Religion is an undiscovered country for much of the secular academy, which remains deeply ambivalent about it as an object of study. On the one hand, secular scholars agree that it is time to take religion seriously. On the other, these same scholars persist in assuming that religion rests not on belief but on power and ideology. According to Vincent Pecora, the idea of the secular itself is the source of much of the contradiction and confusion in contemporary thought about religion. Pecora aims here to work through the paradoxes of secularization, which emerges in this book as an intractable problem for cultural criticism in the nation-states of the post-Enlightenment West.
Secularization and Cultural Criticism examines the responses of a wide range of thinkers—Edward Said, Talal Asad, Jürgen Habermas, Walter Benjamin, Emile Durkheim, Carl Schmitt, Matthew Arnold, and Virginia Woolf, among others—to illustrate exactly why the problem of secularization in the study of society and culture should matter once again. Exploring the endemic difficulty posed by religion for the modern academy, Pecora makes sense of the value and potential impasses of secular cultural criticism in a global age.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Vincent P. Pecora is the Gordon B. Hinckley Professor of British Literature and Culture at the University of Utah.
“Vincent Pecora’s book is a timely and invigorating study of the predicament of cultural criticism as it confronts a global resurgence of religious movements that contest the process and meaning of secularization. He conducts a masterful analysis of the paradoxes afflicting a criticism that is the unrecognized effect of the secularization it describes. Pecora’s work brilliantly illuminates the obstacles that impede the ‘unfinished project of modernity’ and impressively performs the ‘dynamic understanding of secularization’ which, he suggests, is cultural criticism’s best way forward.” (Jerome Christensen, author of Romanticism at the End of History)
“We self-proclaimed moderns (or postmoderns) are never more at risk of flattering self-delusion than when declaring ourselves free from the taint of some ‘antiquated’ style of thought. Drawing upon a wide range and more than a century’s worth of literary, philosophical, and sociological texts, Pecora’s book presents a forceful and wholly persuasive case that disrupts the ‘secularization story’ that has ruled most narratives about the advent of Western modernity. I can think of few works of recent cultural criticism that can compare with this incisive analysis of a whole tradition of modern social thought and representation, and of none at all that speak more trenchantly to the question of religion’s persistence—not only among ‘jihadists’ opposed to U.S.-imposed ‘McWorldism,’ or among members of ‘the religious Right’ dreaming of days that never were, but in covert operation within the very discourses of modernization that purported to ‘transcend’ religion. Both steeped in tradition and eminently of our moment, this book exemplifies what cultural criticism is for.” (James Buzard, author of Disorienting Fiction: The Autoethnographic Work of Nineteenth-Century British Novels)
“Vincent Pecora’s important new book offers a powerful meditation on the complexities of secularization in modernity. His wide-ranging analysis reconstructs the rich intellectual history surrounding secularism and provides a compelling framework for understanding the ambiguous persistence of religious concepts and forms in modern thought, literature, and institutions. This is a superb study, one whose capacious insights move beyond some of the more entrenched divides in the debates over the project of modernity and the ongoing task of the humanities.”
(Amanda Anderson, author of The Way We Argue Now: A Study in the Cultures of Theory)“At a moment of frightening emergency for Edward Said’s secular ideal, Vincent Pecora offers an ingenious and innovative defense: he concedes the ideal’s ambiguities, fills in its compromising history of continuing engagement with religious tradition, and sets up a subtle and judicious negotiation with its detractors in which they too are asked to concede their deep complicity with the secularism they oppose. This work of high and generous intelligence shows us interdisciplinarity in the most visibly valuable sense.”
(Bruce Robbins, author of Feeling Global: Internationalism in Distress)"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
US$ 3.99
Within U.S.A.
Shipping:
US$ 4.00
Within U.S.A.
Seller: Bulrushed Books, Moscow, ID, U.S.A.
Condition: Good. Good or better condition. Pages have scattered marks and notes, but completely legible, binding is good. Covers mostly clean, minor scuffing or stickers. Solid reading copies. Ships fast!. Seller Inventory # #6A-00135
Quantity: 5 available
Seller: HPB-Red, Dallas, TX, U.S.A.
paperback. Condition: Acceptable. Connecting readers with great books since 1972. Used textbooks may not include companion materials such as access codes, etc. May have condition issues including wear and notes/highlighting. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!. Seller Inventory # S_360103518
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: ThriftBooks-Atlanta, AUSTELL, GA, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 0.8. Seller Inventory # G0226653129I3N00
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: BookResQ., West Valley City, UT, U.S.A.
paperback. Condition: Very Good. Priority Mail is available on this item. No international shipping. Seller Inventory # G360424AAmug170602
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Books Unplugged, Amherst, NY, U.S.A.
Condition: Good. Buy with confidence! Book is in good condition with minor wear to the pages, binding, and minor marks within 0.35. Seller Inventory # bk0226653129xvz189zvxgdd
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Book Deals, Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.
Condition: Fair. Acceptable/Fair condition. Book is worn, but the pages are complete, and the text is legible. Has wear to binding and pages, may be ex-library. 0.35. Seller Inventory # 353-0226653129-acp
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: GF Books, Inc., Hawthorne, CA, U.S.A.
Condition: Very Good. Book is in Used-VeryGood condition. Pages and cover are clean and intact. Used items may not include supplementary materials such as CDs or access codes. May show signs of minor shelf wear and contain very limited notes and highlighting. 0.35. Seller Inventory # 0226653129-2-3
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: HPB Inc., Dallas, TX, U.S.A.
paperback. Condition: Very Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!. Seller Inventory # S_404400814
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: GoldenWavesOfBooks, Fayetteville, TX, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0226653129
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Campbell Bookstore, Austin, TX, U.S.A.
Condition: new. Seller Inventory # NewCamp0226653129
Quantity: 1 available