Institutional Secularism in Thought of Marsilius of Padua

This article examines the concept of secularism in the thought of Marsilius of Padua. Marsilius, employing two dimensions of the Christian theology (i.e. trans-political and political essence of the theology), presents an interpretation of the Holy Scripture that leads to “depoliticization of theological authority”. We call this theory “Institutional Secularism”; because it implies the separation of the church institution as church institution from secular coercive power. This article shows that the concept of secularism, in its historical origin, is inseparable from peculiar properties of Christian theology. In the first place, secularism is a “Christian affair”.