A Far Glory: The Quest for Faith in an Age of Credulity

221 Pages·1992·13.544 MB·English

by  Peter L. Berger

*
THE QUEST FOR FAITH
IN AN AGE OF CREDULIT
A
Far Glory
The Quest Faith an
for in
ge Credulity
of
AS
RY
ASHU.
Peter L. Berger
JACKSON COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM
MEDFORD, ORECON 97501
«P
THE FREE PRESS
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Copyright© 1992byPeterL. Berger
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Library ofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Berger, PeterL.
Afarglory : thequest forfaithinanageofcredulity/PeterL. Berger.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferences.
ISBN0-02-902930-9
1. Faith. 2. Sociology, Christian. 3. Christianityandculture.
I. Title.
BV4637.B38 1992
234'.2—dc20 92-24946
CIP
For Diya,
whose smile renews the world
Contents
Prefatory Note ix
Parti
The Social Context of Belief
Prologue: Amid Different Follies 3
1. Secularization and Pluralism 25
2. Religion and Cultural Conflict in America Today 47
3. The West and the Challenge of
Cultural Pluralism 63
Part II
Believers and Belief
4. The Solitary Believer 81
Excursus: Robert Musil and the Salvage of the Self 105
5. The Act of Belief L23
6. The One Who Is Believed 145
viii Contents
Part III
The Consequences ofBelieving
7. The Problem of Ecclesial Belonging 169
8. The Problem of Moral Action 191
Epilogue: The Burden of Silence 213
Preratory Note
Theology, at least for me, seems to be like a disease
that lies dormant for years and then breaks out
again at more or less regular intervals. This book contin-
ues themes that I tried to deal with earlier in my books
A Rumor of Angels (1969) and The Heretical Imperative
(1979). I leave it to the reader to judge whether there
has been any interesting progress in what I have to say
on these matters.
The impetus for writing this book came with an in-
vitation to deliver the William Belden Noble Lectures
at Harvard University for the academic year 1991/92.
Chapters 4 through 6 contain the text of these lectures.
After finishing these, which constitute the core o\ the
argument, I decided to write the rest of the book around
them, so to speak. I want to thank Peter Gomes, min-
ister of Memorial Church at Harvard, who issued the
invitation. He is, of course, quite innocent of the du-
bious literary consequences of his generous gesture.
Two chapters have previously appeared in print
as articles, more or less in their present form. I he
i\
x Prefatory Note
prologue was published under the title "Worldly Wis-
dom, Christian Foolishness" in First Things, August-
September 1990. The excursus was published in the
fiftieth anniversary issue of Partisan Review, volume
51, 1984. Permission to use them here is gratefully
acknowledged.
This book, like everything else I have written over
the last three decades, could not have been written
without the critical support ofBrigitte Berger (the adjec-
tive carries both its conventional meanings).
Parti
The Context
Social
of Belief
Prologue:
Amid
Different Follies
The
focus of the following reflections is a passage
from the first chapter of Paul's First Letter to the
Corinthians:
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are
perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the
power of God. For it is written [the reference is to
Isaiah 29], "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the cleverness of the clever I will thwart."
Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where
is the debater of this age? Has not God made fool-