A Secular Age
Mike Ervin
Absolutely. Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age (2007) is a
monumental and influential work—a deep philosophical exploration of how the
Western world transitioned from a time when belief in God was nearly universal
to an age in which faith is one option among many, and often not the default.
Comprehensive Overview of A Secular Age
Author: Charles Taylor
Published: 2007
Length: Over 800 pages
Core Question: How did we move from a world where
belief in God was unchallenged, to one where disbelief is entirely
possible—even common?
Central Thesis
Taylor argues that secularism in the modern West is not
just about decline in religious belief or church attendance, but about a
massive cultural shift in the “conditions of belief.” We now live in what he
calls a “secular age” — not because religion is dead, but because faith is no
longer axiomatic. It is now fragile, contested, and exists among a plurality of
alternatives.
Three Definitions of Secularization (Taylor’s
Framework)
Taylor distinguishes between three senses of the term
secular:
- Secular1: The exclusion of religious institutions from
public life (e.g., separation of church and state).
- Secular2: The decline of religious belief and
practice.
- Secular3 (his focus): A change in the “conditions of
belief” - from a society where belief is the default to one where belief
is optional, and even challenging.
Historical Trajectory: From Christendom to the Secular
Age
Taylor explores a 500-year sweep of Western history,
identifying how the modern secular age developed. Key steps include:
1.The Medieval Imagination (pre-1500s)
- The world was enchanted—people experienced the cosmos
as infused with divine presence.
- Religion was woven into all aspects of life —
identity, morality, politics, and nature.
- Belief in God was virtually inescapable.
2. Reform and Disenchantment (1500s–1700s
- The Protestant Reformation and later movements tried
to purify religious practice, focusing on inward belief and personal
piety.
- This led to a “disenchantment” of the world:
sacredness was withdrawn from nature and relocated to the internal
spiritual life.
- Gradually, rationalism and science replaced religious
explanations for the natural world.
3. The Rise of the Buffered Self
- Pre-modern
people were “porous selves”, open to spirits, grace, and cosmic forces.
- Modern people
are “buffered selves” — psychologically sealed off from transcendence,
experiencing the world as immanent and explainable without God.
4. The Immanent Frame
- Taylor’s key concept: modern society operates within
an “immanent frame”, a social and mental space where only this-worldly
explanations are considered valid.
- Religious belief is still possible, but must now be
chosen, not assumed.
- Even believers now live in doubt, aware of plausible
non-belief.
Key Concepts in Taylor’s Argument
Concept
Meaning
Enchantment
A world full of
spiritual presence and divine meaning
Disenchantment
The modern world
seen as mechanistic and closed off to transcendence
Immanent Frame
A shared social
context in which only naturalistic or secular explanations are required
Buffered Self
The modern
individual protected from spiritual forces; autonomous, self-contained
Nova Effect
Explosion of
spiritual options in modernity—belief, unbelief, hybrid spiritualities
Cross-Pressure
The modern
condition of being pulled between belief and unbelief, doubt and longing
Concept
Meaning
Enchantment
A world full of
spiritual presence and divine meaning
Disenchantment
The modern world
seen as mechanistic and closed off to transcendence
Immanent Frame
A shared social
context in which only naturalistic or secular explanations are required
Buffered Self
The modern
individual protected from spiritual forces; autonomous, self-contained
Nova Effect
Explosion of
spiritual options in modernity—belief, unbelief, hybrid spiritualities
Cross-Pressure
The modern
condition of being pulled between belief and unbelief, doubt and longing
Modern Pluralism and the “Nova Effect”
Taylor argues that the modern secular age isn’t simply
atheist, but spiritually diverse:
- Religious
belief competes with atheism, agnosticism, humanism, and eclectic
spiritualities.
- This is the
“Nova Effect” — a vast proliferation of possible worldviews and paths.
- Everyone, even
devout believers, now lives in a world where alternatives are visible and
viable.
Implications of the Secular Age
For Believers:
Faith is no
longer socially guaranteed.
Belief requires
personal commitment, not just cultural inheritance.
Believers must
reckon with doubt, pluralism, and the immanent frame.
For Non-Believers:
- Atheism and secular humanism are also positions of
faith, not neutral defaults.
- Modernity doesn’t make belief impossible, only more
contested.
For Society:
- Religion doesn’t disappear, but changes form.
- The sacred is often pursued through art, morality,
politics, or personal experience.
- Institutions may lose power, but spiritual longing
persists.
Summary
in a Nutshell
Taylor’s answer to “What is a secular age?”
It’s not an age without
religion, but an age where religious belief is no longer inevitable. It is now
just one possibility among many, and all options come with a sense of risk and
fragility.
🧩 Who
Should Read A Secular Age?
- Scholars and students of philosophy, theology,
sociology, and cultural history
- Believers seeking to understand why faith feels harder
today
- Secular readers interested in the complexity of modern
pluralism
- Anyone reflecting on why God seems both near and far
in the modern age
📚 Related
Works for Comparison
Chapter by Chapter
Below is a chapter-by-chapter summary of
Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age. Given the book’s length (over 800 pages) and
complexity, this summary is structured around its main parts and key chapters,
reflecting the organization of Taylor’s argument. The book is divided into five
main parts.
A Secular Age — Chapter-by-Chapter Summary
Introduction
- Purpose: Taylor sets out to explain how Western
society moved from a time when belief in God was taken for granted to one
in which belief is only one option among many—and often a difficult one.
