Contemplating Culture: A Missionary Walk Through A Secular Age

Jaksot

• 47. Enduring Impacts of Mobilisation 26.05.2026 30min

  With the rise of migration from rural areas into cities, people were displaced from community and there was a felt lack which provided the perfect ground for the emergence of the Age of Mobilisation. Many societal structures and efforts of evangelisation were based around the needs and nature of this Age. In this episode we explore what some of the elements of the Age of Mobilisation were, and the enduring impacts of it into Western society today.References:-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor (pp 437-472)
• 46. The Building of Secularisation 09.04.2026 27min

  In this episode we begin a new section of A Secular Age, looking at how various parties construct their narratives of secularisation and the impact this has.There is a pervading notion that religion is either false, irrelevant, or unattractive, and that secularisation is a simple transfer of this reality via diffusion and differentiation. The narrative would say that those wishing to sustain religion must find new purpose to give it.We would say that it's the other way around- faith sustains us, and is the truest, most relevant, most attractive thing.References:-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor (pp 423-437)
• 45. The Impact of the World Wars on Faith 26.03.2026 31min

  In this episode we explore how the British synthesis of duty and altruism fared through the world wars. As faith was shaken, numerous options emerged (or were forged) to help people find a meaningful way forward.References:-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor (pp 407-419)
• 44. Duty, Discipline, and the Need for God 11.03.2026 28min

  In this episode we examine the British ethic of the 19th century that arises with its principles of being British, decency, Protestantism, and civilisation. These values are embedded into schooling, and find their peak heading into the First World War. As always, a pendulum swing comes in the other direction advocating for the redemption of spontaneity and freedom, and a gamut of positions emerge as viable options. All positions will find something missing once they have removed the transcendent and tried to make sense of things without God.References:-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor (pp 391-407)
• 43. New Paths in the 19th Century 25.02.2026 25min

  In this episode we follow some of the cases of the increasing number of expressions of belief/unbelief that emerge in the 19th Century. The old faith is considered unbelievable, but much of what it offered comes to be seen as somewhat essential. It is a period of exploration, with many different trajectories emerging in the pursuit of something plausible.References:--Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (377-390)
• 42. The Maturing of Unbelief 27.11.2025 27min

  At the turn of the 19th century, two factors rise as influential in maturing the nova of unbelief that emerged in the 18th century, namely i) the scientific stance as a higher standard, and ii) the continued unfolding of the new cosmic imaginary that had little place for a personal God. Faith came to be seen as childish and immature, and even standard exclusive humanism came to be seen as not far enough in affirming the human person and their fulfilment.How are we called to respond as missionaries in this space? In this episode we explore the power of self-reflection, patience in accompaniment, and fostering curiosity as directions we might be called to take.References:-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (361-376)
• 41. The Neutral Space of Beauty 06.11.2025 33min

  In this episode we track the development of art as opening up a space of mystery and intrigue that comes to be a neutral space for unbelief to land in the Romantic era. While at first the arts largely captured inherently beautiful things and expressed them in the appropriate public context, the context was first removed and later the subject, such that art could then just be beautiful and about nothing in particular. Further, we posit that the next development has been that art no longer even has to be beautiful. But if beauty is something that naturally leads us to God, what does all this mean for the missionary in this space?References:-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (352-360)-The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron
• 40. Deep Time and the Sublime 16.10.2025 38min

  What happens to our understanding of our world and who we are within it when we start to realise that there is a mystery surrounding the physical origins of humanity and the world?Charles Taylor highlights three themes that can emerge with this line of questioning:i) ruins and deep time (time), the sense that there is an unrecoverable past that we have emerged fromii) the sublime (space), the sense of the infinite expanse of nature at both the universe and microscopic levelsiii) the dark genesis of humanity (existence), the sense that our origins are mixed up mysteriously with that of the natural world around us, and we are perhaps less different than we might first imagineAs these directions spurt more and more avenues, so too does the no man's land between belief and atheism seem to widen. How are we to respond? We turn to a popular biblical narrative and return to the marketplace to find out.References:-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (335-351)
• 39. Marvel and the Modern Cosmic Imaginary 24.09.2025 27min

