Abstract:
The relationship between modernity and religiosity has been in the center of many scholarly debates. Among others, Charles Taylor presents in his works a general picture of the elements that shape the secular age. He starts with the question why people used to be faithful, while they are not easily so in our age. To answer, he explores the past five centuries in the West and coins some terms to explain what happened. Among these terms, the “conditions of belief” is a key concept to explain the current situation. This article discusses four impacts that, according to Taylor, modernity had on religion. Additionally, it tries to shed some light on certain aspects of Taylor’s ideas and critically analyze them. Finally, it concludes that although Taylor’s work helps us better understand our age and the modern situation of faith, it needs to be modified and completed
Machine summary:
In the new explanations, the universe was not necessarily a creature of God. The same was true about humans: 114 / Religious Inquiries humans were no longer “porous selves” that could be affected by external beings and powers but “buffered selves”; a kind of self that is independent and resistant against the outside (Taylor 2007, 37-39).
This is what Taylor explains as secularity in the third sense: [T]he change I want to define and trace is one which takes us from a society in which it was virtually impossible not to believe in God, to one in which faith, even for the staunchest believer, is one human possibility among others.
(Taylor 1999, 16-17) The new possibilities for original religious teachings to be followed in society are one of the impacts of modernity that should not be ignored.
New spirituality, Taylor thinks, is against institutionalized religion, and the reason for abandoning religion is that since we are living in the age of authenticity, it is not easy for modern people to follow an outsider 120 / Religious Inquiries authority (Taylor 2007, 508).
If we consider the anthropocentric interpretations of religion as one of the impacts of modernity upon religiosity, which was discussed earlier, then we can see that there are various new interpretations of religious teachings.
Some of the central concepts of religion have been re-interpreted in accordance with the new understanding of humanity— the modern social imaginary; for example, God, worship, sin, and the problem of evil are among many concepts that have changed.