#45— How (Not) to Be Secular, with James K. A. Smith [MIPodcast]

Maxwell Institute Podcast

Christianity, Education, Religion & Spirituality

4.7 • 809 Ratings

🗓️ 10 May 2016

⏱️ 69 minutes

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Summary

Why was it virtually impossible not to believe in God in, say, 1500 in our Western society, while in 2016 many people find it more difficult to believe than not? This is the question that Charles Taylor tackles in his massive book A Secular Age.

In this episode, James K. A. Smith joins us to talk about Taylor’s work. What was it like to believe in God in the past and what is it like for many believers today—and how did we get from there to here? Whether you find it easy or difficult to believe in God today, you’ll find much food for thought in Smith’s book How (Not) to be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor.

About James K. A. Smith

James K. A. Smith is professor of philosophy at Calvin College and author of How (Not) to be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor. His latest book is called You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit. He recently visited Brigham Young University to deliver a guest lecture sponsored by the Wheatley Institution.

The post #45— How (Not) to Be Secular, with James K. A. Smith [MIPodcast] appeared first on Neal A. Maxwell Institute | BYU.

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's the Maxwell Institute podcast.
0:04.0	I'm Blair Hodges.
0:05.8	Why was it virtually impossible not to believe in God in, say, 1,500 in our Western society,
0:12.7	while in 2016, many of us find it more difficult to believe?
0:16.8	This is the question that philosopher Charles Taylor tackles in his massive book called A Secular Age.
0:22.7	In this episode, James K.A. Smith joins us to talk about Taylor's project.
0:27.6	What was it like to believe in God in the past and what is it like for many believers today?
0:31.8	And how did we get here?
0:33.3	Whether you find it easy or difficult to believe in God today, James K.A. Smith has a lot to teach you in his book,
0:39.8	How Not to Be Secular, Reading Charles Taylor.
0:43.3	Questions and comments about this and other episodes of the Maxwell Institute podcast
0:46.9	can be sent to MIP Podcast at BYU.edu.
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1:09.5	James K.A. Smith is Professor of Philosophy at Calvin College and author of the book How Not to Be Secular, reading Charles Taylor.
1:16.7	He's here visiting Brigham Young University with the Wheatley Center this weekend, had some time to stop by and talk about his book and talking about Charles Taylor's book, A Secular Age.
1:26.7	Thanks for taking the time to meet with us.
1:28.6	It's great to be here. And you go by Jamie, right? Yeah, please. Jamie. Okay, good, good. Yeah. So,
1:32.9	I wanted to begin by talking about conditions of belief. Charles Taylor is a philosopher who kind of
1:38.9	wanted to write this book about how it is to believe today. It's an incredibly interesting, an
	...

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