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A Secular Age, by Charles Taylor

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Review

“Taylor's book is a major and highly original contribution to the debates on secularization that have been ongoing for the past century. There is no book remotely like it.”―Alasdair MacIntyre“This is Charles Taylor's breakthrough book, a book of really major importance, because he succeeds in recasting the whole debate about secularism. This is one of the most important books written in my lifetime. I am tempted to say the most important book, but that may just express the spell the book has cast over me at the moment.”―Robert N. Bellah“It is, simply, the most comprehensive account of the process and meaning of secularization… Taylor's depiction of the past two centuries is rich with insights and subtle analyses… Familiarity with Taylor's book is now the entry ticket for any serious discussion of secularization.”―Peter Steinfels, Commonweal“[A Secular Age] may become an enduring contribution to understanding religious belief, the evolution of the secular order, and the defining characteristics of modern secularism and contemporary spirituality. Like Charles Taylor's earlier books, it is a product of prodigious erudition. Its 874 dense pages brim with original observation, cogent argument constructed from sources in a wide array of disciplines, and generous ecumenical gestures, even towards humanists. His story is complex, somewhat repetitious and yet unflaggingly interesting: it is loaded with so much novel detail and insight that the reader will be grateful for each scrap of familiar ground.”―Tamas Pataki, Australian Review of Books“The focus here is neither on the role of religion in public institutions nor on the extent of religious beief, but rather on its conditions… It is the slow emergence of secularity in this sense that Taylor sets out to explain, at formidable length, and in remarkable historical and philosophical detail. Binding all that detail together is an argument that Taylor manages to sustain over nearly eight hundred pages. Simply put, A Secular Age is a magisterial refutation of what Taylor calls the 'subtraction story' of secularisation.”―Jonathan Derbyshire, Philosopher's Magazine“In a determinedly brilliant new book, Charles Taylor challenges the 'subtraction theory' of secularization which defines it as a process whereby religion simply falls away, to be replaced by science and rationality. Instead, he sees secularism as a development within Western Christianity, stemming from the increasingly anthropocentric versions of religion that arose from the Reformation. For Taylor, the modern age is not an age without religion; instead, secularization heralds 'a move from a society where belief in God is unchallenged and indeed, unproblematic, to one in which it is understood to be one option among others.' The result is a radical pluralism which, as well as offering unprecedented freedom, creates new challenges and instabilities.”―London Review of Books“Charles Taylor's remarkable book A Secular Age achieves something quite different from what other writers on secularization have accomplished. Most have focused on decline as the essence of secularism―either the removal of religion from sphere after sphere of public life, or the decrease of religious belief and practice. But Taylor focuses on what kind of religion makes sense in a secular age… Taylor is asking not only how secularism became a significant option in a civilization that not so long ago was explicitly Christian, but what that change means for the spiritual quest, both of those who are still religious and those who consider themselves secular. I doubt many people have even perceived that aspect of secularism, and Taylor's book should be as much of a revelation to them as it was to me.”―Robert N. Bellah, Commonweal“Charles Taylor's A Secular Age offers a uniquely rich historical and philosophical overview of how we came to take a disenchanted world for granted―quietly inviting us to reflect that if disenchantment and the absence of the divine were learned habits of mind, they might not necessarily be the self-evidently rational truths so many think they are.”―Rowan Williams, Times Literary Supplement“If the author had accomplished nothing more than a survey of the voluminous body of 'secularization theory,' he would have done something valuable. But, although Taylor clearly articulates his disdain for the view that modernity ineluctably led to the death of God, he goes far beyond a literature review… In addition to its conceptual value, this study is notable for its lucidity. Taylor has translated complex philosophical theories into language that any educated reader will be able to follow, yet he has not sacrificed an iota of sophistication or nuance. A magisterial book.”―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)“In his characteristically erudite yet engaging fashion, Taylor takes up where he left off in his magnificent Sources of the Self (1989) as he brilliantly traces the emergence of secularity and the processes of secularization in the modern age… Taylor sweeps grandly and magisterially through the 18th and 19th centuries as he recreates the history of secularism and its parallel challenges to religion. He concludes that a focus on the religious has never been lost in Western culture, but that it is one among many stories striving for acceptance. Taylor's examination of the rise of unbelief in the 19th century is alone worth the price of the book and offers an essential reminder that the Victorian age, more than the Enlightenment, dominates our present view of the meanings of secularity. Taylor's inspired combination of philosophy and history sparkles in this must-read virtuoso performance.”―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

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About the Author

Charles Taylor is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Philosophy at McGill University.

