Saturday, May 24, 2014

"a truth that precedes culture"

"religion is culture.  It is our collective response to a truth that precedes culture, since it precedes all things.  This responsiveness distinguishes the 'values', 'symbolism', 'practices', 'identity' and so on of religious culture from those of secular culture; it makes all the difference in the world to how we live."

     Clare Carlisle, "Fertile gloss," a review of Culture and the death of God, by Terry Eagleton, Times literary supplement no. 5794 (April 18, 2014):  28.  The following come next and are Carlisle's last words:  "It is strange that a book about the death of God should remain so stubbornly uninterested in what 'God' meansnot to mention who, how, and where God might be."

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