Since its initial publication in 1965, The Secular City has been hailed as a classic for its nuanced exploration of the relationships among the rise of urban civilization, the decline of hierarchical, institutional religion, and the place of the secular within society. Now, half a century later, this international best seller remains as relevant as when it first appeared. The book's arguments--that secularity has a positive effect on institutions, that the city can be a space where people of all faiths fulfill their potential, and that God is present in both the secular and formal religious realms--still resonate with readers of all backgrounds. For this brand-new edition, Harvey Cox provides a substantial and updated introduction. He reflects on the book's initial stunning success in an age of political and religious upheaval and makes the case for its enduring relevance at a time when the debates that The Secular City helped ignite have caught fire once again.

The City is for the Enlightenment a central preoccupation, that social space where both the utopian and the pragmatic concerns of the eighteenth century come together in a typical tension. Unlike St Augustine's Civitas Dei, this is to be a city of men and women, planning their social geometry, interacting commercially, elaborating, as far as possible, human and secular principles of justice. This collection of specially commissioned essays, all by distinguished eighteenth-century specialists, charts the process from a variety of angles.

This title was first published in 2000. This study addresses the political participation of Protestant ministers in Hong Kong. It aims to describe and explain the pattern of political participation of these ministers. The book focuses on a number of key questions. What kind of political participation did Protestant ministers involve themselves in during the years preceding the return to Chinese sovereignty? How extensive was their political involvement? Why were some ministers active and energetic political participants whereas some of their colleagues were inactive? How did the activists see their role as Christian ministers? What impact did the political activism of the Protestant clergy have on the social, political and religious development of Hong Kong? Dr Ko's findings offer insights into the political beliefs, values and activities of a sample of the Protestant clergy of Hong Kong and into their thinking about their political responsibilities.

Catholic Spirituality and Prayer in the Secular City presents the role of religion and spirituality in a rapidly changing religious scenario. Author Robert A. Burns explores ways Catholics have been called upon to develop their spiritual lives in the most religious pluralistic society that has ever existed.

"This book gives a persuasive answer to the need for public theology today. Rudolf von Sinner can draw from a rich basis of scholarship and experience related to the topic of public theology. His clear awareness of the contextuality of public theology is the reason for his repeated assurance in this book that we cannot speak about "public theology" but always only of "a" public theology. At the same time it is very clear for him that there is also an "intercontextuality". One of the great strengths of this book is its embeddedness into an international discourse on public theology, with a special emphasis on the South-South exchange. It is a contribution to public theology scholarship in its best sense. I proudly welcome its publication in our series." - Bishop Prof. Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, Evangelical Church of Germany Rudolf von Sinner is Professor of Systematic Theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná at Curitiba, as well as Professor Extra-Ordinary at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.

Making Sense of the SecularCritical Perspectives from Europe to Asia; Copyright; Contents; Introduction: Making Sense of the Secular; Part I: Europe; 1 Formations of the Secular State and Islam in Britain Today; 2 The Evolution of French Secularism; 3 How Do You Say 'Secular' in Italian?; 4 Manifest Secularisation Processes in Turkey and Belgium; 5 Secularism in Eastern Europe; Part II: Asia; 6 The Truth about Secularism; 7 The Dark Hour of Secularism: Hindu Fundamentalism and Colonial Liberalism in Indi; 8 Elisions and Erasures: Science, Secularism and the State-The Cases of India and Pakistan9 Sacred Modernism or Secular Space: The Ornamental Politics of Religion in Sri Lanka; 10 When Will China Become More Religious?; 11 The Secular and the Spiritual in Contemporary Japanese Society; 12 Korea's Path of Secularisation; 13 Political Secularisation in Indonesia; 14 Secularism in Malaysia; Contributors; Index.- This book offers a wide range of critical perspectives on how secularism unfolds and has been made sense of across Europe and Asia. The book evaluates secularism as it exists today - its formations and discontents within contemporary discourses of power, terror, religion and cosmopolitanism - and the focus on these two continents gives critical attention to recent political and cultural developments where secularism and multiculturalism have impinged in deeply problematical ways, raising bristling ideological debates within the functioning of modern state bureaucracies. Examin.

This volume presents an evangelical appraisal of modern theological thinking. It examines the views of nine leading theologians on the apologetic task today, from Karl Barth and Reinhold Niebuhr to Harvey Cox and Thomas Altizer. The strengths and weaknesses in the theology of each are set forth. It is the author's contention that modern apologetics is often anchored in the spirit of the age and the values of the culture rather than in biblical revelation. This book calls on Christians to place their trust, not in imperfect human reason, but in God's self-revelation in Christ, which can be discerned only by faith.

Tracing the religious history of Siler City, North Carolina, Chad E. Seales argues that southern whites cultivated their own regional brand of American secularism and employed it, alongside public religious performances, to claim and regulate public spaces. Over the course of the twentieth century, they wielded secularism to segregate racialized bodies, to challenge local changes resulting from civil rights legislation, and to respond to the arrival of Latino migrants. Combining ethnographic and archival sources, Seales studies the themes of industrialization, nationalism, civility, privatization, and migration through the local history of Siler City; its neighborhood patterns, Fourth of July parades, Confederate soldiers, minstrel shows, mock weddings, banking practices, police shootings, Good Friday processions, public protests, and downtown mural displays. Offering a spatial approach to the study of performative religion, The Secular Spectacle presents a generative narrative of secularism from the perspective of evangelical Protestants in the American South.

Bioethics is vitally important in our day because it represents the critical expression of interest in the proper use of medical science to provide health care. Secular humanism is important because it is a central factor in constructing a common morality that does not make special appeal to such things as religious assumptions. The argument of this book, therefore, will be of profound interest to all who are concerned for the well-being of humanity in today's world. Imagine, the author says, Roman Catholics and committed atheists disputing over proper abortion policies. Imagine individuals who wish to organize a for-profit surrogate mother service, confronting individuals who view such endeavors as exploitation of women. To what moral premise do they appeal? Are power and influence the deciding factors, or is it possible to establish certain principles to which all may appeal? In answer, Professor Engelhardt examines the various meanings of secularity and humanism, clearly showing how complex they are. Alongside this he demonstrates the diversity of bioethics and the problems of laying a foundation for it. Based on these considerations, he identifies which ways forward are the most promising. The urgency of the task is clear. New biomedical possibilities are surfacing at the very time that demands to contain health care costs pose difficult ethical problems.

An expert study of church planting in the most secular part of contemporary Europe In this book Stefan Paas offers thoughtful analysis of reasons and motives for missionary church planting in Europe, and he explores successful and unsuccessful strategies in that post-Christian secularized context. Drawing in part on his own involvement with planting two churches in the Netherlands, Paas explores confessional motives, growth motives, and innovation motives for church planting in Europe, tracing them back to different traditions and reflecting on them from theological and empirical perspectives. He presents examples from the European context and offers sound advice for improving existing missional practices. Paas also draws out lessons for North America in a chapter coauthored with Darrell Guder and John Franke. Finally, Paas weaves together the various threads in the book with a theological defense of church planting. Presenting new research as it does, this critical missiological perspective will add significantly to a fuller understanding of church planting in our contemporary context.