GIVA Ministries International
April 30 , 2026
Abstract
This article examines the historical decoupling of human historiography from the theological narrative of humanity presented in the Judeo-Christian Scriptures. It argues that the institutionalization of distinct epistemic spaces for secular thought and sacred knowledge contributed to a conceptual corruption of human agency. Drawing on historical-theological analysis, the study traces how biblical constructs of imago Dei, free will, and derivative dominion were reframed as autonomous self-assertion, severing authority from moral teleology and transcendent accountability. The paper situates this argument within the scholarly discourse of Charles Taylor, Alasdair MacIntyre, John Milbank, and William T. Cavanaugh. It concludes by proposing an integrative framework that re-situates human agency within a theologically informed anthropology without advocating theocratic governance.
Keywords: imago Dei, human agency, sacred/secular divide, free will, dominion theology, historiography, theological anthropology, Turabian
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Introduction
Modern Western intellectual history is characterized by the progressive differentiation of knowledge domains. Beginning with the late Renaissance and accelerating through the Enlightenment, “secular” and “sacred” emerged as functionally separate spheres of reasoning, institutional authority, and public discourse. While this differentiation yielded important gains in scientific inquiry and political pluralism, it also produced unintended consequences for theological anthropology. This paper contends that the decoupling of human history from the scriptural meta-narrative of creation, fall, and redemption facilitated a corruption of human agency as originally conceived in the Hebrew and Christian canons.
Methodology
This study employs historical-theological analysis, a method that integrates historical criticism with theological interpretation. The approach proceeds in three stages. First, it conducts exegetical analysis of primary biblical texts pertaining to human agency, particularly Genesis 1:26-28, Deuteronomy 30:19, Psalm 8, and Romans 6:16. Second, it traces the historical development of the sacred/secular distinction from Augustine through the Enlightenment using intellectual history and conceptual genealogy. Third, it evaluates the normative implications of that development for contemporary understandings of agency, employing theological critique informed by the work of recent scholars in political theology and philosophical ethics. Sources include canonical Scripture, patristic and medieval texts, Enlightenment treatises, and secondary literature in theology and philosophy. The method does not assume confessional commitment on the part of the reader but treats theological claims as data for historical and conceptual analysis.
Literature Review
The present argument enters an established conversation regarding secularization, modernity, and the displacement of theological categories.
3.1 Charles Taylor: A Secular Age
Taylor documents the shift from a world in which belief in God was axiomatic to one in which it is one option among many. His concept of the “immanent frame” describes a social imaginary that brackets transcendence without formally denying it.¹ While Taylor acknowledges the moral costs of this shift, his account remains largely descriptive and resists prescribing a return to premodern synthesis. The present study accepts Taylor’s historical diagnosis but argues that the immanent frame entails a specific deformation of agency that Taylor undertheorizes.
3.2 Alasdair MacIntyre: After Virtue
MacIntyre traces the collapse of a coherent moral tradition following the Enlightenment’s rejection of Aristotelian teleology and its theological grounding.² He contends that modern moral utterance is a fragmentary survival of older schemes, resulting in emotivism and interminable disagreement. This article extends MacIntyre’s critique by showing how the loss of teleology specifically corrodes the biblical concept of dominion, turning stewardship into autonomous will.
3.3 John Milbank: Theology and Social Theory
Milbank argues that “secular” reason is not neutral but a theological construction that posits violence as ontologically primary.³ He rejects the sacred/secular divide as a false neutrality and calls for a post-secular theology that re-narrates all reality within the Christian mythos. While sympathetic to Milbank’s rejection of false neutrality, this paper differs by seeking a model of integration that functions within pluralist public reason rather than a comprehensive ecclesial metaphysic.
3.4 William T. Cavanaugh: The Myth of Religious Violence
Cavanaugh challenges the claim that “religion” causes violence and that the secular state is the solution.⁴ He shows that the categories of “religious” and “secular” were invented in early modernity to legitimize the emergent state. This article builds on Cavanaugh’s genealogy to suggest that the same invention altered conceptions of human agency by transferring ultimate loyalty from God to the nation-state and market. Where Cavanaugh focuses on violence, this study focuses on the distortion of free will and dominion.
Collectively, these authors demonstrate that secularization is not a simple subtraction of religion but a reconfiguration of power and knowledge. The present work contributes by linking that reconfiguration directly to the corruption of agency as a theological category.