  In this episode we explore two shifts that occur at the turn of the 19th century that start to provide meaningful shape to the experience of living at the time: i) the shift from a cosmos to the universe, ii) an understanding an acceptance of the evoluntionary process.As limits start to fade into a distant past, the imagination of the ordinary person slowly becomes more and more open to possibilities. Rather than despair, this should be a moment of hope for Christians as we realise that imaginations everywhere are open for the rich reality of the Gospel.References:-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (322-334)
• 38. Dissatisfactions with the Buffered Identity 04.09.2025 41min

  In this episode we explore with Charles Taylor some of the felt dissatisfactions that begin to arise with the emergence of the buffered identity.In the realm of resonance, these include i) the notion that Deism is too tame and that we must take love seriously, ii) a revulsion at goodness being only at the level of self-interest, and iii) the feeling that life within the immanent order is too easily reduced to a code.In the realm of the romantic, these include i) the felt alienation of the self from the senses, ii) the felt alienation of the self from others, iii) the felt alienation of the self from nature. and iv) the felt sense of division between humanity and nature.In the realm of tragedy, these include i) the sense that pain and suffering are too easily denied, ii) the loss of the heroic, iii) the rejection of a flat and levelled down sense of happiness, and iv) the lack of a place for death in the immanent frame.References:-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (310-321)
• 37. Modern Objections to Christianity 16.07.2025 29min

  In this episode we look at the objections of the Modern Moral Order to Orthodox Christianity:i) it offends reason by holding a place for mysteryii) it is authoritarian by holding an Almighty above us, offending both reason and freedomiii) it poses impossible problems of theodicyiv) it threatens the order of mutual benefit.Of these, we take a particular look at theodicy, and the range of responses people might take.References:-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (304-310)
• 36. The Malaise of Modernity 18.06.2025 28min

  In this episode we enter into the halls of Part III of A Secular Age - The Nova Effect. Once there is one viable option of unbelief, more and more become available and viable, as do ways of believing, as well as options at every point in between - an explosion of options for belief and unbelief.Part III begins with Chapter 8 - The Malaises of Modernity, where Charles Taylor looks at what it feels like to be in a world so "progressed" and "free" but feeling like something isn't quite right.We take time to note where we see the malaise in the world around us, and the response it draws out.References:-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (299-304)
• 35. Understanding Reality and Freedom 20.05.2025 32min

  In a world where freedom has become such a key value, and in many ways is aligned with human dignity, does believing in God offend our freedom, or does it in fact provide a foundation for it?In this episode we explore the implications of "I think, there I am" both in terms of how we view what is and could be real, and how we understand our freedom. With the glorification of disengaged reason, we can be fooled into thinking our mind is the sole maker of meaning in the universe."Disengagement may be quite the wrong way to go about increasing understanding" (p. 285)"The prestige of the stance begins to dictate what we can take in as reality" (p.286)References:-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (280-295)
• 34. Tensions Between Classical Thought and Christianity 06.05.2025 40min

  In this episode we look at 6 tensions between classical Greek thought and Orthodox Christianity as they played out in the aftermath of the Enlightenment: i) the importance of the body, ii) what of our lives is important when we reach our ultimate end, iii) the sense of the individual in eternity, iv) the importance of contingency and the unfolding of history, (v) the importance of the emotions, and vi) the human person as one who is capable of divine communion.For each of these, we've formulated a reflection question for you to think and/or discuss and/or pray about:i) Is the body part of the highest good, or a hindrance to it?ii) Is the whole story of ups and downs of someone's life important in the end, or just where you end up?iii) Is the individual retained in the end or lost in the gathering of eternity?iv) Has God pre-written the story, or does it unfold as different events and choices are made?v) Does God have emotion? If we're moving towards being like God, what should be the place of our emotions?vi) Are we created and saved to go to heaven, or to be in personal communion with the divine?References:-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (275-280)
• 33. From God as Agent to God as Architect 22.04.2025 23min

