Download or read book After God written by Mark C. Taylor and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2009-03 with total page 483 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "With fundamentalists dominating the headlines and scientists arguing about the biological and neurological basis of faith, religion is the topic of the day. But religion, Mark C. Taylor shows, is more complicated than either its defenders or critics think and, indeed, is much more influential than any of us realize. Our world, Taylor maintains, is shaped by religion even when it is least obvious. Faith and value, he insists, are unavoidable and inextricably interrelated for believers and nonbelievers alike. Using scientific theories of dynamical systems and complex adaptive networks for cultural and theological analysis, After God redefines religion for our contemporary age. Taylor begins by asking a critical question: What is religion? He then proceeds to explain how Protestant ideas in particular undergird the character and structure of our global information society--the Reformation, Taylor argues, was an information and communications revolution that effectively prepared the way for the media revolution at the end of the twentieth century. Taylor s breathtaking account of religious ideas allows us to understand for the first time that contemporary notions of atheism and the secular are already implicit in classical Christology and Trinitarian theology. Weaving together theoretical analysis and historical interpretation, Taylor demonstrates the codependence and coevolution of traditional religious beliefs and practices with modern literature, art, architecture, information technologies, media, financial markets, and theoretical biology. After God concludes with prescriptions for new ways of thinking and acting. If we are to negotiate the perils of the twenty-first century, Taylor contends, we must refigure the symbolic networks that inform our policies and guide our actions. A religion without God creates the possibility of an ethics without absolutes that leads to the promotion of creativity and life in an ever more fragile world"--Publisher description.
Download or read book Refiguring the Spiritual written by Mark C. Taylor and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2012-03-27 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mark C. Taylor provocatively claims that contemporary art has lost its way. With the art market now mirroring the art of finance, many artists create works solely for the purpose of luring investors and inspiring trade among hedge funds and private equity firms. When art is commodified, corporatized, and financialized, it loses its critical edge and is transformed into a financial instrument calculated to maximize profitable returns. Joseph Beuys, Matthew Barney, James Turrell, and Andy Goldsworthy are artists who differ in style, yet they all defy the trends that have diminished art's potential in recent decades. They understand that art is a transformative practice drawing inspiration directly and indirectly from ancient and modern, Eastern and Western forms of spirituality. For Beuys, anthroposophy, alchemy, and shamanism drive his multimedia presentations; for Barney and Goldsworthy, Celtic mythology informs their art; and for Turrell, Quakerism and Hopi myth and ritual shape his vision. Eluding traditional genres and classifications, these artists combine spiritually inspired styles and techniques with material reality, creating works that resist merging space into cyberspace in a way that overwhelms local contexts with global networks. Their art reminds us of life's irreducible materiality and humanity's inescapability of place. For them, art is more than just an object or process—it is a vehicle transforming human awareness through actions echoing religious ritual. By lingering over the extraordinary work of Beuys, Barney, Turrell, and Goldsworthy, Taylor not only creates a novel and personal encounter with their art but also opens a new understanding of overlooked spiritual dimensions in our era.
Download or read book Seeing Silence written by Mark C. Taylor and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2020-08-13 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mark C. Taylor explores the many variations of silence by considering the work of leading visual artists, philosophers, theologians, writers, and composers. “To hear silence is to find stillness in the midst of the restlessness that makes creative life possible and the inescapability of death acceptable.” So writes Mark C. Taylor in his latest book, a philosophy of silence for our nervous, chattering age. How do we find silence—and more importantly, how do we understand it—amid the incessant buzz of the networks that enmesh us? Have we forgotten how to listen to each other, to recognize the virtues of modesty and reticence, and to appreciate the resonance of silence? Are we less prepared than ever for the ultimate silence that awaits us all? Taylor wants us to pause long enough to hear what is not said and to attend to what remains unsayable. In his account, our way to hearing silence is, paradoxically, to see it. He explores the many variations of silence by considering the work of leading modern and postmodern visual artists, including Barnett Newman, Ad Reinhardt, James Turrell, and Anish Kapoor. Developing the insights of philosophers, theologians, writers, and composers, Taylor weaves a rich narrative modeled on the Stations of the Cross. His chapter titles suggest our positions toward silence: Without. Before. From. Beyond. Against. Within. Between. Toward. Around. With. In. Recasting Hegel’s phenomenology of spirit and Kierkegaard’s stages on life’s way, Taylor translates the traditional Via Dolorosa into a Nietzschean Via Jubilosa that affirms light in the midst of darkness. Seeing Silence is a thoughtful meditation that invites readers to linger long enough to see silence, and, in this way, perhaps to hear once again the wordless Word that once was named “God.”
