Transcendence, Kenosis and Enfleshment: Charles Taylor's Religious Thought

Abstract

<p> The dissertation examines an intersection of ethics, epistemology, politics, and religious consciousness in the work of Canadian political theorist Charles Taylor. The goal of the study is to bring to light the central or even unifying role of theism in Taylor's broader philosophical project. More specifically, the dissertation speaks to the constructive moral and anthropological-as opposed to any merely ideological-role that theism plays in Taylor's thought, focusing especially on the conception of transcendence that underwrites his political and ethical theory. A basic claim of the dissertation is that Taylor's conception of transcendence, while remaining attentive to the demands of religious pluralism, has a kenotic shape that gives rise to an ethics that emphasizes enfleshed enactments of agape.</p>