The mark of the sacred / Jean-Pierre Dupuy ; translated by M.B. DeBevoise.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dupuy, Jean-Pierre, 1941-

Contributor:

DeBevoise, M. B.

Series:

Cultural Memory in the Present Series

Cultural memory in the present

Cultural Memory in the Present

Standardized Title:

Marque du sacré. English

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Religion and sociology.

Catastrophical, The.

Faith and reason.

Holy, The.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (239 pages) : illustrations.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, [2013]

Language Note:

English

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

Jean-Pierre Dupuy, prophet of what he calls "enlightened doomsaying," has long warned that modern society is on a path to self-destruction. In this book, he pleads for a subversion of this crisis from within, arguing that it is our lopsided view of religion and reason that has set us on this course. In denial of our sacred origins and hubristically convinced of the powers of human reason, we cease to know our own limits: our disenchanted world leaves us defenseless against a headlong rush into the abyss of global warming, nuclear holocaust, and the other catastrophes that loom on our horizon. Reviving the religious anthropology of Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, and Marcel Mauss and in dialogue with the work of René Girard, Dupuy shows that we must remember the world's sacredness in order to keep human violence in check. A metaphysical and theological detective, he tracks the sacred in the very fields where human reason considers itself most free from everything it judges irrational: science, technology, economics, political and strategic thought. In making such claims, The Mark of the Sacred takes on religion bashers, secularists, and fundamentalists at once. Written by one of the deepest and most versatile thinkers of our time, it militates for a world where reason is no longer an enemy of faith.

Contents:

Prologue : the form of the sacred

Imagining the end : a personal journey

Science : a theology in spite of itself

Religion : natural vs. supernatural

Rationality and ritual : the Babylon lottery

Justice and resentment : corruption of the best

The nuclear menace : a new sacrament for humanity

Epilogue : variations on vertigo.

Notes:

"Originally published in French under the title La marque du sacré."

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780804788458

0804788456

OCLC:

860879399