Editing Secularity (section)

==Definitions==

Historically, the word ''secular'' was not related or linked to religion, but was a freestanding term in Latin that would relate to any mundane endeavour.{{sfn|Zuckerman|Shook|2017|pp=4–5}} However, the term, {{Lang|la|[[In saecula saeculorum|saecula saeculorum]]}} ([[wiktionary:saeculorum|''saeculōrum'']] being the genitive plural of {{Lang|la|saeculum}}) as found in the [[New Testament]] in the [[Vulgate]] translation ({{Circa|410}}) of the [[Koine Greek|original Koine Greek]] phrase {{lang|grc|εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων}} ({{Lang|grc-latn|eis toùs aionas ton aiṓnōn}}), e.g. at [http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/vul/gal001.htm Galatians 1:5], was used in the early Christian church (and is still used today), in the [[Doxology#Gloria Patri|doxologies]], to denote the coming and going of the ages, the grant of eternal life, and the long duration of created things from their beginning to ''forever and ever''.<ref>{{cite web |title=CHURCH FATHERS: Against Heresies, II.34.3 (St. Irenaeus) |url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103234.htm |date=1885 |website=New Advent, Fathers of the Church |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240403041851/https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103234.htm |archive-date= Apr 3, 2024 }}</ref>  ''Secular'' and ''secularity'' derive from the [[Latin]] word ''{{Lang|la|saeculum}}'' which meant {{Gloss|of a generation, belonging to an age}} or denoted a period of about one hundred years.{{sfn|Zuckerman|Shook|2017|pp=4–5}} The [[Christianity|Christian]] doctrine that God exists [[eternity|outside time]] led [[Middle Ages|medieval]] [[Western culture]] to use ''secular'' to indicate separation from specifically religious affairs and involvement in temporal ones.{{Cn|date=December 2022}}