Conceptual Foundations: Agency in the Biblical Corpus
4.1 Imago Dei and Derivative Authority
Genesis 1:26-28 presents humanity as created b’tselem Elohim, endowed with rational, relational, and moral capacities that reflect the Creator.⁵ The accompanying “dominion mandate” is not a warrant for exploitation but a commission to steward creation under divine norms of justice and care. Psalm 8:4-6 and Hebrews 2:6-8 reaffirm this derivative authority.⁶
4.2 Free Will as Covenantal Condition
Deuteronomy 30:19, Joshua 24:15, and Romans 6:16 frame human volition as genuine yet morally encumbered.⁷ Free will is the necessary precondition for covenantal fidelity. Thus, biblical agency is always teleological: oriented toward conformity with divine character, Micah 6:8, Matthew 22:37-40.⁸
The Historical Decoupling: Genealogy of the Divide
Augustine’s City of God and Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae exemplify a premodern synthesis wherein history, law, and cosmology were interpreted within a providential frame.⁹ Kant’s distinction between public and private reason, Locke’s argument for religious toleration, and the rise of positivist historiography relocated theological claims from the public square to the domain of personal belief.¹⁰ Max Weber’s “disenchantment” thesis describes how transcendent referents lost plausibility structures in institutional life.¹¹
Consequences for Human Agency
6.1 Teleological Loss
When history is narrated without reference to creatio, telos, or eschaton, agency is redefined in immanent terms. Nietzsche’s will to power illustrates how authority, once unmoored from stewardship, is recast as domination.¹²
6.2 Ethical Fragmentation
The removal of a transcendent norm source produces what MacIntyre termed “emotivism.”¹³ Agency is exercised within competing, non-overlapping language games of utility, rights, or identity.
6.3 Accountability Deficit
Biblical dominion presupposes vertical accountability, Psalm 82, Romans 14:12.¹⁴ The secular frame retains horizontal accountability but lacks a basis for critiquing the system itself when the system becomes unjust.
Toward Re-integration: A Non-Theocratic Proposal
Re-integration does not entail re-imposing ecclesial authority over civil institutions. Rather, it involves three moves: anthropological thickening, teleological historiography, and pluralist public reason.¹⁵
Conclusion
The sacred/secular divide achieved important civil liberties, yet it also detached human agency from its formative theological narrative. The biblical vision of free will and dominion is neither autonomy nor tyranny, but called responsibility. Recovering that vision does not reverse secularization, but it re-orients freedom toward a moral end.
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Notes
Charles Taylor, A Secular Age (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007), 542-546.
Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue, 3rd ed. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2007), 11-12, 51-52.
John Milbank, Theology and Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reason, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006), 9-13.
William T. Cavanaugh, The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 57-62.
Genesis 1:26-28, English Standard Version.
Psalm 8:4-6; Hebrews 2:6-8, ESV.
Deuteronomy 30:19; Joshua 24:15; Romans 6:16, ESV.
Micah 6:8; Matthew 22:37-40, ESV.
Augustine, City of God, trans. Henry Bettenson (London: Penguin, 2003), XIX.17; Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I-II, q. 91.
Immanuel Kant, “An Answer to the Question: What Is Enlightenment?” in Practical Philosophy, ed. Mary J. Gregor (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 17-22; John Locke, A Letter Concerning Toleration (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1983), 23-26.
Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, trans. Talcott Parsons (London: Routledge, 2001), 105.
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, trans. Walter Kaufmann (New York: Vintage, 1989), §259.
MacIntyre, After Virtue, 11-12.
Psalm 82:1-8; Romans 14:12, ESV.
Nicholas Wolterstorff, The Mighty and the Almighty (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), 89-95.
Bibliography
Augustine. City of God. Translated by Henry Bettenson. London: Penguin, 2003.
Cavanaugh, William T. The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Kant, Immanuel. “An Answer to the Question: What Is Enlightenment?” In Practical Philosophy, edited by Mary J. Gregor, 17-22. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Locke, John. A Letter Concerning Toleration. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1983.
MacIntyre, Alasdair. After Virtue. 3rd ed. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2007.
Milbank, John. Theology and Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reason. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2006.
Nietzsche, Friedrich. Beyond Good and Evil. Translated by Walter Kaufmann. New York: Vintage, 1989.
Taylor, Charles. A Secular Age. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007.
Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologiae. Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province. New York: Benziger Brothers, 1947.
Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Translated by Talcott Parsons. London: Routledge, 2001.
Wolterstorff, Nicholas. The Mighty and the Almighty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001.
