Expanding on a concept from New York Times bestseller The God Delusion, former ordained minister and current atheist Dan Barker gives us a biblical play-by-play illustrating God's not-so-admirable qualities.
To Light the Flame of Reason is all about the art of clear thinking, an art that is needed now more than ever in the world we now live in. Written for anyone who wants to navigate better in this world filled with populist dogmas, anti-science attitudes, and pseudo-philosophy
The post-Enlightenment movement known as Romanticism is a messy period; so messy, in fact, that many scholars eschew any attempt to define it. In reaction to the overreliance placed on reason by Enlightenment thinkers, Romantics emphasized individual freedom, emotional intensity, introspection, sincerity, and heightened imagination. They sought ......
Enlightenment-Aufklarung in German, Lumieres in French-is more an idea than a period. But it is an idea that took hold in a particular historical context of revolutionary scientific advances, increasing economic and social freedom, rising literacy and prosperity, and a greater willingness to challenge the authoritarianism of the seventeenth and ......
Christianity is more than just a religion. It is a social organism that affects the lives of every person on earth in significant ways, even if they are not Christians themselves. In the United States its influence is pervasive with often profound influence on public policies, but it is largely unchallenged as a belief system, relegated to that ......
Secularization traces the decline of religion and the rise of secular belief systems. But it also touches on the transition from traditional to modern systems of organization, the replacement of metaphysical beliefs with science, the transition from community to association and much more besides. The debate about secularism and secularization has become a central issue in politics, public policy and international affairs. There is a long history of thinking about the religious and the secular, but the modern debate has special features and a great urgency mainly as a result of fears about religious fundamentalism, religious revival, political Islam and religious nationalism. Volume One explores the history and meaning of key terms: secular, secularism, secularity, secularization and laicity. It is primarily concerned with the philosophy and theology of the secular and examines the evolution of the debate from St Augustine's two cities to contemporary writings and is not confined to Christian debate. Volume Two deals with the sociology of secularization and contains the classic statements by sociologists such as Max Weber, Georg Simmel, Bryan Wilson, David Martin, and Thomas Luckmann. Volume Three considers American exceptionalism. Much the debate in sociology has centred on the question of America's differences from secular Europe. Religion and politics have been significantly interconnected in American history. America is a very special but influential case of secularization and merits a separate volume. Volume Four involves the comparative sociology of modern religious revivalism and the notion that we are in a post-secular society. The manifestations of religious revival in post-secular societies are truly global. This volume looks at the revival of world religions and popular religions such as spirit possession in the post-communist societies.
Are there ethical, non-religious choices that will work for a world in crisis? This title describes the means by which humanity can transcend the limitations of traditional religious loyalties and achieve a higher stage of ethics. It presents ethical recommendations as alternatives to the reigning orthodoxies.
Describes ways in which secular humanism's scientific, philosophical, and ethical outlook has exerted a profound influence on civilisation from the ancient world to the present.
Opening with the provocative query "what might an anthropology of the secular look like?" this work explores the concepts, practices, and political formations of secularism, with emphasis on the major historical shifts that have shaped secular sensibilities in the modern West and Middle East. It proceeds to dismantle commonly held assumptions ......
