Religion in the National Agenda: What We Mean by Religious, Spiritual, Secular - Hardcover

Sommerville, C. John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1602581630 ISBN 13: 9781602581630

Publisher: Baylor University Press, 2009

Synopsis

In this highly provocative investigation, C. John Sommerville examines common linguistic uses of the terms "religion," "religious," "spiritual," and "secular" in order to discern understandings of these words in contemporary American culture. For example, he finds that, in English, "religion" is our word for a certain kind of response to a certain kind of power (the power and the response both being beyond anything else in our experience). Sommerville then uses these definitions to examine the ways that institutions in the fields of education, science, law, politics and religion are affected--often in unexpected ways--by a shared set of assumptions about what these words mean.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

This work formulates nominal definitions of "religion" and "religious" and explores how those definitions impact current controversies over religion in the public.

About the Author:

C. John Sommerville (Ph.D. University of Iowa) is Emeritus Professor of History, University of Florida. He is the author of nine books, including most recently, The Decline of the Secular University (2006), How the News Makes Us Dumb: The Death of Wisdom in an Information Society (1999), and The News Revolution in England: Cultural Dynamic of Daily Information (1996).

About this edition

• Publisher: Baylor University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1602581630
• ISBN 13: 9781602581630
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 253