Charles Taylor and the Religious Imaginary in A Secular Age

The notion of a "social imaginary" -the way people come to understand their social surroundings by way of images, stories, and legends-has come to play a key role in Charles Taylor's thought. This is especially true of his most recent book, A Secular Age, in which Taylor attempts to trace the historical development of Western secularism as we experience it today. This seminar will be devoted to an in-depth study of this intellectual tour de force. Through this study, seminar participants will also consider what role Taylor's Roman Catholic religious commitment plays in his thought, as well as the role a religiously-informed "social imaginary" might play in a luralized global society that is deeply impacted by, but also largely at odds with, the particular social imaginary of Western modernity.