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Product details

Paperback: 896 pages

Publisher: Belknap Press; Reprint edition (September 17, 2018)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0674986911

ISBN-13: 978-0674986916

Product Dimensions:

6.5 x 1.8 x 9 inches

Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review:

4.0 out of 5 stars

64 customer reviews

Amazon Best Sellers Rank:

#34,610 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Having read a review indicating that Charles Taylor's book originated in a series of lectures, it was easy to hear his voice in the writing. This book is thoroughly researched and footnoted (in case you really want more), and is so carefully paced that Taylor follows all of his chains of thought in constructing his arguments.It would be easy to get impatient with the detail, but take your time, follow the links, look up some of the references, and fill out a superb description of our secular age as it transformed life from enchanted to secular.I began this book reading a library copy (hardly checked out, it seems, and in pristine condition), and graduated to my own copy on my Kindle after not too many pages.As one who has often wondered about how we "lost" the enchanted world and became secular, I am so glad that Taylor also wondered, and then researched, lectured, and wrote about it.

“One could offer this one-line description of the difference between earlier times and the secular age: a secular age is one in which the eclipse of all goals beyond human flourishing becomes conceivable; or better, it falls within the range of an imaginable life for masses of people. This is the crucial link between secularity and a self-sufficing humanism.’’‘Human happiness is the only goal’ essentially identifies ‘secularism’.“Another way of getting at something like the issue raised above in terms of within/ without is to ask: does the highest, the best life involve our seeking, or acknowledging, or serving a good which is beyond, in the sense of independent of human flourishing?’’This question threads throughout this work. Holds many thoughts together.“In which case, the highest, most real, authentic or adequate human flourishing could include our aiming (also) in our range of final goals at something other than human flourishing. I say “final goals”, because even the most self-sufficing humanism has to be concerned with the condition of some non-human things instrumentally, e.g., the condition of the natural environment. The issue is whether they matter also finally.’’‘Final goals’ other than human benefits? Like what?“It’s clear that in the Judaeo-Christian religious tradition the answer to this question is affirmative. Loving, worshipping God is the ultimate end. Of course, in this tradition God is seen as willing human flourishing, but devotion to God is not seen as contingent on this. The injunction “Thy will be done” isn’t equivalent to “Let humans flourish”, even though we know that God wills human flourishing.’’Yep, ‘let your will be done’ not the same as ‘let me be happy’!Does this imply Christianity demeans human life? No . . .“The Christian case, the very point of renunciation requires that the ordinary flourishing forgone be confirmed as valid. Unless living the full span were a good, Christ’s giving of himself to death couldn’t have the meaning it does.’’Many, even Christians, overlook this obvious point.“In this it is utterly different from Socrates’ death, which the latter portrays as leaving this condition for a better one. Here we see the unbridgeable gulf between Christianity and Greek philosophy. God wills ordinary human flourishing, and a great part of what is reported in the Gospels consists in Christ making this possible for the people whose afflictions he heals. The call to renounce doesn’t negate the value of flourishing; it is rather a call to centre everything on God, even if it be at the cost of forgoing this unsubstitutable good; and the fruit of this forgoing is that it become on one level the source of flourishing to others, and on another level, a collaboration with the restoration of a fuller flourishing by God. It is a mode of healing wounds and “repairing the world” (I am here borrowing the Hebrew phrase tikkun olam).’’This slice illustrates Taylor’s style — dense, analytical, insightful. This entire extensive work continues like this, page after page. I found it easier to listen to the audible version. The reader does a marvelous job. Makes the material come alive and improves understanding.This makes sense, because this was presented as the “Gifford Lectures at Edinburgh in the spring of 1999, entitled “Living in a Secular Age?”.Detailed analysis of secular humanism . . .“Secularity is a condition in which our experience of and search for fullness occurs; and this is something we all share, believers and unbelievers alike. But also, it is not my intention to claim that exclusive humanisms offer the only alternatives to religion. Our age has seen a strong set of currents which one might call non-religious anti-humanisms, like “deconstruction” and “post-structuralism”, and which find their roots in immensely influential writings of the nineteenth century, especially those of Nietzsche. At the same time, there are attempts to reconstruct a non-exclusive humanism on a non-religious basis, which one sees in various forms of deep ecology.’’Taylor covers a lot of ground. Reader (listener) can quickly become lost, disorientated. Taylor is alert to this and provides regular summaries or outlines of the sections. This helps keep the journey clear.PART I The Work of Reform1 The Bulwarks of Belief2 The Rise of the Disciplinary Society3 The Great Disembedding4 Modern Social Imaginaries5 The Spectre of IdealismPART II The Turning Point6 Providential Deism7 The Impersonal OrderPART III The Nova Effect8 The Malaises of Modernity9 The Dark Abyss of Time10 The Expanding Universe of Unbelief11 Nineteenth-Century TrajectoriesPART IV Narratives of Secularization12 The Age of Mobilization13 The Age of Authenticity14 Religion TodayPART V Conditions of Belief15 The Immanent Frame16 Cross Pressures17 Dilemmas 118 Dilemmas 219 Unquiet Frontiers of Modernity20 ConversionsEpilogue: The Many StoriesThis is an erudite, detailed, studious work reflecting years of research.I found many of my glimpses to intellectual history clarified. I glimpsed even more new sights that added to the panorama of the past development of religious and secular thought.Not light reading (listening). Worth the effort!For example, the index shows these major references . . .Agape, Aristotle, Mathew Arnold, Calvin, Darwin, Decartes, disenchantment, Dostoevsky, Heidegger, David Hume, Christ, Kant, Marx, J. S. Mill, Nietzsche, Plato, Rousseau, etc., etc., and these are just the ones with dozens of links!The index must have thousands of links!Stupendous scholarship!Hundreds and hundreds of notes (linked)Amazing!

