A lecture by the philosopher Charles Taylor, Professor Emeritus of McGill University (Montreal Canada) on June 11, 2018 at the National Hellenic Research Foundation (Leonidas Zervas Hall), 48, Vasileos Konstantinou Ave, Athens at 7.30 p.m. on the topic:
Christianity in the secular age of the West
In his presentation Professor Taylor will refer to the surrounding secular setting in which modern man lives and develops, after both the gradual disenchantment of the world by any transcendent dimension and the unbundling of life from the communal forms of the past and to the fact that today’s people either belong to a religious community without believing or believe without feeling obliged to follow the traditional ritual acts of the community, announcing thus the decline and eventual dissolution of the institutional Christendom. In addition he will also discuss the fact that, against the immanent character of the surrounding reality, there are still many who seek for a transcendental foundation of their faith, which poses the crucial question of how can we make room for the searchers of our age, and then all live together in communion, those who want renovation, and those who want above all to resist it. The well-known philosopher will argue in this regard that in today’s post-Christian world, it is an imperative that the Churches, without ignoring their long history, need to fertilize those elements that will help them re-gain their role in the world, by adopting a different voice, analogous to their “acculturation” model, further seeking for a more comprehensive understanding of faith, which will, inter alia, take seriously into account the value of doubt, while shaping an ecumenism of friendship beyond confessional boundaries.
Charles Taylor has authored many important studies such as the monographs: Sources of the Self: The Making of Modern Identity, Harvard University Press, 1989; A Secular Age, Harvard University Press, 2007, and several timely books like: The Ethics of Authenticity, Harvard University Press, 1992; Multiculturalism: Examining The Politics of Recognition, Princeton University Press, 1994; Les avenues de la foi—Entretiens avec Jonathan Guilbault, Les Editions Novalis, 2015, etc.
The event is organized by the Volos Academy for Theological Studies in cooperation with the “Science and Orthodoxy around the World” Project of the Institute of Historical Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation.
The lecture will be given in English with simultaneous translation in Greek.
