'A Secular Age': Tracing the Contours of Religion and Belief

Date: Monday 8th - Thursday 11th June 2009
Location: Mater Dei Institute of Education

 

Video extracts from conference speeches (in chronological order)

All videos are copyrighted by Mater Dei Institute of Education.

Prof. Michael Paul Gallagher: 'Translating Taylor: Pastoral and Theological Implications'.

Professor Michael Gallagher (Gregorian University, Rome) in his public lecture was both informative and challenging. Gallagher reminded us that the incarnation of God requires a humanism. God, he cautioned, separated from history creates a human separated from God.
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Dr. Joseph Dunne

In his paper Dr Joe Dunne, (St Patrick's College, Dublin, Ireland), wondered if such a large magisterial book as A Secular Age could be received in a culture of the sound bite. His paper also indicated how Taylor seems, in his writings and thought, to be moving towards 'spirituality', to something 'beyond morality'.
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Dr. Eoin G. Cassidy: 'Transcending Human Flourishing: Is There a Need for a Subtler Language?'

Dr. Eoin G. Cassidy (Mater Dei, Dublin, Ireland) convincingly argued against the appropriateness of Taylor's use of the transcendence/immanence distinction as a template to discuss the fate of religion in this secular age.
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Professor Gregor McLennan: 'Timorous Taylor, Symptom of the Postsecular'.

Professor Gregor McLennan contended that to attempt to restrict the use of the term transcendence to religious experiences was untenable. It is, he suggested, a useful and valuable term for many of the experiences of life, both secular and lay.
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Professor Michael Conway: 'The Chaste Morning of the Infinite: Secularisation between the Social Sciences and Theology'.

Professor Michael Conway (St Patrick's College, Maynooth, Ireland) gave a clear account of the progress of secularisation in recent centuries.
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Professor Ruth Abbey: 'A Secular Age: the Missing Question Mark'.

The Taylor Lecture, was given by Professor Ruth Abbey (University of Notre Dame, U.S.), a former student of Charles Taylor and a well-known scholar of his works. In a stimulating lecture she wondered how secular the age really is, and suggested that a better title for the book might be, 'What Secular Age?'
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Dr. Fáinche Ryan: '"Code fixation", Dilemmas and the Missing Virtue: Practical Wisdom in a Secular Age'.

Stemming from the remark in The Secular Age that today 'we need phronesis even more' Dr Fáinche Ryan's (Mater Dei Institute, Dublin, Ireland) paper addressed the need for the recovery of the virtue of prudentia, practical wisdom, to enable human beings to live well in a complex world.
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Professor Michael Cronin: 'Believe it or not: Secularism and the "Crisis" of European Multiculturalism'.

The endless multiplication of difference has resulted in a western world where, as Professor Michael Cronin (Dublin City University, Ireland) suggested, difference no longer makes a difference.
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Dr. Pádraig Hogan: 'Religious Inheritances of Learning and the "Unquiet Frontiers of Modernity"'.

Taylor's A Secular Age received analysis from an educational standpoint by Dr. Pádraig Hogan (NUI Maynooth, Ireland). He reminded educators of religion that their pupils are the 'multitude' and not the 'disciples' as portrayed in the New Testament.
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Dr. Conor Cunningham: 'Refusing Communion: Secularization, ultra-Darwinism and the Reign of the Neanderthal'.

Dr Conor Cunningham (University of Nottingham, UK) in his paper termed Dawkins, Dennett and their ilk as Neanderthals, who by refusing to accept the veracity of symbols refused communion with those holding religious faith.
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