A Secular Age

“Put in another way, in our ‘secular’ societies, you can engage fully in politics without ever encountering God.”

The word “secular” emphasizes the dichotomy between the religious and the non-religious. This juxtaposition highlights the separation of religious belief from public and political life, underlining a dichotomy between the sacred and the profane. The phrase “without ever encountering God” creates an implied analogy between the political engagement of secular and religious societies, where omnipresent divine encounters implicitly characterize the latter.

“Every person, and every society, lives with or by some conception(s) of what human flourishing is: what constitutes a fulfilled life? what makes life really worth living? What would we most admire people for?”

Taylor uses rhetorical questions to appeal to human concerns and emotions. This excerpt also employs anaphora, with “what” beginning each clause, creating a rhythmic emphasis reinforcing the contemplative tone. There is also subtle didacticism at play, where the text instructs by encouraging reflection on existential themes such as purpose, virtue, and fulfillment. The passage also aligns with allegory by implicitly suggesting that the search for human flourishing can represent The Search for Meaning and Moral Order within secular and religious frameworks.

“But today, for instance, when a naturalistic materialism is not only on offer, but presents itself as the only view compatible with the most prestigious institution of the modern world, viz., science; it is quite conceivable that one’s doubts about one’s own faith, about one’s ability to be transformed, or one’s sense of how one’s own faith is indeed, childish and inadequate, could mesh with this powerful ideology, and send one off along the path of unbelief, even though with regret and nostalgia.”

There is a notable use of anaphora in the repetition of “one’s” to emphasize personal doubt and struggle. This repetition creates a