Page - 135 - in Limina - Grazer theologische Perspektiven, Volume 2:2

136 | www.limina-graz.eu Laurens ten Kate | Strange Freedom was connected in the premodern period; the 15th and 16th century Anabap- tists are the key example here. However, I do not want to limit myself specifically to organized liberal reli- gion in my exploration of the aspect of zin [sense] in the term vrijzinnigheid [liberal religion]. I am seeking a broader perspective, one I refer to as the condition of sensus liberalis. By this I propose a variation on Kant’s concept of sensus communis. The condition of sensus liberalis is characteristic for late modern culture, and in particular for the era of increasing globaliza- tion after the Second World War. It pinpoints the new human ‘condition’ in which people are basically free [liber/liberalis] to give sense [sensus] to their lives. Sensus liberalis corresponds with the Dutch term vrijzinnigheid ex- plained above. I therefore propose to take the Dutch term literally; a literal meaning that is obviously lost in the English translation of ‘liberal reli- gion’. Conceptualized as sensus liberalis, liberal religion is not primarily the choice of a particular life philosophy or worldview. Rather, it is a situation which everyone is part of to a certain extent, and to which everyone must be in relation to: the situation that the sense of life, the world and history is no longer given to us in advance or provided from beyond the human world – by God, the sovereign ruler, the political leader, or the party. On the contrary, modern humans must search for their own sense and fashion their own identities. An important consequence, and key to my following argument, is that that sense of existence, the sense of being in the world, and ultimately, the sense of the world thus becomes a permanent question instead of an answer (Nancy 1997). This condition of sensus liberalis is analyzed and interpreted extensively in current literature. Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor calls it the “im- manent frame” of “the secular age.” This “frame” is not found in the slow disappearance of religion, but rather in the emergence of new and unex- pected connections between immanence and transcendence. (See Taylor 2007, esp. part V, “Conditions of Belief.”) In the liberal condition, everyone participates to a certain extent, whether one is orthodox or heterodox, conservative or progressive. Some scholars, like Jürgen Habermas, have argued that social, economic and cultural life today is characterized by a “new obscurity.” (Habermas 1986) With this he means the impossibility to have a clear and well-defined vision of the sense of the world. This obscurity implies that sense becomes synonymous with The sense of existence becomes a permanent question instead of an answer.