Secular Worldviews Research Articles

Where Have All the Demons Gone?: The Role and Place of the Devil in the Gospel of John

John's Gospel is marked by a complete absence of demons. This is not due to John reflecting a more secular worldview than the Synoptics. In John's Gospel, a composite figure called "the devil" has replaced the demons. The devil is said to be a liar and a murderer, which stands in sharp contrast to Jesus, who is depicted as the author of truth and life. God and the devil do not exist in a static, dualistic, metaphysical relationship. The devil is the Prince of the created world. Jesus' person and actions challenge the devil's authority and power. Through Jesus' death on the cross, the devil has been exorcised from the whole world. John's Gospel omits the particular encounters between Jesus and demons because John wishes to focus the attention of his readers on the cross as the pivotal event where evil, as a powerful cosmic reality, was finally confronted and defeated.

Säkular – mehr als „nichtreligiös“?

AbstractThere is hardly an autonomous description of those who do not belong to a religious denomination and who don't regard themselves as religious in a traditional way. The terms “non-denominational” and “non-religious” implicate a dissociation from the historically traditional concept of religion, but they do not offer any alternative ideological communalities. This article discusses the option of a “secular worldview” and investigates whether religious and non-religious respondents differ in their attitudes on selected human rights – and if so, to what extent. The empirical study (N=2244) shows that human rights are supported by all young people, athough in some cases with differing emphases. In basic terms, we can discern a common worldview or ‘Weltanschauung’ of secular respondents. This is recognizable as an approval of the intrinsic value of the Other as well as a recognition of norms set by public society.

Enhancing Religious Education Through Worldview Exploration

Abstract Exploring one’s worldview requires a journey into one’s heart, soul and mind (Knowing Self). But Knowing Self requires Knowing Others, imperative in a global world. To what extent do schools prepare students for participation in that global world, especially when it comes to awareness of its worldview diversity, and no less its religious diversity? This paper presents the findings of two research projects highlighting knowledge, awareness and attitudes towards various worldviews. The findings of the first is rather discouraging, a result of little to no attention given to teaching about religion in the schools. The second is much more encouraging, a result of worldview education that explores both religious and secular worldviews – their impacts on individuals and society. It then gives a brief description of a worldview framework that deepens and broadens awareness and understanding of self and others, encourages questioning and openness, and develops critical thinking.

Impact of Fasting on Altruism and Self-Regulation among Young Muslim Females

The United Nation's World Youth Report (2011) concluded that the Asian region has the largest number of young people, numbered 754 million. Keeping in view these estimates, it is essential to know 'who young adults are?' A young adult is generally person in the age range of 20 to 39 (or 40), although definitions and opinions, such as Erickson 1963 stages of human development, vary. The young adult stage in human development precedes middle adulthood. Young adulthood is period of adjustments to new patterns of life and new social expectations. These adjustments make early adulthood distinctive period in the life span and also difficult one. Young adult find it difficult to become associated with congenial social group. They may be dissatisfied with the role the social group expects individual to play. The religion plays an important role in personality development of an individual Larson, 1978, young adults tend to be less interested in religion that they were when they were younger. That is why Peacocke has called the early twenties the Least religious period of life. Gender difference among young in religious practices have found Women to benefit more in religious practices than men and religiosity and self worth are more positively correlated for women than men during adult years.Fasting- The month of Ramadan is that in which was revealed the Quran; a guidance for mankind, and clear proofs of the guidance, and the criterion (of right & wrong). And whosoever of you is present, let him fast the month, and whosoever of you is sick or on journey, number of other days. Allah desires for you ease; He desires not hardship for you; and that you should complete the period, and that you should magnify Allah for having guided you, and that perhaps you may be thankful. Quran 2:185.Fasting in Islam- Throughout the duration of the fast itself, Muslims will abstain from certain provisions that the Quran has otherwise allowed; namely eating, drinking and sexual intercourse. Quran 2:187.Altruism or selflessness, is the principle or practice of concern for the welfare of others. It is traditional virtue in many cultures and core aspect of various religious traditions and secular world views, though the concept of towards whom concern should be directed can vary among cultures and religions. Altruism or selflessness is the opposite of selfishness. The word was coined by the French philosopher, Comte 1851,in French, an altruism, for an antonym of egoism. Prophet Muhammad, said in his narration known perhaps every devout Muslim none of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself. In Islam, the concept ithar (altruism) is the notion of preferring others to oneself'.Altruism sometimes leads to danger, volunteering is thought to be naturally related concept of altruism, Leventhal, 2009. Sometimes it leads to difficult situations, therefore self-regulation helps as it is an ability to direct our behavior.O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that ye may (learn) self-restraint. 2:183Self regulation refers to the ability of an individual to direct the behavior and control the impulses so that an individual meet certain standards achieve certain goals or reach certain ideals. Self regulation involves being able to set goals monitoring one behavior to ensure that it is in line with those goals and having the willpower to persist until goals are reached. Bandura, in late 70s, Humans are able to control their behavior through process known as self-regulation.Self-regulation is concept developed by psychologist Goleman 1995, and it helps to stop unhelpful behavior, and keep calm under pressure. Self-regulation is defined as, like many other scientists (Baumeister & Vohs, 2004; Carver & Schevr 1998) process by which system uses information about its present state to change that state towards greater conformity with desired end. …

