Secular Mysticisms – A Conversation with Andrew Root

Depending on the person using them today, words like ‘secular’ and ‘secularism’ tend to be proclamations of triumph or cries of alarm. But for thinkers like Jacques Ellul and Charles Taylor, more measured and contemplative approaches to whatever secularism is and does are required to get a clear understanding of where we have been, where we are, and where we are going socially, culturally, politically, economically, and spiritually speaking. In this conversation, I speak with Andrew Root, an insightful reader of Charles Taylor, as well as Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Karl Barth. So, at one point in our dialogue you’ll hear me say: so, what do you (Andrew) think about Ellul’s treatment of our so-called secular age? On top of a few sidebar conversations about us both supporting losing hockey teams, the mysterious appeal (or lack thereof) of the Canadian coffee giant Tim Hortons, Andrew and I spend a good deal of time laying out the essential features of Taylor’s and Ellul’s understandings of secularism—where they are similar, where they are different, and so on—before he answers that question. Enjoy!