traditional African spirituality that is inherently fluid.
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Okpaleke, I. P. (2025). “Transdenominationality as a Form of Non-Western Postsecularity”. Religion, Politics, and the Postsecular, Higher Institute of Philosophy, KULeuven.