The historical development of secularism and its reflection in literature on the example of Nathan the wise, the weavers and the Hunchback of Notre Dame

Secularism, which has passed into our language from French, is derived from the Latin word "saeculum", which means age, century, generation, worldly. The concept emerged during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Constantine I (272-337 AD). The term which manifested itself via nominalism in the 13th and 14th centuries, came to the fore again in the 16th century by Martin Luther. As is known, the Roman Catholic Church was an important authority in the Middle Ages. The Church, which based on the scholastic thought, became more interested in the worldly realm in the course of time, became rich and expanded its lands. Luther, who wanted to get the degenerated Christianity gone back to its basics, started the reform. Secularism, which was mentioned in an article of the Treaty of Westphalia that signed in 1648, is on the agenda again today. Nowadays, the philosophical and social dimensions of the concept, which has a legal dimension, have also emerged. While the humanism of the Renaissance, which developed in seventeenth-century Europe, led to progress in science, philosophy, literature and education, the Reformation provided the regulation of Christianity and the establishment of the worldly state order instead of the theocratic state. Empires were fallen and concepts such as human rights, equality, justice, freedom and democracy emerged by the French Revolution. The individual has been a part of this process of autonomy. Individualism begins to be considered again as a discipline in which everything that is a problem in human thought is examined in philosophy. Humanism, which is based on human, gains meaning as the new world view and understanding of life of modern man. With all these developments, many transformations of European politics, philosophy, theology, aesthetics, law and culture in history led to the enlightenment and secularization of Europe. In this study, my aim is to explain the meaning of the concept in history, for what purpose it is used, the situations that lead to the confusion of the concept and the words accompanying the term as synonyms and to show the reflection of the human-centered humanistic approach, which starting from the Renaissance, to literature and the relationship between secularism and aestheticization through three works, Wise Nathan, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Weavers written by the authors of the Age of Enlightenment.