Download or read book Altarity written by Mark C. Taylor and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1987-11-10 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Readers familiar with Mark C. Taylor's previous writing will immediately recognize Altarity as a remarkable synthetic project. This work combines the analytic depth and detail of Taylor's earlier studies of Kierkegaard and Hegel with the philosophical and theological scope of his highly acclaimed Erring. In Altarity, Taylor develops a genealogy of otherness and difference that is based on the principle of creative juxtaposition. Rather than relying on a historical or chronological survey of crucial moments in modern philosophical thinking, he explores the complex question of difference through the strategies of contrast, resonance, and design. Taylor brings together the work of thinkers as diverse as Hegel, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Lacan, Bataille, Kristeva, Levinas, Blanchot, Derrida, and Kierkegaard to fashion a broad intellectual scheme. Situated in an interdisciplinary discourse, Altarity signifies a harnessing of continental and American habits of intellectual thought and illustrates the singularity that emerges from such a configuration. As such, the book functions as a mirror of our intellectual moment and offers the academy a rigorous way of acknowledging the limitations of its own interpretive practices.
Download or read book The Moment of Complexity written by Mark C. Taylor and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2003-09 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We live in a moment of unprecedented complexity, an era in which change occurs faster than our ability to comprehend it. With "The Moment of Complexity", Mark C. Taylor offers a map for the unfamiliar terrain opening in our midst, unfolding an original philosophy of our time through a remarkable synthesis of science and culture. According to Taylor, complexity is not just a breakthrough scientific concept but the defining quality of the post-Cold War era. The flux of digital currents swirling around us, he argues, has created a new network culture with its own distinctive logic and dynamic.
Download or read book Henry the Explorer written by Mark Taylor and published by . This book was released on 2022-09-19 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For more than fifty years families have enjoyed reading aloud the adventures of a young boy, Henry, and his dog Angus. On the night of the blizzard Henry and Laird Angus McAngus (Angus for short) read an exciting book about exploring. And the next morning Henry assembled his equipment for the trip: lunch and flags for claiming all that he planned to discover. "Don't be late coming home," said Henry's mother. "All right-if a bear doesn't catch us," said Henry. Exploring is hard work. It makes one hungry. It can be a little alarming if one does seem to see a bear. And sometimes, although explorers do not get lost, they are not quite sure which way to go. All of which makes exploring what it is and makes Henry's exploring worth reading about.
Download or read book Disfiguring written by Mark C. Taylor and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1992 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Disfiguring is constructive or, perhaps more accurately, reconstructive. By exploring the religious dimensions of twentieth-century painting and architecture, he shows how the visual arts continue to serve as a rich resource for the theological imagination.
Download or read book Confidence Games written by Mark C. Taylor and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-05-15 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Confidence Games' argues that money and markets do not exist in a vacuum, but grow in a profoundly cultual medium, reflecting and in turn shaping their world. To understand the ongoing changes in the economy, one must consider the influence of art, philosophy and religion.
Download or read book Crisis on Campus written by Mark C. Taylor and published by Knopf. This book was released on 2010 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A provocative report on the state of American higher education discusses the consequences of decades of neglect and covers such recommendations as discontinuing tenure, refocusing on education over research, and tapping new technologies.
Download or read book Religion Politics and the Christian Right written by Mark Lewis Taylor and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Princeton theologian Mark Taylor here looks at the influence and stance of the right-wing Christian movement in the U.S. He questions its religious authenticity, its claim to be called Christian, and the ethical stands it has taken in national politics of the last ten years. The heart of Taylor's argument is Jesus himself. Using the latest New Testament scholarship on the historical Jesus and his tactic in relation to the Roman Empire, Taylor argues that Jesus' life and work and message are inherently political and driven by the need to show God's love for the poor, condemnation of the oppressor, and search for a reign of justice. These Christian hallmarks, Taylor asserts, stand as a critical corrective to a distorted Christianity that often dominates the U.S. political scene today.
Download or read book Nots written by Mark C. Taylor and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1993-08-15 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Publisher Description
Download or read book Imagologies written by Mark C. Taylor and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The authors propose a new philosophy of communication which reflects the media and technology of the "electronic age."
