Praise for How (Not) To Be Secular

Now Featured in the Patheos Book Club
How (Not) To Be Secular
Reading Charles Taylor
By James K.A. Smith

What People Are Saying

"Charles Taylor's crucial book on our secular age is inaccessible for most people, including the church leaders who desperately need to learn from its insight. Jamie Smith's book is the solution to this problem. As a gateway into Taylor's thought, this volume (if read widely) could have a major impact on the level of theological leadership that our contemporary church is getting. It could also have a great effect on the quality of our communication and preaching. I highly recommend this book."
—Tim Keller,
Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York City

"This is a brilliant, beautifully written book on the dilemma of faith in a modern secular age. It introduces the reader to the material in Taylor's dense book, of course, but it does more. It invites the reader on a journey through the experience of the spirit in different centuries, and how our conceptions of mind and person shape belief in ways far more intimate than we usually imagine. How (Not) to Be Secular is a gem."
—T. M. Luhrmann, Stanford University

"Charles Taylor's daunting tome, A Secular Age, has just turned a great deal less intimidating. Combining his usual lucid style, his love for literature, and his passion for the church's future, Jamie Smith offers a faithful guide through the pages of Taylor's monumental work. Along the way, he wisely cautions his co-religionists against facile responses to the `disenchantment' of modernity, but he also insists that the Christian faith may have much more going for it than many recognize."
—Hans Boersma,
Regent College

"Written with the clarity of a gifted teacher, Smith’s 148-page book takes Taylor off the top shelf and walks us through his argument in broad strokes. But this is far from being a CliffsNotes version of Taylor’s book. Smith’s own intellect, humor, and theological convictions emerge, at times making Taylor’s concepts clearer and at times taking issue with Taylor’s views."
—Mike Cosper, The Gospel Coalition