In contrast to the common understanding of secularism as the opposite of religion, the author argues that the concept of secular power (which he regards as central to any politico-theoretical debate on secularism) was first elaborated by the Church Fathers. Consequently, secularism, as referring to the dissociation of public authority from organized religion, is a notion that only makes sense within the framework of, or with reference to, the Christian »political« thought. Part of a larger research project, this text deals with the invention of the notion of secular power, focusing on Ambrose of Milan and Gelasius I.V nasprotju z običajnim razumevanjem sekularizma kot nasprotka religije avtor dokazuje, da so pojem posvetne oblasti, ključen za politično-teoretsko razpravljanje o sekularizmu, prvi izdelali cerkveni očetje. Če sekularizem povezujemo z ločitvijo javne oblasti od organizirane religije, gre potemtakem za pojem, kije smiseln le v okviru krščanske »politične« misli oziroma v pozitivnem ali negativnem razmerju do nje. Pričujoče besedilo, del obsežnejše raziskave, obravnava pojmovno iznajdbo posvetne oblasti in pri tem posveča posebno pozornost milanskemu škofu Ambrožu in papežu Gelaziju I