Taylor-Made

In A Secular Age (2007), Charles Taylor ties modernity to a secular worldview in which any religion is understood as one possible belief among many. To make this argument, Taylor's primary foil is that of the unbeliever – the individual who regards atheism as the baseline standard for religious commitment and every religion as an unnecessary accretion on this baseline. The atheist, to Taylor, is quintessentially modern, embodying a sense of invulnerability that stems from a misguided attempt to irreparably close off the possibility of transcendence. The unbeliever represents, for Taylor, the best proof that modern society hinges on the binary between immanence and transcendence. However, recent sociological work on the experiences of self-identifying atheists throws a wrench in Taylor's critical treatment of the unbeliever. A small but provocative body of literature on so-called “irreligious experiences” demonstrate that atheists frequently describe experiences which look virtually identical to the kinds of experiences that Taylor regards as openings onto a transcendental plane. In this paper, I briefly adumbrate the contours of irreligious experiences and demonstrate the ways that they complicate Taylor's depiction of unbelief as the attempt to foreclose the possibility of transcendence. I argue that such a view of atheism requires Taylor to inconsistently deploy his crucial conceptual tool, “the background,” at times privileging and at other times downplaying the importance of lived experience. Furthermore, I argue that Taylor's reductive portrayal of atheists illustrates a number of problems with Taylor's overall depiction of modernity. As a means to move beyond Taylor's equation of modernity with the dominance of immanence over transcendence, I then turn to the thought of Bruno Latour, whose treatment of modernity provides a more consistent take on how modernity is experienced as opposed to idealized. I argue that, for Latour, the binary between immanence and transcendence is not a reality of modern society but a myth which justifies the continuous blurring of that same binary in lived experience. Thus, Latour maintains Taylor's emphasis on those conceptual categories which have achieved prominence in modern society (immanence, transcendence) but reverses the direction of analysis by which to understand such categories, creating a more nuanced and complex account of modern subjectivities.

The Pull of the Sacred: All or Nothing

The Pull of the Sacred: All or Nothing Yelena Mazour‐Matusevich Throughout the world, the eternal imitation of the great [French] nation. (Dostoyevsky, Notes on Summer Impressions) In this essay, based on Albert Camus’ insights in his 1950 book The Rebel, I would like to suggest that contemporary Islamist violence, although a new movement in itself, might be the latest expression of a larger historical and anthropological phenomenon going back to the previous century and possibly even before. In The Rebel Camus described this phenomenon as the absolute existential irreconcilability and mutual exclusion between the world of the sacred and the modern secular mindset, which he called the world of rebellion: “Only two possible worlds can exist for the human mind: the sacred and the world of rebellion. The disappearance of one is equivalent to the appearance of the other. There again we rediscover the All or Nothing.” By the world of the sacred Camus understood what Mircea Eliade once identified as the “sacred mode of being,” and medievalists such as Jacques Le Goff and Aron Gurevich, respectively, as “archaic mentality” and “collective consciousness”: a belief‐based mindset shared by a community of people who unconditionally accept certain fundamental values as a matter of faith. More recently, Marcel Gauchet defined it as a “socially imbedded understanding of the universe as sacred order.” The mutually dependent combination of faith‐based and communal aspects is a quintessential and inalienable characteristic of the sacred worldview. Therefore, the fact that ISIS is characterized by the combination of these two aspects proves its belonging to the world of the sacred. Although Camus was neither original nor unique to point at the opposition of the sacred and secular worldviews, a distinction well known to cultural anthropologists, his extreme take on this opposition is his own: he perceived it not only as a conflict, but as The Conflict, the ultimate antagonism of contemporary humanity. As he stated it himself, this was his working hypothesis, “not the only one possible; moreover, it is far from explaining everything. But it partly explains the direction in which our times are leading and almost entirely the excesses of the age.” Camus’ discernments on this topic have not, to my best knowledge, been subject to a public discussion. Even his latest biographer, French philosopher Michel Onfray, who seeks the reestablishment of The Rebel as Camus’ both most significant and most neglected work, leaves this part of Camus’ arguments aside. The reluctance of French intellectuals to include this perspective into the discussion following the 2015 massacres might be due to deeper and more complex reasons than simply political correctness and the traditional post‐colonial discourse, which has become so customary it has evolved into a Pavlov‐like reflex. It might actually be due to what Camus referred to as All or Nothing: the opacity of the sacred mind for those who are deprived of it. For these two mindsets—sacred and secular—are like Janus whose one face is turned to the past, and the other to the future, and whose gazes can never meet. The reason for this tragic lack of communication lies in the fact that while, as André Gide put it, “what we French require most of all is logic,” in the world of the sacred characterized by “a deeper level of social psychology where spontaneous and unconscious mental structures dominate, logic […] has no power.” Therefore, the French refusal to take the sacred cause seriously as the main reason of modern day conflicts might derive from a natural human tendency to reduce the unfamiliar to the familiar. In this case, the familiar is represented by the components of a conflict that are material, quantifiable, accessible to logic and empirical investigation—such as social inequalities, economic development, corruption, poverty, or bad government. However, it is religion and belief systems that are the primary categories of individual and collective identities, and as such they deserve to be investigated without constantly reversing to the Marxist idea of “matter first,” which is concealed behind the tendency of reducing them to economic and social determinants. This is precisely what Camus’ argument in The Rebel aims to achieve: to analyze the very mental attitudes involved and...

Mythology, Weltanschauung, symbolic universe and states of consciousness

This article investigates whether different religious (mythological) worldviews can be described as alternative and altered states of consciousness (ASCs). Differences between conscious and unconscious motivations for behaviour are discussed before looking at ASCs, Weltanschauung and symbolic universes. Mythology can be described both as Weltanschauung and symbolic universe, functioning on all levels of consciousness. Different Weltanschauungen constitute alternative states of consciousness. Compared to secular worldviews, religious worldviews may be described as ASCs. Thanks to our globalised modern societies, the issue is even more complex, as alternate modernities lead to a symbolic multiverse, with individuals living in a social multiverse.Keyowrds: mythology; Weltanschauung; worldview; symbolic universe; states of consciousness; altered states of consciousness; alternative states of consciousness; symbolic multiverse; social multiverse

WPA Position Statement on Spirituality and Religion in Psychiatry

WPA Position Statement on Spirituality and Religion in Psychiatry

Controversy in French Drama: Molière’s Tartuffe and the Struggle for Influence by Julia Prest

Julia Prest. Controversy in French Drama: Moliere's Tartuffe and the Struggle for Influence. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. Pp. xi + 247. $100.00. Julia Prest's Controversy in French Drama: Moliere's Tartuffe and the Struggle for Influence elucidates standard narratives of the 1664-69 Tartuffe controversy and adds new dimensions by examining a wide swath of primary and secondary sources. Combining literary criticism, theatre history, political history, and religious history, Prest situates Tartuffe as central to power struggles in the early reign of Louis XIV. She convincingly argues that scholarship on the play has erred in framing Tartuffe's religious fervor as a true-false question. Though the play exposes Tartuffe as a faux devot (falsely pious hypocrite), he is never truly placed in contrast with a vrai devot (true believer). Instead, Prest contends, Moliere presents a dangerously secular worldview by proposing that moral goodness can exist outside the Church's sphere of influence. Chapter headings and subheadings help the reader to see the intricacies of this argument, which progresses through an absorbing narrative. Prest writes in an accessible style, showcasing a wry wit and a flair for building suspense. A major strength of this book is the author's ability to explain the political stakes of religious issues without getting bogged down in theological minutiae. Prest's expertise in the religious culture of seventeenth-century France is evidenced by her original and engaging readings of sermons of the period. Readers who specialize in dramatic literature will appreciate her laser-sharp focus on how religion relates to Tartuffe and to the consolidation of power by Louis XIV. Prest offers clear and nuanced explanations of the political problem of Jansenism, including its critiques of Jesuit casuistry and lay spiritual advisors, religious arguments for and against theatre, and the powerful yet unpopular Company of the Holy Sacrament. Readers who have a solid understanding of the conflict between Jesuits and Jansenists will find fresh perspective here, while those who have never heard of Jansenism will learn enough to follow Prest's arguments. An Augustinian sect based in Port-Royal, Jansenism harshly criticized the alleged moral laxity of Jesuitism. Jansenists were perceived as a threat to the monarchy, largely because Jesuits held influential positions at court. The first chapter introduces these religious issues and several key players in the early reign of Louis XIV who would later become important in the Tartuffe controversy. Prest frames the young king as embodying a tension between mondain and devot: between worldliness and religious devotion. This tension is also typified by Armand de Bourbon, Prince de Conti. A cousin to the king who was involved in the Fronde rebellion, Conti transformed from a young libertine to a man of extreme piety. After supporting Moliere's theatre troupe in the early 1650s, Conti wrote religiously inspired antitheatrical treatises in the 1660s. His conversion included joining the Company of the Holy Sacrament, a secret organization that aspired to exert religious influence on worldly matters and was best known for its efforts to ban Tartuffe. Prest carefully distinguishes the Company of the Holy Sacrament from Jansenism, despite their similar rejection of worldliness. Also introduced in the first chapter are Francois de la Mothe Le Vayer and Hardouin de Beaumont de Perefixe, who served as preceptors to the king during the 1640s and ended up on opposite sides of the Tartuffe affair in the 1660s. In this chapter and elsewhere, Prest mines the Memoires of Louis XIV for evidence of the King's own attitudes toward situations that might be relevant to the Tartuffe controversy. Here, Prest notes the King's desire, under the influence of his Jesuit confessor, to destroy Jansenism. Theatre was a site of contention among religious groups, with some praising its potential for moral education and others condemning it as immoral. …

Must a Scholar of Religion Be Methodologically Atheistic or Agnostic?

Peter L. Berger famously argued that any scientific inquiry into religious matters must be “methodologically atheistic.” But methodological atheism performs no proper normative function in the academic study of religion; it fabricates, trivializes, and renders inexplicable religious experience; it is not neutral or objective; and the argument for its normativity improperly legitimates a secular worldview. Furthermore, the argument for the normativity of methodological agnosticism suffers some of the same flaws and has distinctive flaws of its own, including hindering scholars from articulating good reasons to believe that certain religious experiences are delusions and exhibiting self-referential incoherence.

Interview with Dr Seyyed Hossein Nasr

In this interview, Dr Nasr challenges the modernist and secular worldview and stresses the contemporary need for interfaith dialogue. What are the opportunities that interfaith dialogue creates for the great world religions and the potential obstacles to it? What is the specific meaning of interfaith dalogue for Muslims?

The New Secular Humanists: Ronald Dworkin and Philip Kitcher on Life without God

Ronald Dworkin and Philip Kitcher recognize that traditional, religious faith—especially in Christian theistic tradition—has virtues that seem to be missing in a secular worldview. To remedy this apparent deficit, they both propose that a secular worldview can provide a satisfying foundation for a flourishing, meaningful life. Moreover, Kitcher argues that secular humanism is far more justified than a religious worldview because it does not face the problem of diversity that arises in the case of religion. I argue that secular humanism faces the same problem of diversity that Kitcher proposes undermines religious belief. I further argue that Dworkin’s and Kitcher’s secular alternative to a religious worldview is problematic.

Islamic Civilization: Its Significance in al-Faruqi’s Islamization of Knowledge

This paper discusses the significance attempt of al-Faruqi in making Islamic civilization a mandatory course in his Islamization of Knowledge project. In any attempt of Islamization of Knowledge, the students of Islamization should be comprehensively mastered Islamic Civilization. Al-Faruqi systematically developed four required components in civilizational study that were critical for Islamization project, i.e., to give the Muslim student knowledge of the first principles of Islam as essence of Islamic civilization in the first year; the historical achievements of Islamic civilization in the second year; how Islamic civilization compares and contrasts with other civilizations in essence and manifestation, in the third year, and; how Islamic civilization is the only viable option in dealing with the fundamental problems of Muslims and non-Muslims in the contemporary world, in the fourth year. The significance ideal projected by this comprehensive stages as characterized by al-Faruqi were crucial for student to understand the secular worldview that bring the collapse of civilization in the past and not to repeat this catastrophic consequence in contemporary civilization of the Ummah.

Human Labor: Vocation to Share and Celebrate Divine Creativity

In the Christian religious tradition, a great deal of study is devoted to the notion of human work and its importance to the world as such. In presenting some general ideas on this topic based almost exclusively on Christian perspective, Rev. Dr. Karekatt has argued that religion throughout the ages has played a decisive role not only in the understanding of human being and his/her surroundings but also in providing them with means and methods of harnessing human labor. With the arrival of modern science and technology however, the Church was faced with immense challenges in order to redefine work ethics and provide the meaning of it that would fit the new and ever increasing development of labor philosophy within modern and secular worldview. This and other questions such as work in the Christian perspective, human being as creation in the image of God and ordained to live in society, and finally work or labor as a fundamental dimension of human existence have been discussed in the present article.

THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION IN SOUTH AFRICA AND THE EPISTEMOLOGICAL DIVIDE: IN SEARCH OF THE AFRICAN HABITUS

The ethos of the academy in South Africa, as is the case in the West in general, has been shaped profoundly by the Enlightenment. Theological and religious studies in the secular academy have had to conform to this ethos. This has led to the anomalous situation of African students of theology being alienated from their faith at university level despite the fact that the sub-continent appears to be over-whelmingly Christian in its ethos. Theology departments need to take more seriously the epistemological divide between students of theology coming from an African background that has had little or no exposure to the critical approach that emerged within the history of the academy in the West. This does not mean that the critical approach must be abandoned but rather that it should be applied more rigorously to the secular world view of the university itself and recognition given of alternative world views that shape the African habitus. Such forms of contextualisation mean, amongst other things, that a more sympathetic articulation of the faith in African terms needs to be emphasised, the social sciences should not take the place of theology; an alternative, non-secular account of human rights needs to be found, and development discourse needs to take seriously Indigenous Knowledge Systems.

Together towards life – sailing with pirates

In this research, the 2013 mission affirmation of the World Council of Churches’ (WCC), Together towards life – Mission and evangelism in changing landscapes (TTL), is evaluated through a rather unique hermeneutical lens by interpreting and assessing the ecumenical discourse in the light of the book by Kester Brewin, Mutiny, Why we love pirates and how they can save us (2012), and by integrating these insights. The research acknowledges the emphasis on life-affirming mission in TTL, and the approach that a theological bridge is established between the Christian faith, secular worldviews, indigenous religions, and wisdom traditions, because the gospel is good news for all of creation. The following questions are investigated in the light of this: How can the idea of life be reconciled with the mission of God? What is the content and scope of “life” and what is “life” all about? The focus is on the economic political-social consequences of adapting “life” as a theological point of departure. The research integrates a re-evaluation of piracy, as unpacked by Brewin, with the missional endeavour of discernment and the discovery of what “fullness of life” can mean in our day and times. It discusses piracy and mission as: resistance against the idolatry in the free-market economy; the restoration of the commons and koinonia in places where relationships flourish; living in the margins; and economic and ecological liberation in the Kingdom as a place of freedom.

Coming Out Religiously: Life Orientation in Public Schools

In the post-pillarized society of the Netherlands, formal religious education still is structured according to religious dividing lines. “Religion” in confessional schools is a compulsory subject; in public schools, taking a so-called neutral position with regard to religious traditions, “Religion” is an optional subject (Protestant, Roman Catholic, or Islamic religious education or Humanistic World View Education), taught to pupils on parents’ request. Nowadays, due to processes of modernization, globalization, and individualization, the position of religion in society has changed and subsequently the position of “Religion” as a subject in classes has changed. These days for principals and teachers in public schools it is urgent to reflect on their positionality regarding (religious and secular) worldview education. In this contribution we present our findings from document analysis and from (focus group) interviews with principals, and from observations in public schools, resulting in a plea for “Life Orientation for all” as a compulsory subject in all schools for all pupils.

Dealing with Religious Differences in Italian Prisons: Relationships Between Institutions and Communities from Misrecognition to Mutual Transformation

Against the backdrop of the ‘formatting of religions’ thesis, this paper presents the outcomes of empirical research on religious assistance in ten prisons in the Italian region of Lazio. We construct a typology of the forms of relationships that exist between prisons and religious organisations in an increasingly pluralist context. These relationships can have their bases in (1) misrecognition, which is strictly speaking a form of non-relation; (2) adaptation, with a distinction drawn between instrumental adaptation, on the one hand, and formatting, on the other; (3) conflict; or (4) cooperation and mutual transformation. Each form of relationship is explained and discussed through the experiences of relevant individuals, with stories drawn from interviews conducted during our research. This typology shows that, in the Italian case at least, a context of religious pluralism and the coexistence of religious and secular worldviews and practices in public institutions do not necessarily have a ‘formatting’ effect on religious organisations, nor lead to any form of mutual transformation or ‘complementary learning’ process taking place. This ‘complementary learning’ process has been taken in our research as a working hypothesis. We take the term from the broader theoretical debate about the postsecular, but we want to make the point that the postsecular also has an empirical dimension which can be described and assessed through the kind of sociological research we conduct in this paper. This paper explores why no such complementary learning process has developed between institutions and religious groups in the Italian context, and briefly highlights how, conversely, this kind of postsecular relationship is promoted in the UK. At the same time, it argues that forms of resistance from religious groups to institutional formatting pressures can be observed in both the British context and in the results of our own research.

Barnett Newman, The Stations of the Cross: Lema Sabachtani

According to the art critic Harold Rosenberg there is nothing religious about Barnett Newman’s series of fourteen roughly human-sized, black and white paintings, The Stations of the Cross: Lema Sabachtani. Rosenberg, countering Thomas Hess’s kabalistic reading of Newman’s work, argued that Newman’s The Stations should be understood in the context of Newman’s idiosyncratic, secular world view. This in some respect is correct—Newman was not religious in any traditional sense and railed against dogma of any kind—but Rosenberg surprisingly failed to understand fully that Newman’s recourse to a powerful religious symbol allowed him to point to the political import of his subject when other aesthetic and political vocabularies failed him.

The Ethics of William Carlos Williams’s Poetry by Ian D. Copestake

Ethics of William Carlos Williams's Poetry. Ian D. Copestake. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2010. 180 pp. $34.95 (cloth).One of most famous credos of modernist poetry is Williams's dis- tinctively succinct ideas but in things. No statement is cited more often to explain aesthetics and ethics of Williams's poetry, from iconic brevity of The Red Wheelbarrow to epic complexity of Paterson. Another five-word credo that this statement echoes is less familiar, although it was certainly familiar to Williams: THAT IS NOT TRUE. As Ian Copestake notes in his ground-breaking book, Ethics of Williams Carlos Williams's Poetry, this more obscure statement appears in constitution of Unitarian society of Ruther- ford, New Jersey, expressing society's conviction that the church, itself, should have but one imperative dogma which may be expressed in five words- NOTHING THAT IS NOT TRUE (qtd. in Copestake 17). fact that such a correspondence between modernism and Unitarianism seems so unlikely is point of departure for Copestake's judicious reconsideration of Williams's poetics. And fact that he so thoroughly recovers roots of Williams's Unitarian phi- losophy and so persuasively articulates its implications for his literary career is what makes this book so important.Williams's Unitarian religious background has been discussed in biographi- cal studies (most notably, Paul Mariani, William Carlos Williams: A New World Naked), historical studies (Mike Weaver, William Carlos Williams: American Background), and critical studies of his early poetry (David Frail, Early Politics and Poetics of William Carlos Williams). Williams himself noted impact of Unitarianism on his formation as a writer, as his parents were both active (and founding) members of Rutherford Unitarian society. Copestake is first scholar, however, to demonstrate lifelong significance of Unitarianism for Wil- liams's poetry. As he notes, there is a longstanding critical consensus about Wil- liams's secular worldview, based largely on his assertions that religious doctrine impeded contact with contemporary world. This presumed secularism has informed previous studies of Williams's pragmatism as well as poststructuralist claims for his epistemological skepticism. committed non-commitment to prescriptive doctrines (16) that informs Williams's Unitarianism, however, differs from religious traditions that he denounces. As Copestake argues, Williams's self-conception as an artist is derived from Unitarian principles of inclusive- ness, openness, and utility. His commitment to his work as a writer furthermore enacts Unitarian values of authenticity and self-realization: his quest for new forms of expression, then, enacts his faith. Paradoxically, Williams's renowned iconoclasm is inseparable from his religious practice.Copestake documents Williams's engagement with Unitarian thought through archival research on history of Unitarianism as well as careful attention to Wil- liams's philosophical writings, such as Five Philosophical Essays from Embodiment of Knowledge. Ethics of William Carlos Williams's Poetry does more than document Unitarian roots of Williams's poetics, however: it articu- lates a new understanding of his purpose and practice as a poet. Addressing most distinctive, and most influential, aspect of Williams's writing, his commit- ment to renewing language and form of poetry as a meaningful public dis- course, this book makes a nuanced case for development of his ethics as a writer. Copestake initially explains how Williams's poetry about work exemplifies this commitment. His close reading of Fine Work (from Adam & Eve & City) exemplifies his lucid rendering of religious, philosophical, and autobiograph- ical implications of Williams's formal precision. Fine Work is an especially ap- propriate example because it both recollects impact of Williams's parents on his work as a poet and anticipates more expansive redemptive purpose of Pa- terson, which Copestake discusses at greater length in final two chapters. …