The conclusion of the well-known paragraph of Gaudium et spes entitled “De iusta rerum terrenarum autonomia” (“On the rightful autonomy of earthly affairs”) states:
[I]f the expression, the independence [autonomia] of temporal affairs, is taken to mean that created things do not depend on [non pendere; do not originate from, or hang upon] God, and that man can use them without any reference to their Creator [ut . . . ad Creatorem non referat: without bringing or carrying them back to their Creator], anyone who acknowledges [agnoscit] God will see how false such a meaning is. For without the Creator the creature would disappear [evanescit]. For their part, however, all believers of whatever religion always hear [audierunt] His revealing voice in the discourse of creatures [in creaturarum loquela: in creatures’ own speech]. When God is forgotten [per oblivionem Dei], however, the creature itself grows unintelligible [ipsa creatura obscuratur].
The aim of this essay is to reflect on the rightful autonomy of the world in light of what has been called the “disenchantment” of modern culture. This term is taken from the early twentieth century German sociologist of religion, Max Weber (1864-1920), who, in his well-known work on religion and the development of eco- nomic culture in Anglo-America, argues that the logic implicit in Calvinist-Puritan theology led to “die Entzauberung der Welt,” the elimination of the sacred or mystical or “magical” from the world, and hence to the world’s “disenchantment.” A…
