Taylor and Sandel Talk Spirituality

The importance of sacred traditions and thought within the modern world was the topic of discussion during a well-attended open forum and question and answer session with noted professors Charles Taylor, Michael J. Sandel, and Homi Bhabha last night.

More than 120 people crowded into the Barker Center’s Thompson room to attend the event organized by the Harvard University Press’ Executive Editor for the Humanities Lindsay E. Waters and professors Bhabha and Steven Biel, who are also the directors of the Humanities center at Harvard.

An Emeritus professor of political philosophy at McGill University in Canada and a visiting professor of government at Harvard, Taylor spoke about theories of spirituality propounded in his most recent publication, A Secular Age. The book, printed in 2007 by Harvard University Press, centered around his ideas relating to the place of spiritual traditions in the modern world.

Sandel, a professor of government at Harvard University, developed these ideas with abstract examples. He said that he thought that the book had raised awareness of the need to incorporate spiritual concepts into public discourse.

“The discussion was meant to debate the meanings of the sacred traditions in a secularized modern world,” Sandel said. “We’re both trying to make room in public and civic discourse for these discussions.”

Natalie A. Smolenski, a sales representative at HUP and an organizer of the event, said that an underlying purpose of the forum was to discuss the role of the humanities at the university level.

“The Humanities center at Harvard is a pioneering force,” she said. “It raises the most important discussion being had in the culture today.”

Waters, an editor at the HUP, said that the panel made certain concepts in the humanities more accessible.

“The barriers between the humanities break down when you listen to these two guys speak,” he said.

At the end of the discussion, Taylor said, “I felt that the event was important in showing the complexity of civilization and the sacred and secular worlds. In it, one is not replacing the other, but there is an interweaving of the two, met with violent opposition in the process.”