Some New World
Myths of Supernatural Belief in a Secular Age

This masterful contribution to intellectual history offers a better understanding of secular modernity by focusing on 'naturalism', 'supernaturalism', and 'belief'.

Peter Harrison (Author)

9781009477222, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 18 April 2024

488 pages
23.6 x 16.1 x 4 cm, 0.84 kg

'The author masterfully explicates the writings of key thinkers such as Aristotle, Aquinas, Luther, Descartes, Hume, and Huxley, inter alios, pertinent to the changing perceptions of the relationship between the natural and supernatural worlds and its impact on ratiocination (theological and secular). … Highly recommended.' R. T. Ingoglia, Choice

In his famous argument against miracles, David Hume gets to the heart of the modern problem of supernatural belief. 'We are apt', says Hume, 'to imagine ourselves transported into some new world; where the whole form of nature is disjointed, and every element performs its operation in a different manner, from what it does at present.' This encapsulates, observes Peter Harrison, the disjuncture between contemporary Western culture and medieval societies. In the Middle Ages, people saw the hand of God at work everywhere. Indeed, many suppose that 'belief in the supernatural' is likewise fundamental nowadays to religious commitment. But dichotomising between 'naturalism' and 'supernaturalism' is actually a relatively recent phenomenon, just as the notion of 'belief' emerged historically late. In this masterful contribution to intellectual history, the author overturns crucial misconceptions – 'myths' – about secular modernity, challenging common misunderstandings of the past even as he reinvigorates religious thinking in the present.

Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Hume's dilemma
2. Languages of belief
3. Inventing epistemology
4. The age of evidences
5. The birth of the supernatural
6. The shape of history
7. What the Greeks saw
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: History of religion [HRAX]