Read complete books and articles on: Secularism

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16 of the Best Books and Articles on: Secularism

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Spirituality and the Secular Quest » Read Now
by Peter H. Van Ness. 562 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library
2.

Beyond Idols: The Shape of a Secular Society » Read Now
by Richard K. Fenn. 196 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

This book attempts to articulate the nature of a secular society, describe its benefits, and suggests the conditions under which such a society could emerge. To become secular, argues Fenn, is to open oneself and one's society to a wide range of possibilities, some interesting and exciting, some...
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This book attempts to articulate the nature of a secular society, describe its benefits, and suggests the conditions under which such a society could emerge. To become secular, argues Fenn, is to open oneself and one's society to a wide range of possibilities, some interesting and exciting, some burdensome and dreadful. While some sociologists have argued that a "Civil Religion" is necessary to hold together our newly "religionless" society, Fenn urges that there is nothing to fear--and everything to gain--from living in a society that is not bound together by sacred memories and beliefs, or by sacred institutions and practices.
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3.

The Secular Mind » Read Now
by Robert Coles. 189 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

Does the business of daily living distance us from life's mysteries? Do most Americans value spiritual thinking more as a hobby than as an all-encompassing approach to life? Will the concept of the soul be defunct after the next few generations? Child psychiatrist and best-selling author Robert...
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Does the business of daily living distance us from life's mysteries? Do most Americans value spiritual thinking more as a hobby than as an all-encompassing approach to life? Will the concept of the soul be defunct after the next few generations? Child psychiatrist and best-selling author Robert Coles offers a profound meditation on how secular culture has settled into the hearts and minds of Americans. This book is a sweeping essay on the shift from religious control over Western society to the scientific dominance of the mind. Interwoven into the story is Coles's personal quest for understanding how the sense of the sacred has stood firm in the lives of individuals--both the famous and everyday people whom he has known--even as they have struggled with doubt.As a student, Coles questioned Paul Tillich on the meaning of the "secular mind," and his fascination with the perceived opposition between secular and sacred intensified over the years. This book recounts conversations Coles has had with such figures as Anna Freud, Karen Horney, William Carlos Williams, Walker Percy, and Dorothy Day. Their words dramatize the frustration and the joy of living in both the secular and sacred realms. Coles masterfully draws on a variety of literary sources that trace the relationship of the sacred and the secular: the stories of Abraham and Moses, the writings of St. Paul, Augustine, Kierkegaard, Darwin, and Freud, and the fiction of George Eliot, Hardy, Meredith, Flannery O'Connor, and Huxley. Ever since biblical times, Coles shows us, the relationship between these two realms has thrived on conflict and accommodation.Coles also notes that psychoanalysis was first viewed as a rival to religion in terms of getting a handle on inner truths. He provocatively demonstrates how psychoanalysis has either been incorporated into the thinking of many religious denominations or become a type of religion in itself. How will people in the next millennium deal with advances in chemistry and neurology? Will these sciences surpass psychoanalysis in controlling how we think and feel? This book is for anyone who has wondered about the fate of the soul and our ability to seek out the sacred in our constantly changing world.
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4.

Secularism Is the Will of God: An Essay in the Social Philosophy of Democracy and Religion » Read Now
by Horace M. Kallen. 233 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Philosophy, Entire Library

...Secularism Is the Will of God Secularism Is the Will of God HORACE M. KALLEN AN ESSAY IN THE...KALLEN Contents PREFACE 5 1 Of Secularism and the Secularist Idea of God 11 2...
5.

The Idea of a Secular Society: And Its Significance for Christians (1963) » Read Now
by D. L. Munby. 98 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

...distinguished from a State which promotes secularism, or which is based upon dogmatically...blessings and to assess our heritage of secularism. Our secular society may be...
6.

The Death of God: The Culture of Our Post-Christian Era (1961) » Read Now
by Gabriel Vahanian. 253 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

...IV. CHRISTIANITY, SECULARITY, AND SECULARISM 60 Secularity as a Christian...The Religious Revival as Secularism 69 V. THE CASE FOR...actually countenanced the emergence of...
7.

Religion in Secular Society: A Sociological Comment » Read Now
by Bryan R. Wilson. 254 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

...It must be recognized that in a different respect, denominationalism probably impeded the manifest political expression of secularism in a militant anti-religious form in...
8.

Two Concepts of Secularism, in The Wilson Quarterly » Read Now
by Wilfred M. McClay. 18 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library
9.

Secularism & Its Discontents, in Daedalus » Read Now
by Nikki R. Keddie. 17 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library
10.

Beyond the Secular Mind: A Judaic Response to the Problems of Modernity » Read Now
by Paul Eidelberg. 184 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

Going beyond Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind, Eidelberg shows how the cardinal principles of democracy--freedom and equality--can be saved from the degradation of moral relativism by applying Jewish law to these principles. He attempts to overcome the dichotomy of religion and...
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Going beyond Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind, Eidelberg shows how the cardinal principles of democracy--freedom and equality--can be saved from the degradation of moral relativism by applying Jewish law to these principles. He attempts to overcome the dichotomy of religion and secularism as well as other contradictions of Western civilization by means of a philosophy of history that uses thoroughly rational concepts and is supported by empirical evidence. Eidelberg elucidates that characteristics that make Jewish law particularly suited to reopening the secular mind and elevating democracy's formative principles.
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11.

Plurality and Christian Ethics (Chap.1 "Plurality and Secularism") » Read Now
by Ian S. Markham. 196 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Philosophy, Entire Library

...Plurality and Secularism 5 Plurality 5...foundation for toleration than does secularism. Toleration should be grounded in a...Christianity wanting to displace the...
12.

Islamism, Secularism and Human Rights in the Middle East » Read Now
by Mahmood Monshipouri. 259 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library
13.

Secularization, Rationalism, and Sectarianism: Essays in Honour of Bryan R. Wilson » Read Now
by Eileen Barker, James A. Beckford, Karel Dobbelaere. 330 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library

How secular is contemporary society? Are pockets of sectarianism embedded in societies of developed countries? This timely book examines the interweaving of politics and religion, and of tradition and innovation in a variety of cultural settings. Eminent scholars from four continents examine here...
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How secular is contemporary society? Are pockets of sectarianism embedded in societies of developed countries? This timely book examines the interweaving of politics and religion, and of tradition and innovation in a variety of cultural settings. Eminent scholars from four continents examine here current turmoil in religious beliefs, practices, and organization--not only in the Western world, but in South America, Africa, South Asia, New Zealand, and Japan. They scrutinize evidence of religious change, decline, and revival; investigate challenges posed by new religious movements; and locate religious change and conflict in the context of broader shifts in consciousness and culture. Contributors include Richard Fenn, Phillip E. Hammond, David Martin, Philip Rieff, Roland Robertson, and Mark Schibley. With its focus on the interplay of secularization, rationalism, and sectarianism, this work offers a fitting tribute to Bryan Wilson, who has made so many contributions to the sociological understanding of these phenomena.
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14.

Secularization as Declining Religious Authority, in Social Forces » Read Now
by Mark Chaves. 26 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library
15.

The Case for Secularization: A Rebuttal, in Social Forces » Read Now
by Frank J. Lechner. 17 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library
16.

Secularism and Its Discontents: The Debate over Religion and Politics Is in Desperate Need of Sanity, in National Review » Read Now
by Ramesh Ponnuru. 4 pgs.

Collections: Religious Studies, Entire Library