Reading a Modern Classic: Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age (FULL)
May 31 @ 5:00 PM CDT
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In this summer reading group, we’ll tackle one of the modern touchpoints for thinking about culture from a Christian perspective: Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age, first published in 2007.
Reviewer Steven Hayward described Taylor’s book as—
A culminating dispatch from the philosophical frontlines. It is at once encyclopedic and incisive, a sweeping overview that is no less analytically rigorous for its breadth. Its subject is a philosophical history of the past, present and future of Western Christendom. As such, it begins with a deceptively simple question: How did it become possible for anyone to not believe in God? …A Secular Age recounts the history of an idea, in other words, but in it the past is not an inert, settled fact, but a reservoir to be drawn upon to shatter the sameness and the apparent inevitability of the present.
Join a committed group of readers at Upper House, led by Matthew Farrelly, Ph.D. candidate at UW and repeat reader of Taylor. We’ll meet multiple times throughout the summer, reading sections of the book between meetings. When we meet we’ll discuss, ask questions, share observations, and learn together. Whether you’re familiar with part or all of this seminal work, or if it currently sits on your bookshelf (or in your Amazon wish list) waiting to be read, please join us!
DETAILS
Resources
You can purchase A Secular Age (Harvard University Press, 2018, $25 new) from the linked publisher or through your preferred vendor.
Group Size
10 members plus leader
Meeting Times
Wednesday, May 31, 5:00-6:30 PM, is our first gathering. Together we will schedule 3-5 more sessions of 90 minutes each.
Leader
Matthew Farrelly is a Joint Degree Ph.D. student in History and Educational Policy Studies, History & Humanities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prior to attending UW, Matthew worked for a decade as a K-12 educator. He is a graduate of Grove City College (B.A.) and Wheaton College (M.A.).