  With this episode we begin to look at the chapter 'The Impersonal Order'. As the exclusive authority of reason applied to the natural sciences starts to be applied to other fields, the communal image of God starts to shift. God is relegated to the sidelines with the Deist notion that he has set up the world and it is now left to humanity to make of it what we will.Taylor claims that this movement was powered not only by reason, as some would posit, but an emerging distaste for 'old religion':"The slide to Deism was not just the result of 'reason' and 'science', but reflected a deep-seated moral distaste for the old religion that sees God as an agent in history" (p. 274).References:-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (270-275)
• 32. When Niche Ideas Become Widespread Directives 08.04.2025 26min

  In this episode we look at the point where the niche ideas of the elite expand into mainstream directives to such a degree that there is no going back. This is a turning point in the Western world.We can't fully understand our own context until we appreciate the turn where rationality was no longer optional, and goods such as freedom, life, prosperity, peace, and mutual benefit start to be pursued for their own sake, no longer in reference to and increasingly in opposition to Orthodox Christianity.References:-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (259-269)
• 31. Why Do We Do Good? 19.11.2024 27min

  In this episode we look at the idea of goodness and how humanity has shifted its understanding of why we pursue it. How did humanity come to accept goodness in the same movement as distancing themselves from God? How did agape love descend to a form of measured universal sympathy? Is this is natural progression of humanity once the structures of religion are removed? We explore these and other questions, and seek to address the issue of how to be a missionary in this space in today's world. "They could find within their own human resources the motivation to universal beneficence and justice" (p248). "The disengaged, disciplined agent, capable of remaking the self, who has discovered and thus released in himself the awesome power of control, is obviously one of the crucial supports of modern exclusive humanism" (p 257). "Like all striking human achievement, there is something in it which resists reduction to these enabling conditions" (p258). "The core of the subtraction story consists in this, that we only needed to get these perverse and illusory condemnations off our back, and the value of ordinary human desire shines out, in its true nature, as it has always been" (p253). References: -Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (242-259) Website: -https://sites.google.com/contemplatingculture
• 30. Polite Society and Tolerance 29.10.2024 22min

  In this episode we look at the development of the Modern Moral Order as expressed in "polite society", the power of this communally held notion, and the impact of this upon religion and people of faith. Polite society has bequeathed us tolerance, but is this really what we're called to? References: -Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (234-242) Website: https://sites.google.com/contemplatingculture
• 29. What Powered the Rise of Deism? 08.10.2024 30min

  In this episode we look at the 3 forces Charles Taylor proposes as fuelling the rise of deism: -the success of the order project, the mentality that "we can do it on our own" -continuation of the ideals of the reformation, the decline of the mysterious and heroic as the ordinary vocations are affirmed -reaction against the 'juridicial-penal' model, where self-interest came to be accepted as good in a rejection of the "depraved humanity" of Jansenism We discuss what was it may have been like for the individual and their life of faith living in this period of transition, as well as the response of theologians through theodicy (giving an account for God). Taylor sums up this response when he says "Now that we think we see how it all works... [people begin discussing divine justice] and the theologians begin to feel that this is the challenge they must meet to fight back the coming wave of unbelief" (p. 233). References: -Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (226-234) Website: https://sites.google.com/contemplatingculture
• 28. Deism: The God who doesn't intervene 28.07.2024 41min

  We proceed into looking at Part II: The Turning Point, as Charles Taylor outlines deism as a hinge point between classic Christianity and exclusive humanism. In this episode we look at the 4 anthropocentric shifts Taylor outlines that characterise the shift to providential deism: i) the eclipse of higher purpose than human flourishing in the here and now ii) the eclipse of grace and intervention of God in daily life iii) the eclipse of mystery and reduction of the world to a knowable closed unit iv) the eclipse of the goal of human transformation/deification in this life Taylor says of this line of Christianity that "it barely involved the saving action of Christ, nor did it dwell on the life of devotion and prayer, although the 17th century was rich in this. The argument turned exclusively on demonstrating God as reator, and showing his Providence" (p 225). References: -Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (221-225) Website: https://sites.google.com/contemplatingculture