Here is a book which the theological establishment will doubtless fall upon as an obese child might reach for a packet of crisps. Not that they will understand much of it: for this is a universal explanation of things, written from a philosophical perspective, and which, despite the homely illustrations to which philosophical writers are sometimes given, is densely composed and at times difficult to follow. It is also nearly 1,000 pages of fine print. Yet endurance is rewarded; this is a distinguished work both of scholarship and of understanding, by an academic from McGill University of international reputation. The difficulty in following the arguments is not due to lack of coherence but to the recurrent and cascading sequences of categorisations and sub-classifications which characterise Professor Taylor’s style. In view of the importance of the theoretical propositions he is seeking to establish this manner of writing is probably unavoidable, but it makes this book one which is unlikely to relieve the tedium of a rainy afternoon in south London
Taylor proposes a question which he repeats throughout the lengthy analysis: ‘how we moved from a condition in 1500 in which it was hard not to believe in God, to our present situation just after 2000, where this has become quite easy for many.’
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