Fides and Secularity

This book wishes to talk about two main topics: the Canadian political philosopher Charles Taylor and faith. Taylor, in his philosophical arguments on religion and secularity, has adopted what I call the great prejudice on religion and secularity: the two belong to utterly different spheres of human mind and sociality. In this prejudice, faith is used as a synonym of religion, or belief, and is understood as something that does not belong to the sphere of secularity. My argument contradicts precisely this common belief. Is faith more of an anthropological attitude towards reality than a religious one? Can we criticize Taylor's philosophy on these grounds?

To develop my argument, I will attempt to develop a dialogue between continental and Anglo-American philosophers and theologians, in the hope of convincing the readers that we should change radically the way we discuss faith, religion, and secularism.

""A reasoned faith, a faith in reason, the faith of the reasoner: these three thoughts can never be disentangled. Emilio di Somma's critically insightful engagement with Charles Taylor's magisterial work on secularity is a must read for anyone thinking about faith and secularity today.""

--Brian Brock, Professor of Moral and Practical Theology, King's College

""Di Somma's book has the merit of questioning itself in an original way on the modern eclipse of the sacred. Faith, in fact, is not dogma, and is the opposite of nihilism. It still represents the conscience of the future in human history.""

--Renata Viti Cavaliere, Professor of Philosophy, University of Naples Federico II

Emilio Di Somma is currently a high school teacher in Italy; his passion to understand and solve issues of violence flows through his teaching and research activities. He has recently completed his PhD in Divinity at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and has presented his research at numerous international conferences centered on philosophy of religion and politics. His main research interests focus on political theology, ethics, and philosophy of religions. This is his first book.