I am headed down to London tomorrow to go to the School of Life www.schooloflife.com. I have wanted to visit this little place ever since hearing about it from my friend Barry Taylor. Alain de Botton will be preaching about his new book Religion for Atheists. Atheists like de Botton are taking a spiritual turn towards religion and actually engaging with religion in ways that are textured and critical. There is an approach in the 2.0 version of atheism of the need to understand and learn from the dynamics of religion. Within this engagement is the acknowledgment that individuals and society are facing problems and religion can be a helpful dialogue partner. Alternatively folks like Jack Caputo, Richard Kearney and Pete Rollins are introducing western constructs of religion to continental philosophy's notion of the absence of God, the concealment of God and the unnameability of God. This is the religious turn towards atheism and doubt as central to the christian faith. I think there is much to be gained in holding these two dialogues in tension.
Here is de Botton at TED - my guess is that his talk on Sunday will be cut from the same cloth. It is well worth the 20 min:
Welcome back to the blogosphere. Glad to hear a little bit more about what's happening. I'll look forward to listening to the ted talk later :)
ReplyDeleteHugs and prayers to you and yours
Great to hear from you Peter! Thinking about you as I head off to a Burns night next week - think I will stick with the poetry. Love to you and yours as well!
DeleteGood Lord! It's been so long since you posted here that I'd forgotten I had it in my RSS reader!
ReplyDeleteGlad things are going well and that you're still exploring the places where God meets the world. I have to admit, I've often wondered about all the things that atheists "miss out on" by denying anything spiritual. It's interesting to see that atheists are exploring that, too.
Thanks for the update. Glad to hear you and family are doing well.
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