By: Greg on January 18, 2019
“You’re so secular”, has been seen in the Christian world as an insult and a comment that is spoken out of anger or frustration with a particular stance on a hot topic. Charles Taylor1 and James Smith2 in their books helps us understand that maybe the proper response to someone that calls me secular should…
By: Trisha Welstad on January 18, 2019
Have you ever wondered how the church came to be what it is today? Or where it’s going to be in the next thirty years? Many long-time Christians long for the good-old days where whole communities participated in regular Sunday worship services while younger generations sense the possibility for a vibrant faith that may be…
By: Mark Petersen on January 18, 2019
“What is that sound high in the air / Murmur of maternal lamentation / Who are those hooded hordes swarming / Over endless plains, stumbling in cracked earth / Ringed by the flat horizon only / What is the city over the mountains / Cracks and reforms and bursts in the violet air / Falling…
By: Jason Turbeville on January 18, 2019
In the world of Southern Baptist life, secular is a four letter word. The SBC (Southern Baptist Convention) affiliated churches are where sermons can be heard about the secularization of society and all of the ills that brings. It is an us vs. them mentality and it can be very divisive. The definition of secular…
By: Mary Mims on January 18, 2019
William Wilberforce (24 August 1759 – 29 July 1833), is well-known in Ohio by the town and Historically Black University named after him. Although he is known for his humanitarian efforts as an abolitionist, seeking to end slavery in both England and America, outside of this Ohio town, few in America know about his great work. …
By: Karen Rouggly on January 17, 2019
I love the feeling I get after a job well done. It’s like you know you’ve accomplished something good and worthwhile. I think you can sense that in the work of others too. When you look at a good painting, like Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh, you just get the feeling of fulfilled accomplishment. I…
By: Nancy VanderRoest on January 17, 2019
Change in today’s world is inevitable. Yet, what is it that creates ongoing change? Albert Einstein explained that: “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” I love that! Change comes about through new thoughts and new perspectives. But it also takes…
By: Jean Ollis on January 17, 2019
Charles Taylor, though long winded and tangential, discusses profound and contemplative concepts of secularism in his text A Secular Age. His thesis is not new – in fact Max Weber, author of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, presented similar thoughts about disenchantment as a result of the reformation. Taylor adds value to…
By: Jenn Burnett on January 17, 2019
The formation of identity groups has divided people throughout history. Whether by geography, biology or idealogical identification, the creation of the ‘we’ is simultaneously dependent on the creation of a ‘them’. The bulk of scripture leans heavily on the ‘we’ being the chosen people of God—the Israelites who grow to identify as the Jewish people.…
By: Colleen Batchelder on January 17, 2019
Dr. David John Seel, Jr. harmonizes in thought with Taylor and Smith in his book The New Copernicans and suggests, “When belief and doubt are binary rather than a fused experience – as preferred by New Copernicans (Millennials and Generation Z) – the stakes are too high to be honest about doubt. The church is…
By: Rev Jacob Bolton on January 17, 2019
A few years ago, I had the incredible opportunity to hear Dr. Monica Coleman speak. Dr. Monica A. Coleman, a native Michigander (!), is the Associate Professor of Constructive Theology and African American Religions at Claremont School of Theology and Associate Professor of Religion at Claremont Graduate University. She’s also an ordained elder in the…
By: Dave Watermulder on January 17, 2019
To paraphrase our lead mentor Jason Clark, Charles Taylor’s tome A Secular Age is too big to read in one week. Some would say it is “much too big!” In reading around this book, it is clear that it is a respected, seminal work that has been reviewed appreciatively by both academic and popular sources, as…
By: Andrea Lathrop on January 17, 2019
Bebbington’s Evangelicalism in Modern Britain[1]was more engaging than I hoped. It continues to dawn on me that I understand my world better when I understand my heritage better. This study of evangelical faith heritage aids my assimilation of Grenz’s integrative trialogue for theological formation through scripture, church heritage and cultural context[2]. Bebbington makes the case…
By: Chris Pritchett on January 17, 2019
The first sentence of the first chapter of Charles Taylor’s monumental work, A Secular Age,reveals the trajectory of what Taylor is seeking to accomplish: One way that I want to put the question that I want to answer here is this: why was it virtually impossible not to believe in God in, say, 1500 in…
By: Harry Edwards on January 17, 2019
The oft-quoted English aphorism, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is a good rule of thumb. However, if something is broken, fixing it in most cases is preferable to replacing it. But I highly doubt the saying will catch on. Is Evangelicalism in need of fixing as pundits seem to suggest?1 Are we ready…
By: Rhonda Davis on January 17, 2019
Bebbington’s Evangelicalism in Modern Britain seems to have filled a gap in academic writing with this comprehensive look at the effect of evangelicalism on British society.[1] Even though some reviews such as Watts[2] and Rutz[3] have censured Bebbington for ignoring some of the more negative critiques of the movement, they have also expressed gratitude for…
By: Sean Dean on January 17, 2019
My two oldest kids have reached the point in their math studies where they are learning how to add and subtract mixed numbers like 1 4⁄5 + 2 2⁄3 = 4 7⁄15. If you can remember back to fifth grade math class the process is to find the lowest common denominator, add across, and reduce…
By: Digby Wilkinson on January 17, 2019
History is complicated because it records and interprets multifaceted humanity at work. Our capacity to simultaneously recognise and ignore the past is a reason our future is unpredictable; we do not follow logical lines of growth, instead we respond to set events at certain times without reference to the necessary causes creating the contexts in…
By: Jake Dean-Hill on January 16, 2019
What an interesting couple of books to start the spring semester with. The mammoth and overwhelming almost 1,000-page classic A Secular Age by Charles Taylor, and thankfully the much smaller How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor by James Smith that helped us actually read and digest Taylor. I appreciated Smith’s description of Taylor’s…
By: Jay Forseth on January 16, 2019
“We haven’t yet solved the problem of God,” the Russian critic Belinsky once shouted across the table at Turgenev, “and you want to eat!” [1] This phrase puts into simple perspective my reading of A Secular Age by Canadian Charles Taylor, a Roman Catholic, Emeritus Professor, as well as the prestigious winner of the Templeton…