- Introduces his focus: secularity in the third sense
(Secular3)—a transformation in the conditions of belief.
- Rejects simple “subtraction stories” (the idea that
secularism is just the removal of superstition and error).
- He instead explores the long historical development
that gave rise to the modern secular age.
Part I: The Work of Reform
Chapter 1: The Bulwarks of Belief
- Examines why belief in God was once “almost
unchallengeable.”
- The world was understood as enchanted and
purposeful—religion made sense of everything.
- “Porous selves” were vulnerable to spiritual forces;
society supported religious belief at every level.
Chapter 2: The Rise of Disciplinary Society
- Explores how modern discipline—both social and
personal - disrupted medieval religious structures.
- The Protestant Reformation and moral rigorism began to
individualize and internalize faith.
Chapter 3: The Great Disembedding
- Describes the shift from embedded societies (where
individuals were part of a cosmic order) to disembedded ones (where
individuals are autonomous).
- This sets the stage for modern individualism and moral
autonomy.
Part II: The Turning Point
Chapter 4: The Modern Social Imaginary
- Introduces the concept of “social imaginary”—how
people collectively imagine their social life.
- The new imaginary promotes individualism, economic
society, and secular political structures.
Chapter 5: Narratives of Reform
- Traces how moral reform movements created a society
focused on ordinary life—work, family, productivity.
- Religion becomes more about inner devotion and less
about ritual or cosmic mystery.
Chapter 6: The Expanding Universe of Unbelief
- Describes how new spaces for unbelief emerge.
- The immanent world becomes more satisfying for
people - religion loses its monopoly on meaning.
Part III: The Nova Effect
Chapter 7: The Age of Mobilization
- Explores the growth of new collective
identities—nationalism, liberalism, political ideologies.
- These start to replace or rival religion as frameworks
for meaning and purpose.
Chapter 8: The Malaises of Modernity
As
modernity progresses, new anxieties arise: alienation, lack of depth, spiritual
hunger.
- Even as society becomes more secular, the longing for
transcendence persists.
Chapter 9: The Dark Abyss of Time
- Examines the secular sense of history—time is no
longer governed by divine providence but by human agency.
- This temporal shift deeply affects the experience of
meaning and purpose.
Part IV: The Conditions of Belief
Chapter 10: The Immanent Frame
- Central chapter. Taylor introduces the concept of the
“immanent frame”—a social space where people can live entirely without
reference to the transcendent.
- Belief and unbelief both happen within this frame.
- It allows for belief, but does not require it.
Chapter 11: The Age of Authenticity
- Modern people seek authentic expression and individual
meaning.
- Religion is now approached personally rather than
communally or institutionally.
- This is the era of spiritual seeking, DIY religion,
and hybrid beliefs.
Part V: Envoi
Chapter 12: The Spiritual Shape of Modernity
- Taylor reflects on what modernity has lost and gained.
- Despite secularization, religion persists in new
forms—often in immanentized or “horizontal” modes (e.g., through humanism,
art, activism).
- Ends with a hopeful vision: even in a secular age, the
search for fullness and transcendence continues.
🧩 Final
Summary of the Book’s Arc
Taylor’s argument in stages:
- In the pre-modern world, belief was virtually
inevitable—supported by an enchanted cosmos and communal structures.
- Reform movements, particularly within Christianity,
unintentionally laid the groundwork for secularization by focusing on
inner faith and discipline.
- Modern society, with its individualism and scientific
worldview, developed an immanent frame that made religion optional.
- We live now in a “secular age”, not because people no
longer believe, but because belief exists amid plurality, fragility, and
choice.
Modern Pluralism and the “Nova Effect”
Taylor argues that the modern secular age isn’t simply
atheist, but spiritually diverse:
- Religious belief competes with atheism, agnosticism,
humanism, and eclectic spiritualities.
- This is the “Nova Effect” — a vast proliferation of
possible worldviews and paths.
- Everyone, even devout believers, now lives in a world
where alternatives are visible and viable.
Implications of the Secular Age
For Believers:
- Faith is no longer socially guaranteed.
- Belief requires personal commitment, not just cultural
inheritance.
- Believers must reckon with doubt, pluralism, and the
immanent frame.
For Non-Believers:
- Atheism and secular humanism are also positions of
faith, not neutral defaults.
- Modernity doesn’t make belief impossible, only more
contested.
For Society:
- Religion doesn’t disappear, but changes form.
- The sacred is often pursued through art, morality,
politics, or personal experience.
- Institutions may lose power, but spiritual longing
persists.
📖 Summary
in a Nutshell
Taylor’s answer to “What is a secular age?”
It’s not an age without
religion, but an age where religious belief is no longer inevitable. It is now
just one possibility among many, and all options come with a sense of risk and
fragility.
🧩 Who
Should Read A Secular Age?
- Scholars and students of philosophy, theology,
sociology, and cultural history
- Believers seeking to understand why faith feels harder
today
- Secular readers interested in the complexity of modern
pluralism
- Anyone reflecting on why God seems both near and far
in the modern age
Related
Works for Comparison
Suggested Companion Readings
- James K.A. Smith, How (Not) to Be Secular — a
condensed and accessible summary of Taylor’s book.
- Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular — a critique of
secularism from an anthropological view.
- Robert Bellah, Religion in Human Evolution — another
deep historical approach to the development of religious consciousness.
A Secular Age