A la revolución por la secularización. Rupturas y continuidades en los discursos republicanos del Sexenio Democrático

Abstract

This work focuses on the concepts of revolution and secularization as universal forces linked to progress and modernity. In the Democratic Sexenio these ideas do not suppose as a total rupture, but they are part of a legitimizing alibi based on history, natural law and Christianity. The republican discourses integrate in this way elements apparently as incompatible as revolution or freedom with the idea of an order linked to common sense and history. The search for lines of continuity projects the revolution as the process that has made emerge the liberal essence of the Spanish people. Equally, the secularization does not question religion but rather the position of the Catholic Church as a source of power imbricated in institutions and in the social imaginary. It represents a deviation from a supposed primitive Christianity that the revolution has the opportunity to restore.