The Lost Road

An inquiry into the religious roots of the West's decline.

A heady brew of engagements with a host of thinkers on faith, reason, and ecology in a secular world. A passionate plea for the renewal of contemplative life in response to the nihilistic consumerism of our times. — Richard Kearney, Boston College

In this genre defying book, author Sean McGrath explains why we must look more closely at our secular society’s religious roots to counteract the destructive spiritual forces consumerism has unleashed on the earth. Modernity, the author argues, is a Christian heresy. It can only be corrected through a religious conversion of Christians, post-Christians, and their children. What must be recovered is Christianity’s contemplative and mystical attitude — but it must be recovered in a non-nostalgic way that moves forward into the ecological civilization that is coming to painful birth in our time. The Lost Road is, in part, an autobiographical narrative that recounts a life-long search for contemplative Christianity, as well as an ongoing interrogation into why it’s so difficult to find, sustain, and share.

Sean McGrath is a Full Professor of Philosophy at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Adjunct Professor of Religious Studies at McGill University. After five years in a cloistered Roman Catholic monastic community, he completed doctoral degrees in both Philosophy and Theology. He has taught and researched the philosophy of religion for over twenty years. He is the author of six academically acclaimed books in areas as diverse as psychoanalysis and ecology, but always with a contemplative theological approach. He lives in Holyrood, Canada.