Book Overview:
James K A Smith sets out to help Christians struggling to get to grips with a secular world understand both how affected the Church itself is by secular thinking, and how we reach those caught in its grip. Smith draws heavily upon the work of Charles Taylor acting as a guide to his totemic work, The Secular Age.
Discussion:
- What is meant by the phrase ‘the secular age’? (pp.1-25)
- What does it mean to live in an age that is ‘haunted’, ‘cross-pressured’ and ‘contested’? To what extent do you agree with this diagnosis?
- Why is storytelling so important to Taylor, and to the power of secularization? How might this impact the way we live and communicate our faith? (pp.23-25)
- The world of the secular is not just one of unbelief, but one in which it is possible to live without belief in the divine (p.26). What were the obstacles to unbelief? How did exclusive humanism become a viable social imaginary? (pp.26-46 & pp.70-78)
- Disenchantment and the buffered self
- Living social
- Lowering the bar for flourishing
- The fullness of time
- From cosmos to universe
- Impact of the Reformation
- What emerged to replace belief in God? What do we believe in instead? (pp.47-59)
- What issues do Smith/Taylor have with apologetics? Do you agree? How might this change the way we do evangelism?
- What does it look and feel like to be in a ‘secular age’? (pp.60-69)
- Fragilization from cross pressures
- The malaises of immanence
- What is meant by the term ‘the age of authenticity’? What role does spirituality play within this age? (pp.84-91)
- What criticisms of life within the immanent frame does Taylor make? What options do we have for navigating through the immanent frame? What is the path forward for Christians? (pp.92-127)
- What are the weaknesses of an exclusive humanist position? How might we incorporate answers to these into our witness? (pp.128-131)
- What does conversion look like according to Taylor’s account? What possible futures are there for our society? How might this present opportunities for believers? (pp.132-139)
