"Mike King's knowledge is impressive, ranging from quantum mechanics to contemporary music, as well as texts arguing for and against religion. He is perhaps at his most original when he applies the Sanskrit terms bhakti, glossed as the devotional spiritual impulse, as opposed to jnani, non-theistic insight, to make comparisons across widely different spiritual traditions, each of which has a mystical virtuosity at its core."
Jonathan Benthall, The Times Literary Supplement, 11 December 2009
"Postsecularism engages, importantly, with a contemporary debate on the competing validities of sciences and religion. It provides a well-appraised overview of the dialogue between science and religion, and makes an intriguing argument for furthering a post-secular sensibility and, in some ways, for recognising cultural difference."
A. Ranasinghe, Millenium: Journal of International Studies, Vol 39, Issue 3
Comments from Amazon:
"This book looks at the challenge the New Atheists pose to religion. Since 9/11 there has been a lot of discussion on what religion is for, that those who are religious have not been prepared for. However there are those who have faced the challenges of science, and still found something of value in religion. It isn't the religion we had in pre-scientific times, but it is still recognisable as following a spiritual path. Post-secular religion is different, but it may be a way of living a more fulfilled, compassionate and peaceful life. It aims to be a way of fully accepting science, yet also recognising there are truths about the human condition that science can't answer - about how we live and how we treat each other."
"This book follows on from Secularism: The Hidden Origins of Disbelief, and although the author often refers to it, he runs through the arguments comprehensively so that the book can be successfully read on its own. Postsecularism is written against the background of 9/11 and explores the reactions of both new atheists and religious fundamentalists. Both groups are enraged by extremes of behaviour; the new atheists blame religion whereas the fundamentalists, its absence. Beyond this conflict King shows that another force is emerging, that of the `new defenders of faith', people who pursue questions of spirit without letting go of critical modes of thinking. This is Postsecularism."
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Non-fiction, 2009, paperback (279 pages)
The détente or 'mutual ignorance pact' between secular culture and religious faith that characterised most of the twentieth century has been shattered in the early twenty-first. From the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and the American Christian Right to the fiercely anti-religious writings of staunch atheists such as Richard Dawkins, arguments over the role that religion and spirituality should play in our lives - public and private - have never been more hotly debated. One extremism is pitted against another, but a new voice of moderation, a hidden challenge to both extremisms, is now emerging. In Postsecularism, the follow-up to his acclaimed Secularism, Mike King posits that out of the conflict between socially dominant secular thinkers and the embattled 'new defenders of faith' a third approach arises which is neither a return to pre-Enlightenment beliefs nor a continued hegemony of the secular. King identifies this as the postsecular. It retains critical modes of thought and at the same time returns in all seriousness to questions of the spirit. The postsecular provides a framework within which to move beyond religious and atheist extremism. Drawing on a wide range of contemporary thinkers from Dawkins to Anthony Flew, from Christopher Hitchens to Alister McGrath, from across the spiritual spectrum, King identifies a new mode of thought, exploring its relevance to everything from physics to the arts, postmodernism, and feminism. What emerges is a thoughtful and persuasive discussion of the route to reconciliation between the combative worlds of the religious and the secular. Dr Mike King is Visiting Research Fellow at London Metropolitan University. This book is the companion volume to his 'Secularism'.
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