True Religion (Blackwell Manifestos)

Rating:
Summary: post-secular theology
Review: The premise that this book begins from is the implosion of secularism--not the complete end of secular institutions but rather the apprehension of its foundations being terminally undermined. This is a hefty statement that I personally believe can be significantly substantiated as credible being that the traditional secularization thesis has been entirely debunked; however, I am unsure how less sympathetic readers will react to this premise.

If we are to talk about the 'revival' of religion, albeit while recognizing it really never went away, are we to speak of the re-appearance of pre-modern forms of religion? Running along the theme adopted in the introduction of the evolution of ROMEO & JULIET pre-modern to modern to post-modern (Luhrman's) productions, Ward argues convincingly in my opinion that this is not the revival of pre-modern phantasms of religion but rather the emergence of a trangsgressive, excessive and hyper religion. This he notices can be seen in the the kitsch Holy Land Theme Parks, inane fundamentalisms, the commodification of religion through the media, etc.

'True religion', he argues, must not be understood as something fixed but as something created---as it was when true religion first became a matter of unique attention after the Reformation---through social process and cultural permutations. 'True religion' is disseminated across social and historical process in the discursive exchange of signs throughout cultural networks. Such is the general pace of the book which could frustrate some in how it skirts a direct, lucid confrontation with the issue of there being a 'true religion' as the question would be understood by the vast majority of the non-academic public.

Rating:
Summary: post-secular theology
Review: The premise that this book begins from is the implosion of secularism--not the complete end of secular institutions but rather the apprehension of its foundations being terminally undermined. This is a hefty statement that I personally believe can be significantly substantiated as credible being that the traditional secularization thesis has been entirely debunked; however, I am unsure how less sympathetic readers will react to this premise.

If we are to talk about the 'revival' of religion, albeit while recognizing it really never went away, are we to speak of the re-appearance of pre-modern forms of religion? Running along the theme adopted in the introduction of the evolution of ROMEO & JULIET pre-modern to modern to post-modern (Luhrman's) productions, Ward argues convincingly in my opinion that this is not the revival of pre-modern phantasms of religion but rather the emergence of a trangsgressive, excessive and hyper religion. This he notices can be seen in the the kitsch Holy Land Theme Parks, inane fundamentalisms, the commodification of religion through the media, etc.

'True religion', he argues, must not be understood as something fixed but as something created---as it was when true religion first became a matter of unique attention after the Reformation---through social process and cultural permutations. 'True religion' is disseminated across social and historical process in the discursive exchange of signs throughout cultural networks. Such is the general pace of the book which could frustrate some in how it skirts a direct, lucid confrontation with the issue of there being a 'true religion' as the question would be understood by the vast majority of the non-academic public.