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"Tolkien had taught him [C.S. Lewis]
that the inability to believe in Christianity was primarily a...
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MacLaurinCSF Reading Groups are small discussion groups in which members read in conversation with each other. Gr...
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Calendar of Events
Announcing the MacLaurin Insitute's Summer Seminar, "The Problem with the Modern Self: Imagining Personhood in Light of Limitations, Disability, and Suffering"
August 2, 2011; 7:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
2010 Holmer Lecture
At 7pm on Friday, November 19, the MacLaurin Institute will be pleased to host James K. A. Smith, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Calvin College, as the 2010 Paul Holmer lecturer. Prof. Smith will give an address entitled "We Are What We Worship: On Sacred and Secular Liturgies." The lecture will be held in Room 3-210, Keller Hall, 200 Union Street SE, on the main Minneapolis campus of the University of Minnesota. Click here for transportation and parking directions.
The distinction—and opposition—between the “sacred” and “secular” has gained new strength in the hands of the new atheists and other public intellectuals. Defining “religion” in terms of a certain set of ideas (about God and the supernatural, for example), many confidently portray themselves as “secular” and therefore not religious. But what if faith is not just about believing a certain set of ideas but being committed to a certain way of life? What if we considered religion not just in terms of beliefs and doctrines but also in terms of what we worship? And what if worship is essential to being human? Then even the “secular” might be “religious.” We’ll explore this by considering the religious nature of “secular liturgies.”
Click here for the event poster.
The distinction—and opposition—between the “sacred” and “secular” has gained new strength in the hands of the new atheists and other public intellectuals. Defining “religion” in terms of a certain set of ideas (about God and the supernatural, for example), many confidently portray themselves as “secular” and therefore not religious. But what if faith is not just about believing a certain set of ideas but being committed to a certain way of life? What if we considered religion not just in terms of beliefs and doctrines but also in terms of what we worship? And what if worship is essential to being human? Then even the “secular” might be “religious.” We’ll explore this by considering the religious nature of “secular liturgies.”
Click here for the event poster.
