In an essay entitled “Secular Criticism,” the noted literary critic Edward Said wrote that “Criticism...is always situated, it is skeptical,…
Historical notes on the idea of secular criticism
history
A case of heteronomous thinking
As a story, A Secular Age rivals Hans Blumenberg’s The Legitimacy of the Modern Age (which curiously it ignores) and…
Framing the middle
From the opening pages, my historical antennae quickly began to quiver. Taylor’s book works in a space far removed from…
What if?
It seems to me that Chris Nealon and Colin Jager are onto something important when they remind us that there…
The forces unleashed
Just what or who or where is religion for Lilla himself? Is the problem really the Bible—that, in addition to…
The last prophet of Leviathan
Lilla turns aside to the small cadre of the Enlightened who see the story for what it is....“We” turns out…
Varieties of Religion Today
In my first post, I discussed Charles Taylor’s book, A Catholic Modernity. I would now like to discuss a second…
The great separation
One should be suspicious of any argument that presents the multiple alternatives facing contemporary societies around the world today as…
The truth?
As many here have noted, A Secular Age is a remarkable achievement. And it marks the culmination of a life’s…