Description
Book SynopsisIntends to propose an alternative to the understanding of the secular as that which opposes the religious, and turns to American and Continental philosophy to support this critique. This title shows how the division of experience into the distinct realms of the religious and the secular overlooks the subtle ways in which value can emerge.
Trade ReviewEncountering the Secular is an unusually imaginative work. Atchley's writing is engaging, producing a thoughtful philosophical meditation. Drawing on remarkable juxtapositions of texts and materials - ranging from well-established philosophers to novelists, films, and popular culture - Atchley weaves an argument of his own. - Mark C. Taylor, Columbia University, author of After God ""Written in eloquent and often moving prose, J. Heath Atchley's Encountering the Secular provides a much-needed reevaluation of the secular. On Atchley's reading, following insights of the theologian Paul Tillich, transcendence becomes the source and symptom of our estrangement from a depth dimension of life and leads to the painful divide of theology and culture, the religious and the secular."" - Jeffrey L. Kosky, Washington and Lee University, author of Levinas and the Philosophy of Religion
