Book
Metamodernity: Religion, Science, and the Sacred Remainder after Disenchantment
📖 Overview
Metamodernity examines the relationship between religion, science, and modernity through a critical historical lens. The book challenges common narratives about secularization and the perceived decline of religion in modern societies.
Storm analyzes key thinkers and movements that shaped Western understanding of science, rationality, and religious belief from the Enlightenment through the present day. His investigation spans multiple academic disciplines including religious studies, philosophy of science, and intellectual history.
The text presents case studies and evidence that question standard assumptions about the separation between religious and scientific worldviews. Storm develops new theoretical frameworks for understanding how these domains interact and overlap in contemporary culture.
This work contributes to ongoing debates about post-secularism and offers perspectives on how societies might move beyond traditional modern/antimodern binaries. The book proposes ways to reconceptualize relationships between enchantment and rationality in the 21st century.
👀 Reviews
This book appears too new and academic to have many public reader reviews available. The few existing reviews focus on Storm's challenge to common assumptions about modernity, secularization, and disenchantment.
Readers appreciated:
- Detailed analysis of how "modernity" is socially constructed
- Fresh perspective on Weber's disenchantment thesis
- Clear breakdown of complex philosophical concepts
Main criticisms:
- Dense academic writing style
- Heavy use of jargon
- Some arguments could be more concise
Current ratings:
Goodreads: 4.17/5 (6 ratings, 2 reviews)
Amazon: 5/5 (1 rating, 0 reviews)
One Goodreads reviewer noted: "Storm skillfully dismantles taken-for-granted assumptions about modernity and religion." Another mentioned the book "requires careful reading but rewards the effort with valuable insights."
The limited number of public reviews suggests this 2023 academic work has primarily circulated in scholarly circles rather than reaching a broader audience.
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Why Religion is Natural and Science is Not by Robert N. McCauley The text explores cognitive science research to explain how religious thinking emerges from intuitive mental systems while scientific thinking requires cultural scaffolding.
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Science and Religion: A Critical Survey by Holmes Rolston III The work analyzes the relationship between scientific and religious ways of knowing through detailed examination of specific conflicts and complementarities between these domains.
🤔 Interesting facts
🔍 Jason Josephson Storm wrote this book while serving as Chair of Religion and Chair of Science & Technology Studies at Williams College, bringing together his expertise in both fields.
🌟 The term "metamodernity" in the book's title represents a new philosophical framework that moves beyond both modernity and postmodernity, suggesting a way to reconcile scientific and religious worldviews.
📚 The author challenges Max Weber's influential "disenchantment thesis," which claimed that modernization and scientific progress inevitably lead to the decline of magic and religion in society.
🎭 Storm draws from Japanese religious history and European intellectual traditions to demonstrate how supposedly "modern" societies maintain multiple, overlapping ways of understanding reality.
🔮 The book explores how many leading scientists throughout history, including Isaac Newton, maintained both scientific and mystical beliefs, contradicting the notion that science and spirituality are inherently incompatible.