Many said I was brave for tackling such a book. However, the experience has been worth it. Taylor's ability to command such a wide array of content is amazing. Plus, he delivers a provocative explanation of how we have become "secular" and what it may or may not mean. If you're on the fence about reading it but have the academic chops to handle most of what is out there, then do not shy away from this tome. It is a treasure trove.

Excellent breakdown of the last several hundred years and how the shifting ideologies and philosophies led to our current secularity. A great companion book is How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor, by James K. A. Smith. It can help weed out the parts of the book that might be worth your skimming depending on your area of interest.

It is not surprising that there are more than a few reviews which give less than the full five stars. I have read a few of them, and I am inclined to thing comments about its being "unreadable" are just a bit unfair. I found it relatively easy to read. Make no mistake about the subject. It is scholarly and just a bit conjectural.I came to it before I realized it was one of the famous Gifford Lectures in natural theology. This means something, as only those people with well-established credentials in a subject related to theology is offered the chance to give them. The best known Gifford Lecture series to most of us is William James' classic "The Varieties of Religious Experience" In fact, Taylor even wrote a book on James' lectures. A small one, thankfully.My first impression of Taylor's book (unlike the one by James) is that it could have been much shorter, and still made the main points. His primary thesis is that modern secularity began with the Reformation. Parts of his argument may be thin, and I am inclined to wish he would have cited some more concrete examples. When he mentions Jonathan Edwards, for example, he does not explain how citing Jonathan Edwards makes his point (not everyone knows much about Edwards beyond that one famous sermon.)What really convinced me to drop my rating from five stars to four is that this thesis is not new. It was part of Max Weber's famous thesis about capitalism and the Protestant ethic. In fact, one of the best things I got from Taylor's book is Weber's application of the word "disenchanted" to the change in world view as a result of the Reformation. Taylor gives fair credit to Weber on detailed points (mentioning Weber 12 times and his Protestant Ethic book 5 times.Where Taylor goes beyond Weber is that he is looking at the secular world from the post-Christian era, rather than Weber, who was comparing it to the way of life before the Reformation. His argument is also elaborate in its description of three types of secularity. Taylor is probably easier to read than Weber, but he makes me want to go back and see some of the finer points Weber made, since his basic idea seems to be alive and well, in spite of some heavy criticism.The notes were good, but for a scholarly book, I found them just a bit thin. I would have liked more substance in the references. You may want to check out one of Taylor's shorter books to see if you like his writing, before commiting to reading this very long work.

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