How Did Faith Go from Assumed to Assaulted?
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How did faith go from assumed to assaulted? Probably no book published in the last decade has been so ambitious as Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age. He seeks nothing less than to account for the spread of secularism and decline of faith in the last 500 years. Now a remarkable roster of writers—including Carl Trueman, Michael Horton, and Jen Pollock Michel—considers Taylor’s insights for the church’s life and mission, covering everything from healthcare to liturgy to pop culture and politics. Nothing is easy about faith today. But endurance produces character, and character produces hope, even in our secular age. “No philosopher has ofered more insight regarding the state of belief in the modern age than Charles Taylor. This work will benefit all Christians by teaching them to communicate the gospel to a secular culture with neither ignorance nor fear.” RUSSELL MOORE, president, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention “The essays in this helpful volume do more than borrow from Taylor: they engage, question, develop, and occasionally criticize his influential account of our complex cultural moment in which we all—moderns and postmoderns, millennials and non-millennials—are trying to live, move, and have our being as disciples of Jesus Christ.” KEVIN J. VANHOOZER, research professor of systematic theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School “Easily one of the best books I've read this year.” TREVIN WAX, Bible and reference publisher at B&H, author of This Is Our Time: Everyday Myths In Light of the Gospel “Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age is a landmark book, and the essays collected here ponder it intelligently and charitably. Some echo Taylor, some extend his ideas, some contest his claims, but all engage his argument with a seriousness that the book deserves—and that Christ’s church needs.” ALAN JACOBS, distinguished professor of humanities in the honors program at Baylor University ABOUT THE EDITOR Collin Hansen serves as editorial director for The Gospel Coalition. Endorsements “As Christians, we sometimes misunderstand not only the answers our secular neighbors have but the questions they are asking too. No philosopher has ofered more insight regarding the state of belief in the modern age than Charles Taylor. In Our Secular Age, frst-rate evangelical scholars and practitioners deliver 13 essays in which they explore and apply Taylor’s thought. This work will beneft all Christians by teaching them to communicate the gospel to a secular culture with neither ignorance nor fear.” Russell Moore, president, Ethics & Religious Liberty Com- Our Secular Age: Ten Years of Reading and Applying Charles Taylor mission of the Southern Baptist Convention Copyright © 2017 by The Gospel Coalition “To be secular, says philosopher Charles Taylor, is to have no fnal goals beyond this-worldly human fourishing. This is Published by The Gospel Coalition only one of the many insights from which pastors can proft 2065 Half Day Road from Taylor’s work in their ministry of the gospel to an age Deerfeld, Illinois 60015 that has substituted spirituality and authenticity for religion All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored and doctrine. The essays in this helpful volume do more than in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, borrow from Taylor: they engage, question, develop, and mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior occasionally criticize his infuential account of our complex permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. cultural moment in which we all—moderns and postmod- erns, millennials and non-millennials—are trying to live, Cover design: Peter Voth Typesetting: Ryan Leichty move, and have our being as disciples of Jesus Christ. Reading and applying the insights of those who have read and applied Printed in the United States of America Taylor is a salutary exercise in understanding oneself and others in an age that is not only secular, but fragile, frustrat- Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® ed, and confused.” Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Kevin J. Vanhoozer, research professor of systematic theolo- gy, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School ISBN: 978-0692919996 “Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age is a landmark book, and the “Though this book will help you to understand, appreciate, essays collected here ponder it intelligently and charitably. and critically engage with Charles Taylor, that’s not its real Some echo Taylor, some extend his ideas, some contest his beneft. Read it mainly for a dozen fascinating conversations claims, but all engage his argument with a seriousness that about a diferent area of the church’s life, and learning how to the book deserves—and that Christ’s church needs.” better engage our culture in our present secular age.” Alan Jacobs, distinguished professor of humanities in the Jonathan Leeman, editorial director, 9Marks honors program at Baylor University and author of How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds “Easily one of the best books I’ve read this year. Here is wis- dom from Taylor, received with appreciation and appropriate criticism, with application for Christians on mission in North America in the 21st century.” Trevin Wax, Bible and reference publisher at B&H, author of This Is Our Time: Everyday Myths In Light of the Gospel “The ‘social imaginary,’ the ‘bufered self,’ and the ‘immanent frame’—these Charles Taylor neologisms and more are illumi- nated and expounded (and critiqued) in this helpful collec- tion of essays, shedding light on aspects of our present age, from theology to politics and from art and to medicine. After reading these chapters, I was compelled to do two things: (1) I revised the sermon I was to preach the next day, and (2) I went online and ordered A Secular Age. I want to know more!” Bill Kynes (PhD, Cambridge), senior pastor of Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church, Annandale, Virginia Contributors Bruce Riley Ashford serves as provost and professor of theology and culture at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He co-authored One Nation Under God: A Christian Hope for American Politics and is the author of Every Square Inch: An Introduction to Cultural Engagement for Christians. You can follow him at www.BruceAshford.net. Mike Cosper is director of The Harbor Institute for Faith and Culture in Louisville, Kentucky. He is the author of The Stories We Tell: How TV and Movies Long for and Echo the Truth, Rhythms of Grace: How the Church’s Worship Tells the Story of the Gospel, and co-author of Faithmapping: A Gospel Atlas for Your Spiritual Journey. Bob Cutillo, MD, is an associate faculty at Denver Semi- nary, where he teaches on health and culture; an assistant clinical professor in the department of family medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine; and a physician at Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. He has worked for many years in faith-based health care for the uninsured and under-served. Greg Forster (PhD, Yale University) is the director of the Oikonomia Network, a visiting assistant professor of faith and culture at Trinity International University, and the author of numerous books and articles. Collin Hansen serves as editorial director for The Gospel Coalition. He is the author of several books, including Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist’s Journey With the New Calvinists. He previously worked as an associate editor for Christianity Today magazine, edited Revisiting ‘Faithful Presence’: To Change the World Five Years Later, co-edited Four Views on the Spectrum John Starke is lead pastor at Apostles Church Uptown in of Evangelicalism, and co-edits the Cultural Renewal series New York City. with Tim Keller. Carl Trueman (PhD, Aberdeen) is the William E. Simon vis- Michael Horton is the J. Gresham Machen professor of iting fellow in religion and public life at Princeton University. systematic theology and apologetics at Westminster Semi- He has written more than a dozen books, and co-edits with nary California. His books include Putting Amazing Back into Bruce Gordon the Oxford Handbook of Calvin and Calvinism. Grace, Christless Christianity, and The Gospel-Driven Life. Brett McCracken is a senior editor for The Gospel Coalition and pastor in Southern California. He is the author of Hipster Christianity and Gray Matters, and his most recent book is Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community. Jen Pollock Michel is the author of Keeping Place: Refections on the Meaning of Home and Teach Us to Want: Longing, Ambition and the Life of Faith. She also regularly contributes to Chris- tianity Today’s Her.meneutics blog and Today in the Word, a devotional publication of Moody Bible Institute. She lives in Toronto with her family Alan Noble is co-founder and editor-in-chief of Christ and Pop Culture and an assistant professor of English at Okla- homa Baptist University. He received his PhD from Bay- lor in 2013. Derek Rishmawy is a systematic theology PhD student at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is a columnist at Christianity Today and writes at his own blog, Reformedish. He co-hosts the Mere Fidelity podcast. Alastair Roberts (PhD, Durham University) writes in the areas of biblical theology and ethics, but frequently trespass- es beyond these bounds. He participates in the Mere Fidelity podcast