Editing Divinity (section)

== Modern and secular use ==
In modern philosophy and secular discourse, the concept of divinity has been reinterpreted, challenged, and, in some contexts, retained in metaphorical or symbolic form. [[Age of Enlightenment]] critiques of [[theism]] and [[revelation]] prompted many thinkers to redefine or discard traditional notions of divine agency. At the same time, the idea of “the divine” persisted as a way to speak about ultimate concerns, [[Transcendence (philosophy)|transcendence]], or the horizon of meaning.{{sfnmp|1a1=Johnston|1y=2011|2a1=Taylor|2y=2018}}

Some modern philosophers, such as [[Immanuel Kant]], relegated knowledge of the divine to the realm of [[practical reason]], arguing that moral obligation points toward the postulation of God, though God cannot be known through speculative reason. Others, like [[Friedrich Schleiermacher]], emphasized religious feeling as a sense of the infinite, shifting the ground of divinity from doctrine to experience.{{sfnp|Armstrong|2009}}

In [[depth psychology]], particularly in the work of [[Carl Gustav Jung]], divinity is approached not as an external being but as a central archetype within the [[collective unconscious]]. Jung interpreted the divine as a symbol of the Self—the totality of the [[Psyche (psychology)|psyche]]—which often appears in dreams and visions as luminous, [[numinous]] figures. His model emphasized the psychological necessity of religious imagery, arguing that symbolic representations of divinity serve to mediate the integration of unconscious contents into consciousness.{{sfnmp|1a1=Jung|1y=1969|2a1=Stein|2y=1998}} This approach reframed traditional theological questions in terms of inner experience and individuation, influencing fields ranging from theology to comparative religion.

In the twentieth century, theologians such as [[Paul Tillich]] described God as the "[[Paul Tillich#God as the ground of being|ground of being]]" rather than a being among others, influencing post-theistic and [[existential theology]].{{sfnp|Hart|2013}} Philosophers such as [[Charles Taylor (philosopher)|Charles Taylor]] and [[Mark Johnston (philosopher)|Mark Johnston]] have explored how secular modernity continues to be shaped by religious categories, even as explicit belief declines. In this view, divinity may refer less to a supernatural entity than to what commands awe, love, or ethical seriousness in a disenchanted world.{{sfnmp|1a1=Taylor|1y=2018|2a1=Johnston|2y=2011}}

In sum, modern and secular philosophies have neither wholly abandoned nor wholly retained ancient conceptions of divinity. Instead, they have recast the divine in terms of value, depth, and existential orientation—often preserving its affective and symbolic power while detaching it from metaphysical or doctrinal claims.