Religion and the Rise of Modern Culture describes and analyzes changing attitudes toward religion during three stages of modern European culture: the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the Romantic period. Louis Dupré is an expert guide to the complex historical and intellectual relation between religion and modern culture. Dupré begins by tracing the weakening of the Christian synthesis. At the end of the Middle Ages intellectual attitudes toward religion began to change. Theology, once the dominant science that had integrated all others, lost its commanding position. After the French Revolution, religion once again played a role in intellectual life, but not as the dominant force. Religion became transformed by intellectual and moral principles conceived independently of faith. Dupré explores this new situation in three areas: the literature of Romanticism (illustrated by Goethe, Schiller, and Hölderlin); idealist philosophy (Schelling); and theology itself (Schleiermacher and Kierkegaard). Dupré argues that contemporary religion has not yet met the challenge presented by Romantic thought. Dupré’s elegant and incisive book, based on the Erasmus Lectures he delivered at the University of Notre Dame in 2005, will challenge anyone interested in religion and the philosophy of culture.

Religion and the Rise of Modern Culture (ND Erasmus Institute Books)

Dupré, Louis

Religion & Spirituality

University of Notre Dame Press

This eagerly awaited study brings to completion Louis Dupré's planned trilogy on European culture during the modern epoch. Demonstrating remarkable erudition and sweeping breadth, The Quest of the Absolute analyzes Romanticism as a unique cultural phenomenon and a spiritual revolution. Dupré philosophically reflects on its attempts to recapture the past and transform the present in a movement that is partly a return to premodern culture and partly a violent protest against it. Following an introduction on the historical origins of the Romantic Movement, Dupré examines the principal Romantic poets of England (Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats), Germany (Goethe, Schiller, Novalis, Hölderlin), and France (Lamartine, de Vigny, Hugo), all of whom, from different perspectives, pursued an absolute ideal. In the chapters of the second part, he concentrates on the critical principles of Romantic aesthetics, the Romantic image of the person as reflected in the novel, and Romantic ethical and political theories. In the chapters of the third, more speculative, part, he investigates the comprehensive syntheses of romantic thought in history, philosophy, and theology.

The Quest of the Absolute: Birth and Decline of European Romanticism

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Marx’s Social Critique of Culture

A distinguished philosopher presents a critical reading of Marx's interpretation of culture. Dupré discusses the relation of Marx to previous philosophers, especially Hegel; the stages of development and contradictions within Marx's conception of culture; and the contributions of various Marxists who followed Marx. "Intelligent, discerning, and carefully nuanced." -- American Political Science Review

Marx's Social Critique of Culture

Biographies & Memoirs

Yale Univ Pr

This study sheds new light on Marx’s achievement by presenting a critical reading of his interpretation of culture.  Dupré discusses the relation of Marx to previous philosophers, especially Hegel; the stages of development and contradictions within Marx’s conception of culture; and the contributions of the various Marxists who followed Marx.“An intelligent, discerning, and carefully nuanced reading of Marx. . . . Dupré presents a fluidity and diversity that is lacking in many other interpretations of Marx.”-- Peter Stillman, The American Political Science Review“What makes the book notable is that it handles its subject more clearly, thoroughly, and indeed elegantly than most of its predecessors.”-- Michael J. Kerlin, Theological Studies“Dupré is undoubtedly one of the most knowledgeable scholars of Marxism. . . . His study counts among the best ones written on the modern Prometheus.” -- Max Wildiers, De Standard“A major work on Marx, displaying familiarity with the vast scope of his work and characterized by thoughtful and insightful analysis.” -- Carol Gould“This book is very learned, well-written and readable. . . . Its value lies in its attempt to subordinate the basic tenets of Marx’s thought to the question of how man’s cultural activity is to be understood within the general framework of Marxism and how some of Marx’s ideas concerning culture can be adapted apart from the dogmas of ‘historical materialism.’”-- Leszek Kolakowski

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Yale University Press

Hardcover with dust jacket. VG/VG. Very good; dust jacket covered with mylar.

