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How (Not) To Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor (2014)

by James K.A. Smith(Favorite Author)

4.33 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0802867618 (ISBN13: 9780802867612)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

review 1: Answers the question "Why do I, even I who cannot imagine not believing in God, at this point in history find it difficult to believe in God?"...Sort of.Actually, the resonance is a bit deeper than that. Either you will be helped tremendously by Taylor's explanation of what it feels like to be in a secular age or you will not have much an idea what he is talking about. I found it very helpful.There are a few points that either Taylor doesn't follow up on well or Smith does not include. It's hard to tell which. e.g. Spin and Take: is he saying we can choose Take rather than Spin as a way out of secularism? Most of the time the concept is still helpful, but it feels incomplete. Maybe that's because the book is just so stuffed full of incisive and resonant description of the ... morefeeling of modern life that it would be impossible to "follow up" on most of the possibilities.Or maybe it's that I question the wisdom and feasibility of such a descriptive approach. Taylor wants to diagnose and remain useful to those who refuse his take. I guess I found that useful.Smith does a good job distilling Taylor's work for us such that I feel I would now know what to look for if I read Taylor.
review 2: A 140-page summary of Charles Taylor's 900-page modern classic A Secular Age, which provides a unique analysis of how Western culture moved from Christendom to its present state. Incredibly insightful, well-written, and, again, short, this is a book I found very helpful and will return to it again as I think about the culture both as an participant in it and analyst of it. Highly recommended for those interested in larger discussions about secularism and our present age. less

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