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dc.contributor.authorKuipers, Ronald A.
dc.date.accessioned2015-06-15T20:15:07Z
dc.date.available2015-06-15T20:15:07Z
dc.date.issued2015
dc.identifier.citationKuipers, Ronald A. "ICS 220507 F15: Charles Taylor and the Religious Imaginary" (2015). Syllabi. Institute for Christian Studies.en_GB
dc.identifier.issnCourse code: ICS 220507 F15
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10756/556974
dc.description.abstractThe notion of a "social imaginary"—the way people come to understand their social surroundings by way of images, stories, and legends—plays a key role in Charles Taylor's thought, including his magnum opus, A Secular Age. In this intellectual tour de force, Taylor attempts to trace the historical development of Western secularism as we experience it today. In doing so, he challenges the "subtraction story" which he sees animating the social imaginary of today's typical secularist. According to this story, the emergence of secularism in the West follows a linear trajectory, along which humanity slowly sheds the irrational accretions of myth, religion, and the sacred, in order to uncover a rational core of free thought and autonomous science, which may now flourish without the constraints of heteronomous religious authority. In challenging this story, Taylor offers an intriguing new understanding of Western secularism, as well as tantalizing suggestions concerning the continued social relevance a religious imaginary might have in "a secular age." This seminar will be devoted to an in-depth study of this major work, which in its relatively brief life has already become a landmark text in both the philosophy of religion as well as secularization theory. Through this study, seminar participants will also consider what role Taylor's Roman Catholic religious commitment plays in his thought, as well as the role a religiously-informed "social imaginary" might play in a pluralized global society that is deeply impacted by, but also largely at odds with, the particular social imaginary of Western modernity.
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherInstitute for Christian Studiesen_GB
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licenseen_GB
dc.rightsCopyright, Institute for Christian Studies, all rights reserved.en_GB
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/en_GB
dc.subjectTaylor, Charles. A Secular Ageen_GB
dc.subjectTaylor, Charlesen_GB
dc.subjectSocial imaginaryen_GB
dc.subjectSecularismen_GB
dc.subjectMythen_GB
dc.subjectSacreden_GB
dc.subjectReligionen_GB
dc.subjectPhilosophy of religionen_GB
dc.subjectSecularization theoryen_GB
dc.subjectPhilosophy and religionen_GB
dc.subjectPluralismen_GB
dc.titleCharles Taylor and the Religious Imaginaryen
dc.title.alternativeICS 220507 F15. Charles Taylor and the Religious Imaginaryen_GB
dc.typeSyllabusen
dc.contributor.departmentCentre for Philosophy, Religion and Social Ethics, Institute for Christian Studiesen_GB
dc.type.qualificationlevelMAen_GB
dc.type.qualificationlevelPhDen_GB
refterms.dateFOA2018-03-05T12:44:03Z
html.description.abstractThe notion of a "social imaginary"—the way people come to understand their social surroundings by way of images, stories, and legends—plays a key role in Charles Taylor's thought, including his magnum opus, A Secular Age. In this intellectual tour de force, Taylor attempts to trace the historical development of Western secularism as we experience it today. In doing so, he challenges the "subtraction story" which he sees animating the social imaginary of today's typical secularist. According to this story, the emergence of secularism in the West follows a linear trajectory, along which humanity slowly sheds the irrational accretions of myth, religion, and the sacred, in order to uncover a rational core of free thought and autonomous science, which may now flourish without the constraints of heteronomous religious authority. In challenging this story, Taylor offers an intriguing new understanding of Western secularism, as well as tantalizing suggestions concerning the continued social relevance a religious imaginary might have in "a secular age." This seminar will be devoted to an in-depth study of this major work, which in its relatively brief life has already become a landmark text in both the philosophy of religion as well as secularization theory. Through this study, seminar participants will also consider what role Taylor's Roman Catholic religious commitment plays in his thought, as well as the role a religiously-informed "social imaginary" might play in a pluralized global society that is deeply impacted by, but also largely at odds with, the particular social imaginary of Western modernity.


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