Secular Translations

Nation-State, Modern Self, and Calculative Reason

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Political, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Anthropology
Cover of the book Secular Translations by Talal Asad, Columbia University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Talal Asad ISBN: 9780231548595
Publisher: Columbia University Press Publication: December 4, 2018
Imprint: Columbia University Press Language: English
Author: Talal Asad
ISBN: 9780231548595
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Publication: December 4, 2018
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Language: English

In Secular Translations, the anthropologist Talal Asad reflects on his lifelong engagement with secularism and its contradictions. He draws out the ambiguities in our concepts of the religious and the secular through a rich consideration of translatability and untranslatability, exploring the circuitous movements of ideas between histories and cultures.

In search of meeting points between the language of Islam and the language of secular reason, Asad gives particular importance to the translations of religious ideas into nonreligious ones. He discusses the claim that liberal conceptions of equality represent earlier Christian ideas translated into secularism; explores the ways that the language and practice of religious ritual play an important but radically transformed role as they are translated into modern life; and considers the history of the idea of the self and its centrality to the project of the secular state. Secularism is not only an abstract principle that modern liberal democratic states espouse, he argues, but also a range of sensibilities. The shifting vocabularies associated with each of these sensibilities are fundamentally intertwined with different ways of life. In exploring these entanglements, Asad shows how translation opens the door for—or requires—the utter transformation of the translated. Drawing on a diverse set of thinkers ranging from al-Ghazālī to Walter Benjamin, Secular Translations points toward new possibilities for intercultural communication, seeking a language for our time beyond the language of the state.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In Secular Translations, the anthropologist Talal Asad reflects on his lifelong engagement with secularism and its contradictions. He draws out the ambiguities in our concepts of the religious and the secular through a rich consideration of translatability and untranslatability, exploring the circuitous movements of ideas between histories and cultures.

In search of meeting points between the language of Islam and the language of secular reason, Asad gives particular importance to the translations of religious ideas into nonreligious ones. He discusses the claim that liberal conceptions of equality represent earlier Christian ideas translated into secularism; explores the ways that the language and practice of religious ritual play an important but radically transformed role as they are translated into modern life; and considers the history of the idea of the self and its centrality to the project of the secular state. Secularism is not only an abstract principle that modern liberal democratic states espouse, he argues, but also a range of sensibilities. The shifting vocabularies associated with each of these sensibilities are fundamentally intertwined with different ways of life. In exploring these entanglements, Asad shows how translation opens the door for—or requires—the utter transformation of the translated. Drawing on a diverse set of thinkers ranging from al-Ghazālī to Walter Benjamin, Secular Translations points toward new possibilities for intercultural communication, seeking a language for our time beyond the language of the state.

More books from Columbia University Press

Cover of the book The Great Flowing River by Talal Asad
Cover of the book Stalking the Black Swan by Talal Asad
Cover of the book Work and the Workplace by Talal Asad
Cover of the book Contentious Activism and Inter-Korean Relations by Talal Asad
Cover of the book Reshaping Theory in Contemporary Social Work by Talal Asad
Cover of the book Al-Qaeda's Revenge by Talal Asad
Cover of the book Religion and Ecology by Talal Asad
Cover of the book Hospitality of the Matrix by Talal Asad
Cover of the book Inside the Investments of Warren Buffett by Talal Asad
Cover of the book China's Philological Turn by Talal Asad
Cover of the book What to Do When College Is Not the Best Time of Your Life by Talal Asad
Cover of the book Wild Kids by Talal Asad
Cover of the book Beyond the Cyborg by Talal Asad
Cover of the book Israel and the Bomb by Talal Asad
Cover of the book Deciding What’s True by Talal Asad
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy