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How (Not) to Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor Paperback – May 1, 2014

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Product Details

  • Paperback: 160 pages
  • Publisher: Eerdmans; 1st edition (May 1, 2014)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0802867618
  • ISBN-13: 978-0802867612
  • Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.2 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,462 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsMaking a Genius More Accessible
By David George Moore on April 22, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition
I say "more accessible" because this is hardly A Secular Age for Dummies. Charles Taylor's massive and dense book is tough sledding. I have not read much of it, but am certainly familiar with the work of Taylor.

In How (Not) to Be Secular, Jamie Smith brings the intellectual cookies to a lower shelf, but don't be fooled, serious thinking is still required. Smith respects his readers by providing an accessible, yet thoughtful distillation of one of the most consequential books of our day.

Instead of doing a typical book review, let me briefly mention six things I appreciated about this book:

*The writing style is elegant and engaging. Let me give one example from page 11: "Ardor and devotion cannot undo the shift in plausibility structures that characterizes our age." This is wonderfully conceived, but it is also pregnant with implications.

*There is a judicious use of illustrations from literature, music, and movies.

*Since I am not a dispassionate reader on the subject of doubt (I know the struggle to believe firsthand), I am grateful for the insights on living in this unusual climate of secularism.

*The author is careful to understand his subject matter. A good example is the compassionate assessment of the troubled genius, David Foster Wallace. Smith does not offer a glib critique of Wallace's writings. Wallace is looked at seriously, even one could say, sympathetically. To be sure, Smith does not agree with Wallace's overall philosophy, but Smith does a good job of showing how others have missed salient features of Wallace's approach.

*Smith clearly appreciates Charles Taylor's overall project in A Secular Age. However, that does not impede Smith from offering important pushbacks and critiques.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsThe traditional story of how to the world came to be secular (a subtraction of belief) is not the real story.
By Adam Shields VINE VOICE on May 27, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Starting last year I have been paying a lot of attention to James KA Smith (Jamie). The first book of his that came across my radar screen was Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview and Cultural Formation. (I still haven’t actually read that one, it is on my list for this summer.)

But I did read Imagining the Kingdom: How Worship Works. And it really did fundamentally change my perspective on liturgy and worship. Since then I regularly read Smith’s editorials (he is the editor of Comment magazine) and I have slowly been reading some of his other books.

How (Not) to Be Secular is the type of book I wish were more popular. For important ideas to really take hold, we need good authors to popularize those important ideas into formats that a general public can understand. Charles Taylor’s A Secular age is a massive and important book, but at 900 pages it is too long (and too dense) for most readers. (And more than a few people have suggested Taylor is not the most readable author.) So Jamie Smith has put together a 148 page companion that covers the basics of the argument and includes relevant contemporary examples.

The basic idea of A Secular Age is to explain what it means to live in a secular age and how we have come to this place in culture.

"We are all skeptics now, believer and unbeliever alike. There is no one true faith, evident at all times and places. Every religion is one among many. The clear lines of any orthodoxy are made crooked by our experience, are complicated by our lives. Believer and unbeliever are in the same predicament, thrown back onto themselves in complex circumstances, looking for a sign.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsa book about a book as good as the book
By Clint Schnekloth on May 20, 2014
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Not every book about a book is a good book. This book about a book is not only a good book... it is a great book! Smith handily summarizes Charles Taylor's complex argument on secularity in his magnum opus, A Secular Age. You can read Smith's book as a chapter by chapter commentary on Taylor's book (it is that). But the book also stands alone as a summary presentation of Taylor's overall argument. It also stands alone as an introduction to secularity and contemporary philosophical reflection on it.

In other words, you don't have to read Taylor while reading Smith. You can read Smith, and with great benefit.

This book originated in a class Smith hosted with students, a focused reading of A Secular Age. Readers could do a lot worse than assemble a group of sympathetic souls, and read Smith and Taylor together over a summer or semester. On the other hand, if you've been curious about Taylor but intimidated by the heft of A Secular Age, Smith offers here a handy and wonderful primer.

One of the most helpful parts of the book is Smith's glossary. He offers simple definitions of some of Taylor's technical terminology. I believe these will solidify some of the terminological discussions around Taylor's work. See the definition of things like Age of Authenticity, Buffered Self, Cross-Pressure, Social Imaginary, the Unthought, and Excarnation.

This is a handy, helpful, and wonderful short read. You will not be disappointed.
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5.0 out of 5 starsRemarkably helpful.
By Jon Tyson on April 19, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
After living in New York, one of Americas most secular cities for almost a decade, and being involved in church planting here, I kept experiencing realities and challenges I couldnt quite articulate to others in more nominal contexts. This book was like an explanatory map that gave me language, insight, and a framework for the challenges I was facing. Hands down, the most helpful book I have read on secularization, faith, evangelism, and witness to date. Think Lesslie Newbigin for modern, post Christian culture.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsAccessible and engaging introduction to a significant writer's seminal...

Accessible and engaging introduction to a significant writer's seminal work.

Published 1 day ago by Calvin R Garfield
5.0 out of 5 starsA must read for doubters and believers alike

Regardless of where you fall out on the spectrum, Smith provides an accurate assessment of our "haunted" age and also provides a compelling argument of how we arrived here. Read more

Published 5 days ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsThis was a great introduction to the ideas of Charles Taylor

This was a great introduction to the ideas of Charles Taylor. I highly recommend it as a way to more easily digest the original work.

Published 5 days ago by Ross Gebhart
5.0 out of 5 starsInsight into understanding our culture

Articulating the tension between immanence and transcendence this book gives the reader a template to understanding how we got where we are. Read more

Published 29 days ago by Paul M. Loney
3.0 out of 5 starsChallenging.

I am not a philosopher, and was grateful for this commentary, but it was still like wadding through mud for me.

Published 1 month ago by Brady D. Thompson
2.0 out of 5 starsThe real thing?

This is rather laboured, wordy, derivative work puts me off ever reading the source,Taylor. The problem for me is that although tackled seriously and diligently I think the subject... Read more

Published 1 month ago by David Bryson
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat introduction to living with faith in a contemporary framework

I appreciate the introduction to Taylor. This book outlines the insights of the seminal thinker. Very helpful both for philosophy and living.

Published 1 month ago by RJL
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat Book

If someone is looking to peel back the onion on secularity and caste a light on its meaning and purpose from an angle not typically seen, then James K. A. Read more

Published 4 months ago by M. D. Tomko
5.0 out of 5 starsThis Should be Required Reading for.... Everyone. :)

4/4/16 While I haven't read Charles Taylor's tome that inspired this text I'm familiar with Taylor's writing. Read more

Published 4 months ago by James J
5.0 out of 5 starsSmith brings whole new dimensions to the idea that we ...

Smith brings whole new dimensions to the idea that we are secular. The chapter "The Malaise of Secularism" is priceless insight

Published 4 months ago by john smed

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