Secularization has meant not mainly the decline of religion (although in many countries this has been a consequence )-but, rather, the pluralization of religious, or spiritual positions, and the creation of a culture of ecumenical exchange, which is very different from what obtained half a century ago. Professor Taylor examines this development and contrasts it to another religious development, viz., the use of religion as a marker of political identity and mobilization, frequently accompanied by conflict and violence. This bifurcation of religious belonging into two utterly opposed tendencies is a crucial feature of our times.
Professor Charles Taylor is one of the most important thinkers of the last half-century and is the recipient of the Templeton Prize, the Kyoto Prize, the John W. Kluge Prize (the Nobel Prize for scholars in the humanities and the social sciences), and the first ever Berggruen prize. A philosopher and public intellectual of enormous range and depth, Taylor has achieved a very large and diverse readership through the huge impact of such books as Sources of the Self (1989), Multiculturalism and the Politics of Recognition (1994), and his magnum opus, A Secular Age (2007), hailed by the New York Times as “a work of stupendous breath and erudition.”
This discussion was held at ACU North Sydney Campus on 29 April 2016.
Part 1: • Charles Taylor: "Secul...
Part 2: • José Casanova: "Secula...
Part 3: • Rajeev Bhargava: "Secu...
Part 4: • Discussion Q&A: "Secul...
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