If we are to treat this discussion of the sacred as more than a purely sociological study of the moral symbols and boundaries of social life, we are inevitably led to ask fundamental questions about how we might best live in relation to powerful sacred forms. If we cannot assume that acting out our sacred passions produces genuinely moral action, then what kind of moral reflection do we need to practice in relation to the sacred? How do we live constructively in the face of sacred forms that shape our social and cultural worlds?

To answer these questions, this chapter will follow two broad lines of discussion. First, we shall examine some recent attempts by philosophers to clarify the proper nature and significance of the sacred as an element of morality. Here I shall argue that some forms of philosophical method are largely inadequate for this task, and that attempts to define the content of the sacred from abstract first principles is of little use compared to careful analysis of the moral architecture that we inherit in particular social and cultural contexts. Second, having clarified distinctions between “religion” and the “sacred” in the previous chapter, in this chapter I shall consider the implications of engaging critically with forms of the sacred that exceed our conventional notions of religion.