Varieties of Secularism in a Secular Age

It is too soon to know for sure whether Charles Taylor’s sprawling book A Secular Age will prove to be as important and influential as it seemed when it appeared in 2007. Knotty and ambitious books, particularly when they seek to change the terms of discussion itself, take time to be absorbed and assimilated, as their arguments are mediated, interpreted, debated, tested, modified, and appropriated (or rejected) in whole or in part. Given the length and difficulty of Taylor’s book, it seems likely that a decade or more will pass before we know anything definite on that count. But given Taylor’s status as one of the most eminent philosophers of the past half-century, and given the fact that his massive tome would be the intellectual culmination of a long and brilliant career, there was no doubt that energetic and respectful attention would be paid. The book’s appearance occasioned a very large number of generally favorable reviews and stimulated fresh discussions between and among students both of religion and secularism, advocates for both belief and unbelief. There was excitement in the air, and one had at times the sense that an important intellectual breakthrough might be occurring. Much of the early excitement expressed itself on the Social Science Research Council’s website, The Immanent Frame (http://blogs.ssrc.org/tif/), edited by Jonathan VanAntwerpen, which quickly became a forum for scholars drawn to Taylor’s project and related matters.