Charles Taylor: A Secular Age

A Secular Age


Description

What does it mean to say that we live in a secular age? Almost everyone would agree that we - in the West, at least - largely do. And clearly the place of religion in our societies has changed profoundly in the last few centuries. In what will be a defining book for our time, Charles Taylor takes up the question of what these changes mean - of what, precisely, happens when a society in which it is virtually impossible not to believe in God becomes one in which faith, even for the staunchest believer, is only one human possibility among others.Taylor, long one of our most insightful thinkers on such questions, offers a historical perspective. He examines the development in "Western Christendom" of those aspects of modernity which we call secular. What he describes is in fact not a single, continuous transformation, but a series of new departures, in which earlier forms of religious life have been dissolved or destabilized and new ones have been created. As we see here, today's secular world is characterized not by an absence of religion - although in some societies religious belief and practice have markedly declined - but rather by the continuing multiplication of new options, religious, spiritual, and anti-religious, which individuals and groups seize on in order to make sense of their lives and give shape to their spiritual aspirations.What this means for the world - including the new forms of collective religious life it encourages, with their tendency to a mass mobilization that breeds violence - is what Charles Taylor grapples with, in a book as timely as it is timeless.

'Well written and persuasive ...objective and well-rounded...this scholarly rehabilitation should be the standard biography' **** Andrew Roberts, Mail on Sunday 'A true judgment of him must lie somewhere between hero and zero, and in this detailed biography Gary Sheffield shows himself well qualified to make it ...a balanced portrait' Sunday Times 'Solid scholarship and admirable advocacy' Sunday Telegraph Douglas Haig is the single most controversial general in British history. In 1918, after his armies had won the First World War, he was feted as a saviour. But within twenty years his reputation was in ruins, and it has never recovered. In this fascinating biography, Professor Gary Sheffield reassesses Haig's reputation, assessing his critical role in preparing the army for war. Other than Evensong or Taize-style meditation, what else is there for evening prayer? Here is a resource that fills this gap to overflowing. It offers dozens of simple, ready-made outlines that are rich with ideas for using visual imagery, music, light and other symbols, with suggestions for getting everyone present actively involved. Developed and used over many years in local churches by the authors, every idea in this book has been tried and tested. The result is an imaginative resource to inspire worship that is simple, memorable and beautiful. As well as round the year celebrations there A Secular Age free ebook are also extra ideas for public occasions, such as a time of tragedy, or for a peace vigil.


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Author: Charles Taylor
Number of Pages: 896 pages
Published Date: 07 Apr 2010
Publisher: HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Publication Country: Cambridge, Mass., United States
Language: English
ISBN: 9780674026766
Download Link: Click Here
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