Download or read book The Politics of Innovation written by Mark Zachary Taylor and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016-05-04 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why are some countries better than others at science and technology (S&T)? Written in an approachable style, The Politics of Innovation provides readers from all backgrounds and levels of expertise a comprehensive introduction to the debates over national S&T competitiveness. It synthesizes over fifty years of theory and research on national innovation rates, bringing together the current political and economic wisdom, and latest findings, about how nations become S&T leaders. Many experts mistakenly believe that domestic institutions and policies determine national innovation rates. However, after decades of research, there is still no agreement on precisely how this happens, exactly which institutions matter, and little aggregate evidence has been produced to support any particular explanation. Yet, despite these problems, a core faith in a relationship between domestic institutions and national innovation rates remains widely held and little challenged. The Politics of Innovation confronts head-on this contradiction between theory, evidence, and the popularity of the institutions-innovation hypothesis. It presents extensive evidence to show that domestic institutions and policies do not determine innovation rates. Instead, it argues that social networks are as important as institutions in determining national innovation rates. The Politics of Innovation also introduces a new theory of "creative insecurity" which explains how institutions, policies, and networks are all subservient to politics. It argues that, ultimately, each country's balance of domestic rivalries vs. external threats, and the ensuing political fights, are what drive S&T competitiveness. In making its case, The Politics of Innovation draws upon statistical analysis and comparative case studies of the United States, Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Turkey, Israel, Russia and a dozen countries across Western Europe.
Download or read book Speed Limits written by Mark C. Taylor and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2014-10-28 with total page 506 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A contemplation on “the durability of our fast-tracked, multitasked modern world . . . a stimulating cautionary report for the digital age.”—Kirkus Reviews We live in an ever-accelerating world: faster computers, markets, food, fashion, product cycles, minds, bodies, kids, lives. When did everything start moving so fast? Why does speed seem so inevitable? Is faster always better? Drawing together developments in religion, philosophy, art, technology, fashion, and finance, Mark C. Taylor presents an original and rich account of a great paradox of our times: how the very forces and technologies that were supposed to free us by saving time and labor now trap us in a race we can never win. The faster we go, the less time we have, and the more we try to catch up, the farther behind we fall. Connecting our speed-obsession with today’s global capitalism, he composes a grand narrative showing how commitments to economic growth and extreme competition, combined with accelerating technological innovation, have brought us close to disaster. Psychologically, environmentally, economically, and culturally, speed is taking a profound toll on our lives. By showing how the phenomenon of speed has emerged, Taylor offers us a chance to see our pace of life as the product of specific ideas, practices, and policies. It’s not inevitable or irreversible. He courageously and movingly invites us to imagine how we might patiently work towards a more deliberative life and sustainable world. “With panache and flashes of brilliance, Taylor, a Columbia University religion professor and cultural critic, offers a philosophically astute analysis of how time works in our era.” —Publishers Weekly
Download or read book 1 Corinthians written by Mark Taylor and published by B&H Publishing Group. This book was released on 2014-04-01 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ." -1 Corinthians 3:11 The New American Commentary series is an exceptionally acclaimed resource for ministers and Bible students who want to understand and expound the Scriptures. Each volume includes: • Commentary based on the New International Version. • NIV text printed in the body of the commentary. • Sound scholarly methodology reflecting capable research in the original languages. • Interpretation emphasizing the theological unity of each book and Scripture as a whole. • Readable and applicable exposition. Mark Taylor's commentary on 1 Corinthians looks at Paul's missionary journey to Corinth where he planted a church and nurtured the new believers for approximately eighteen months. Taylor pays careful attention to the nuances of the English translation (NIV), the Greek text, and the units of meaning that are vital to interpreting this letter. He presents with clarity the range of scholarly opinion regarding the issues in 1 Corinthians and then makes a case for his own views.
Download or read book The Theological and the Political written by Mark Lewis Taylor and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 2011-01-15 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mark Lewis Taylor has always worked at the intersection of the political and theological. Now, in this intense and exciting work, he explores in a systematic way how those two dimensions of human reality can be conceived anew and together.
Download or read book Erring written by Mark C. Taylor and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013-11-22 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Erring is a thoughtful, often brilliant attempt to describe and enact what remains of (and for) theology in the wake of deconstruction. Drawing on Hegel, Nietzsche, Derrida, and others, Mark Taylor extends—and goes well beyond—pioneering efforts. . . . The result is a major book, comprehensive and well-informed."—G. Douglas Atkins, Philosophy and Literature "Many have felt the need for a study which would explicate in coherent and accessible fashion the principal tenets of deconstruction, with particular attention to their theological implications. This need the author has addressed in a most impressive manner. The book's effect upon contemporary discussion is apt to be, and deserves to be, far-reaching."—Walter Lowe, Journal of Religion
