Description
Book SynopsisThis book offers a series of reflections on the state of Christianity, and especially Catholicism, in the world today. The centrepiece of the volume is a lecture by the renowned philosopher Charles Taylor, from which the title of the book is taken. The lecture, delivered at Dayton University in January of 1996, offered Taylor the opportunity to speak about his theological views and his sense of the cultural placement of Catholicism, its history and trajectory. Four well-known commentators on religion and society were invited to respond to Taylor''s lecture: William M. Shea, George Marsden, Jean Bethke Elshtain, and Rosemary Luling-Haughton. Their chapters offer a variety of astute reflections on the tensions between religion and modernity, and in particular on the role that Catholicism can and should play in contemporary society.
Trade ReviewContains a remarkably succinct and explicit statement of Taylor's most basic religious commitments, responses by fellow Catholic scholars, and Taylor's concluding reflections and comments. * Commonweal *
Table of Contents1: Charles Taylor: A Catholic Modernity? 2: William M. Shea: "A Vote of Thanks to Voltaire" 3: Rosemary Luling-Haughton: Transcendence and the Bewilderment of Being Modern 4: George Marsden: Matteo Ricci and the Prodigal Culture 5: Jean Bethke Elshtain: Augustine and Diversity 6: Charles Taylor: Concluding Reflections and Comments
