How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor

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What does it mean to say we live in a secular world Charles Taylor s landmark book A Secular Age provides a monumental history and analysis of what it means for us to live in our post Christian present a pluralist world of competing beliefs and growing unbelief This book by Jamie Smith is a small field guide to Taylor s genealogy of the secular, making it accessible to a wide array of readers Smith s How Not to Be Secular is also, however, a philosophical guidebook for practitioners a kind of how to manual that ultimately offers guidance on how to live in a secular age It s an adventure in self understanding and a way to get our bearings in postmodernity Whether one is proclaiming faith to the secularized or is puzzled that there continue to be people of faith in this day and age, this is a philosophical story meant to help us locate where we are and what s at stake. Best Download [ How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor ] author [ James K.A. Smith ] – kino-fada.fr The Contested WorldIt may not be entirely obvious but Charles Taylor s 2007 book, The Secular Age, was the antidote or at least therapy to Trump before Trump arrived on the world scene A shame, then, that relatively few have read it Taylor s book is about Fake News, about what it is, why it s a problem now, and how it can be dealt with Smith offers a summary and interpretation of Taylor for those who may find the latter s 900 pages and ratherthan complete footnotes too formidable to The Contested WorldIt may not be entirely obvious but Charles ...James K.A Smith s short book is an absolute marvel, and for me at least, quite literally a guilty pleasure The guilt comes in because this book, in 139 thoughtful and readable pages, lays out the whole argument of Charles Taylor s massive and reportedly magisterial tome, A Secular Age I have wanted to read that book for yearsand yet each time I have attempted it, I ve found myself unable to penetrate its prose and really engage its argument This is embarrassing for me, as s...I enjoyed Taylor s A Secular Age and I also enjoyed this distillation of it Smith s preface notes that Taylor s really long historical analysis can help Christians better understand their own faith as well as the perspectives of those they seek to proselytize He says it can also help doubters come to grips with a certain haunting they may encounter where the holy apparent mumbo jumbo temporarily slips through the cracks of one s consciousness Finally, he hopes, like Taylor, that it will I enjoyed Taylor s A Secular Age and I also enjoyed this distillation of it Smith s preface notes that Taylor s really long historical analysis can help Christians...I read this in the same reading group at Baylor immediately after finishing Taylor s A Secular Age My review appeared in Modern Reformation July August 2016 Jamie s wife is an elder in the CRC Darryl Hart s response here is See Smith s interview with Keller here Interview with Smith at The Gospel Coalition.Prefacevii secular folks have different maps no God shaped holeviii doctorate of ministry program in a bookix longingx intended audiences postmodern cross pressure I read this in the same reading group at Baylor immediately after finishing Taylor s A Secular Age My review appeared in Modern Reformation July August 2016 Jamie s wife is an elder in the CRC Darryl Hart s response here isSee Smith s interview with Keller here Interview with Smith at The Gospel Coalition.Prefacevii secular folks have different maps no God shaped holeviii doctorate of ministry program in a bookix longingx intended...Significant book, but still obtuse Someone should write the book, How to Read James K.A Smith Reading Charles Taylor.Smith s summary is faithful to Charles Taylor s masterpiece, A Secular Age, naming both how things have changed in the past 500 years from the medieval age which had communion with God as its chief concern to today s chief concern as human flourishing The two don t have to be mutually exclusive, perhaps, but the constructive movement of this particular definition of secularism as opposed to the subtraction of God idea most commonly understood is one of Taylor s most important points Smith s summary is faithful to Charles Taylor s masterpiece, A Secular Age, naming both how things have changed in the past 500 years from the medieval age which had communion with God as its chief concern to today s chief concern as human flourishing The two don t have to be mutually exclusive, perhaps, but the constructive movement of this particular definition of secularism as opposed to the subtraction of God idea most commonly understood is one of Taylor s most important points Smith mirrors the development of Taylor s argument in short chapters, both with little unnecessary reductionism and edifyingly so that the reader can go back to Taylor seeing the forest as well as the innumerable trees Smith sometimes tends unhelpfully to promote Ta...Notes from second round Skip this on audio and read the print version The narration was fine But this is a book that is constantly referencing something else, whether Taylor or another author or subject and the constant reference without the visual cues of what is being referenced make comprehension difficult Also the con...From one perspective, this book does exactly what it sets out to do It s a simplified introduction to Charles Taylor s massive _A Secular Age_, suitable especially for teaching at a Christian liberal arts college That s the context and the purpose of the book, and it succeeds quite well This book will be really good for Christians interested in but intimidated by Charles Taylor s work It will probably be especially useful for anyone who has been influenced by Francis Schaeffer and talk From one perspective, this book does exactly what it sets out to do It s a simplified introduction to Charles Taylor s massive _A Secular Age_, suitable especially for teaching at a Christian liberal arts college That s the context and the purpose of the book, and it succeeds quite well This book will be really good for Christians interested in but intimidated by Charles Taylor s work It will probably be especially useful for anyone who has been influenced by Francis Schaeffer and talk about worldviews.But some bothersome things happen in that specific simplification.Smith emphasizes some things in ways that Taylor doesn t e.g a take vs spin , representing them asimportant and central than they are in Taylor Taken together, these shifts change the tone of the project a little bit Smith s version ends up being an a...Let me begin on a positive note This is a very handy introduction to Charles Taylor s seminal ideas in A Secular Age For those scared of Taylor s idea tic behemoth, this will be a very easy path to walk into into Taylor s thought world Smith presents Taylor s main ideas and eye opening categories with clarity and rhetorical panache As far as the negatives go, I wish he h...I first read this 3 years ago, and just reread it as a roadmap while I slowly make my way through Charles Taylor s A Secular Age, which is not exactly impenetrable but is rather dense and long, and it s therefore easy to otherwise miss the forest for the trees This book is an enlightening introduction to Taylor s influential work, examining why it was once unthinkable to imagine a universe without God, whereas now this seems to be a viable option, and living life as if there is nothingI first read this 3 years ago, and just reread it as a roadmap while I slowly make my way through Charles Taylor s A Secular Age, which is not exactly impenetrable but is rather dense and long, and it s therefore easy to otherwise miss the forest for the trees This book is an enlightening introduction to Taylor s influential work, e...

How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor
  • English
  • 25 May 2018
  • Paperback
  • 152 pages
  • 0802867618
  • James K.A. Smith
  • How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor