After the Death of God - by Espen Hammer (Hardcover)

About the Book

"The classical secularization thesis that emerged during the European Enlightenment held that all expressions of belief would gradually weaken and fade away under the pressure of scientific and technological rationality. Yet religious belief has persisted and thrived under the conditions of modernity. In After the Death of God, philosopher Espen Hammer reconstructs and analyzes a discourse of secularization that accounts for this incongruity. Starting from Immanuel Kant, Hammer explores how philosophers have responded to the death of God, focusing on the idealist and anti-idealist aftermath of Kant's thinking in Hegel, Feuerbach, Marx, and Nietzsche. For these philosophers, the Enlightenment critique of rational metaphysics was either articulated, affirmed, or simply taken for granted. However, the absence of God, or at least the impossibility of knowing whether a divine power exists, was not simply a mere fact. Rather than searching for reasons to reject religion, Hammer finds, these thinkers have called for a diagnostic and interpretive account of religion's ultimate significance and role within the context of modernity. Unlike today's New Atheists, who see religion as fundamentally anti-modern, the thinkers in this book all see religion as being either transformed into, or replaced by, a renewed ethical life. For them, the claim that "God is dead" implies the beginning of a secular age in which humans attain dignity and moral authority as a self-actualizing, self-creating being"--

Book Synopsis

A fresh history of nineteenth-century philosophy's many ideas about secularization.

The secularization thesis, which held that religious belief would gradually yield to rationality, has been thoroughly debunked. What, then, can we learn from philosophers for whom the death of God seemed so imminent? In this book, Espen Hammer offers a sweeping analysis of secularization in nineteenth-century German philosophy, arguing that the persistence of religion (rather than its absence) animated this tradition. Hammer shows that Kant, Hegel, Feuerbach, Marx, and Nietzsche, each in their own way, sought to preserve and transform religion's ethical and communal aspirations for modern life. A renewed appreciation for this tradition's generous thought, Hammer argues, can help us chart a path through needlessly destructive conflicts between secularists and fundamentalists today.

Review Quotes

"An interesting history of secularization, charting its development through the thought of the major thinkers of the 19th century, secularization's most important period."-- "Choice"

"Hammer offers a revelatory treatment of the theme of secularization in the post-Kantian period. In the narrative Hammer presents, religious impulses are not simply discarded with the onset of secularization but are instead transformed and preserved. Specialists and nonspecialists alike will benefit from engaging with his account."--Andrew Huddleston, University of Warwick

"In this elegant and compelling book, Hammer guides readers through a new reading of philosophical history: from Kant forward, he argues, the modern philosophical canon has directed its attention to religion with a twofold gesture of critique and rescue. Through exceptionally illuminating close readings, Hammer helps us to see in this framework a truly insightful and graceful new answer to an important question: What remains to religion after what Nietzsche called the death of God?"--Peter E. Gordon, Harvard University

About the Author

Espen Hammer is professor of philosophy at Temple University. He has published numerous books, including Adorno's Modernism: Art, Experience, and Catastrophe.