Pragmatism and the Postsecular
The Gift in American Philosophy, Religion, and Literature
Pragmatism and the Postsecular
The Gift in American Philosophy, Religion, and Literature
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Description
Offering a postsecular reading of Ralph Waldo Emerson and William James, Pragmatism and the Postsecular contributes to an interdisciplinary discourse about gift theories across literary, religious, and philosophical studies.
In this study the focus is on Emerson and James' religious language of gifts. We see how they interpret the reception of gifts as dynamic sources of agency, inspiration, and empowerment-the kinds of moral sources that Charles Taylor worries might be increasingly unavailable in our secular age. Tae Sung applies a similar non-economic reading of dynamic gifts to American writers including Herman Melville, Ralph Ellison, Marilynne Robinson, and Min Jin Lee. His approach reframes related debates around religious ethics (after Derrida and John Milbank) and multicultural politics (after Richard Rorty and Taylor).
Aimed at readers interested in the complex relationship between the religious and secular in the US, Sung's reading of pragmatism challenges us to reconsider how we understand gifts. The goal of such a reconsideration is to locate common ethical and political ground between secular liberalism and religious traditionalism.
Table of Contents
Introduction. What Have Pragmatism and Religion To Do with Literature?
Chapter 1. “A Gospel of Power”:
The Gift in Pragmatism and the Postsecular
Chapter 2. “A Golden Impossibility”:
The Rhetoric of Dynamic Gifts in Ralph Waldo Emerson
Chapter 3. The Flow of Dynamic Gifts in Herman Melville and Marilynne Robinson:
Religious Ethics after Jacques Derrida and John Milbank
Chapter 4. “A New Sphere of Power”:
The Hermeneutics of Dynamic Gifts in William James
Chapter 5. The Direction of Dynamic Gifts in Ralph Ellison and Min Jin Lee:
Identity Politics after Richard Rorty and Charles Taylor
Bibliography
Notes
Index
Product details
| Published | 26 Nov 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Hardback |
| Edition | 1st |
| Pages | 224 |
| ISBN | 9781350572966 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Dimensions | 234 x 156 mm |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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