Modernity and Transcendence

This collection of essays critically engages with Charles Taylors idea of a Catholic modernity through focusing on the crucial issue of the shape and role of religion in modernity. Taylor launched the idea in his seminal 1996 essay A Catholic Modernity?, and the idea is here explored in relation to other Christian denominations and non-Christian traditions. Taylors proposal has the potential to become a central and encompassing perspective in thinking about relations between modernity and religion/transcendence in each religious tradition. Six leading authors from diverse backgroundsDavid Martin, Bernice Martin, Francis Schssler Fiorenza, Robert Cummings Neville, Souleymane Bachir Diagne and Jonathan Boyarinassess Taylors Catholic modernity idea and probe whether and how the extension to other religious modernities (Anglican, Pentecostal, Confucian, Islamic, Jewish) makes senseor not. Charles Taylor reacts to their considerations and reflects on his own idea 25 years on.