Sounding the Depth of the Secular

Tillich with Thoreau

Abstract

By examining some of the thought of Paul Tillich and Henry David Thoreau, this article articulates a version of the concept of depth that is socially critical. For both thinkers, depth is a concept that works to disrupt the rigid division between the secular and the religious. Such criticism, of a structure so fundamental to modern experience, suggests that the concept of depth is not simply a mystifying supporter of established power. Instead, it can play an important role in a religious, yet progressive, critical social thought.