Passage to Modernity: An Essay on the Hermeneutics of Nature and Culture

Philosophy

Did modernity begin with the Renaissance and end with post-modernity? In this book a distinguished scholar challenges both these assumptions. Louis Dupré discusses the roots, development, and impact of modern thought, tracing the fundamental principles of modernity to the late fourteenth century and affirming that modernity is still an influential force in contemporary culture. The combination of late medieval theology and early Italian humanism shattered the traditional synthesis that had united cosmic, human, and transcendent components in a comprehensive idea of nature. Early Italian humanism transformed the traditional worldview by its unprecedented emphasis on human creativity. The person emerged as the sole source of meaning while nature was reduced to an object and transcendence withdrew into a "supernatural" realm. Dupré analyzes this fragmentation as well as the writings of those who reacted against it―philosophers like Cusanus and Bruno, humanists like Ficino and Erasmus, theologians like Baius and Jansenius, mystics like Ignatius Loyola and Francis de Sales, and theosophists like Weigel and Boehme. Baroque culture briefly reunited the human, cosmic, and transcendent components, but since that time the disintegrating forces have increased in strength. Despite post-modern criticism, the principles of early modernity continue to dominate the climate of our time. Passage to Modernity is not so much a critique as a search for the philosophical meaning of the epochal change achieved by those principles.

Passage to Modernity: An Essay in the Hermeneutics of Nature and Culture

Dupré (religious studies, Yale U.) explores the philosophical, religious, and historical paths leading from the Enlightenment to modernity, finding it more complex than both its adherents and detractors claim. He explains that questions about habitual acceptance of authority, secular and sacred, are said to have arisen from the ashes of 1648 and came to fruition in the French Revolution of 1789, and that many of the answers seemed rational but were based on unproved assumptions. Dupré finds these questions of the mind were only part of the progression. They formed a way of thinking that continues unabated into modern times, and include in its conventions the detractors of the Enlightenment themselves. He shows how the larger questions of the heart and soul, such as the role of rationality, protection of the individual conscience against religious compulsion, the creative purpose of the self, the nature of true authority, all woven in the Enlightenment, continue to walk amongst us, albeit in modern clothes. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

The Enlightenment and the Intellectual Foundations of Modern Culture

An eminent scholar of modern culture argues that the Enlightenment―the importance of which has been vigorously debated in recent years―was a more complex phenomenon than either its detractors or advocates assume. “Ranging as it does over art, morality, religion, science, philosophy, social theory, and a good deal besides, [Dupré’s book] is a marvel of scholarly erudition. . . . Formidably well-researched, . . . [this] would make an excellent introduction to Enlightenment ideas for the general reader.”―Terry Eagleton, Harper’s Magazine “This immensely readable book will cause readers to rethink the Enlightenment and to see its positive aspects. It will also add crucial historical perspective to current discussions of modernity.”―Donald Verene, Emory University

Arts & Photography

Kierkegaard as Theologian

Sheed and Ward

How should philosophy approach religious experience, which by definition surpasses its competence? Can philosophy do more than describe the religious experience without discussing its object? Can religion make genuine truth claims - especially when the prevalence of suffering and evil in the world seems to belie those claims? These are some of the basic questions raised in this engaging collection of essays by philosopher Louis Dupre. According to Dupre, a philosophical analysis of faith must take account of the unique system of symbols in which it expresses its beliefs, rituals, and modes of worship. The justification of religious symbols has become a particular problem in an age that tends to separate the objective from the subjective, interpreting the former literally and denying objective reality to the latter. Dupre's essays on von Balthasar's theory of religious form and on the nature of ritual attempt to restore the original meaning of religious symbols, while integrating them with the modern emphasis on human creativity. "As this slim but remarkable book of essays makes abundantly clear, its author bids fair to have an influence that will last into the next century, at the last: there is something about his philosophy that seems not just nourishing for a day or hour but perennially satisfying. " - Commonweal "Dupré writes with the clarity of an analytical philosopher about the issues of experience dear to phenomenologists and with a depth of historical understanding and sensitivity to the life of faith that is rare now in philosophy. In short, this book is that all too unusual phenomenon, religious philosophy. It is done very well, indeed." - Theology Today " This is a wise and thought-provoking collection." - Modern Theology

Religious Mystery and Rational Reflection: Excursions in the Phenomenology and Philosophy of Religion

Wm. B. Eerdmans-Lightning Source

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Dupré, Louis. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Dupré, Louis

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Dupré, Louis. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Religion and the Rise of Modern Culture (ND Erasmus Institute Books)

The Quest of the Absolute: Birth and Decline of European Romanticism

Marx's Social Critique of Culture

Marx’s Social Critique of Culture

Passage to Modernity: An Essay on the Hermeneutics of Nature and Culture

Passage to Modernity: An Essay in the Hermeneutics of Nature and Culture

The Enlightenment and the Intellectual Foundations of Modern Culture

The Enlightenment and the Intellectual Foundations of Modern Culture

Kierkegaard as Theologian

Religious Mystery and Rational Reflection: Excursions in the Phenomenology and Philosophy of Religion