Woops! Didn't notice that. That's what I get for not reading the first part. But it's good none the less. I googled "William Edgar on Secularism" and that came up. My bad. Still worth reading though.
Secularism is a rival theology. Foundational ideas like human rights, state sovereignty, individual autonomy, and historical progress are not self-evident truths of reason. They are historically contingent and are, in fact, distinct versions of Christian theological concepts. Critiques of Western culture often fail to see what is really going on from a religious point of view and miss "the clash of the gods" that is inherent in the culture wars. Idolatry never went away. It only became more subtle and less obvious.
Secularism is a rival theology. Foundational ideas like human rights, state sovereignty, individual autonomy, and historical progress are not self-evident truths of reason. They are historically contingent and are, in fact, distinct versions of Christian theological concepts. Critiques of Western culture often fail to see what is really going on from a religious point of view and miss "the clash of the gods" that is inherent in the culture wars. Idolatry never went away. It only became more subtle and less obvious.
Here is intellectual history at its best. When I first opened it, I thought to myself, ho-hum, one more book on modernity. A book this one is often compared with is Charles Taylor's A Secular Age, which, if more nuanced and perhaps on more solid diagnostic ground, I found to ramble through so...
www.thegospelcoalition.org
This book is about Modernity but that's kinda a catch all term in some respects. But William Edgar reviews it. It looks like a fascinating book, none the less.
Here is intellectual history at its best. When I first opened it, I thought to myself, ho-hum, one more book on modernity. A book this one is often compared with is Charles Taylor's A Secular Age, which, if more nuanced and perhaps on more solid diagnostic ground, I found to ramble through so...
www.thegospelcoalition.org
This book is about Modernity but that's kinda a catch all term in some respects. But William Edgar reviews it. It looks like a fascinating book, none the less.
Excellent review. Yes, the book being reviewed is good in intellectual history and thesis; not so good in theological diagnostics. Edgar is sharp in his analysis.
Excellent review. Yes, the book being reviewed is good in intellectual history and thesis; not so good in theological diagnostics. Edgar is sharp in his analysis.
Excellent review. Yes, the book being reviewed is good in intellectual history and thesis; not so good in theological diagnostics. Edgar is sharp in his analysis.
Yeah to piggyback on what I said. The Secularism/Modernity/Postmodernity debate has fascinated me this past couple of years. It's an extension of what was going to be my PhD thesis in philosophy.
So, even though I'll probably never get it, I can't help but stay up to date on what's going on in this field. That whole debate and the intellectual/cultural affect of the larger "Death of God" epoch (in Nietzsche's sense) in Western society.
To that end William Edgar is a genius on this subject, possibly eclipsed by Christopher Watkins. Both Reformed thinkers. Whatever school of Apologetics/Philosophy one comes from, we know that we have the answers to these questions and the ultimate answer to all our problems (personal or otherwise) in the Gospel.