Secularist Humanism, Law and Religion in Ian McEwan’s <i>The Children Act</i>
Ian McEwan’s <i>The Children Act</i> focuses on a real-life conflict between religion and children’s rights in a pluralist society. By drawing on Charles Taylor’s work on religion in the “secular age”, I argue that McEwan’s narrative is ultimately built on secularist assumptions that dev...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-06-01
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| Series: | Religions |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/12/7/468 |
| _version_ | 1797528767548096512 |
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| author | Camil Ungureanu |
| author_facet | Camil Ungureanu |
| author_sort | Camil Ungureanu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Ian McEwan’s <i>The Children Act</i> focuses on a real-life conflict between religion and children’s rights in a pluralist society. By drawing on Charles Taylor’s work on religion in the “secular age”, I argue that McEwan’s narrative is ultimately built on secularist assumptions that devalue religious experience. McEwan’s approach aims to build a bridge between literary imagination and scientific rationality: religion is, from this perspective, reducible to a “fable” and an authority structure incongruous with legal rationality and the quest for meaning in the modern-secular society. In <i>The Children Act</i>, art substitutes religion and its aspiration to transcendence: music in particular is a universal idiom that can overcome barriers of communication and provides “ecstatic” experiences in a godless world. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T10:03:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5b2158948356415fbc3d8f5bd831435f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T10:03:31Z |
| publishDate | 2021-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj.art-5b2158948356415fbc3d8f5bd831435f2023-11-22T01:43:13ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442021-06-0112746810.3390/rel12070468Secularist Humanism, Law and Religion in Ian McEwan’s <i>The Children Act</i>Camil Ungureanu0Department of Political and Social Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27, 08005 Barcelona, SpainIan McEwan’s <i>The Children Act</i> focuses on a real-life conflict between religion and children’s rights in a pluralist society. By drawing on Charles Taylor’s work on religion in the “secular age”, I argue that McEwan’s narrative is ultimately built on secularist assumptions that devalue religious experience. McEwan’s approach aims to build a bridge between literary imagination and scientific rationality: religion is, from this perspective, reducible to a “fable” and an authority structure incongruous with legal rationality and the quest for meaning in the modern-secular society. In <i>The Children Act</i>, art substitutes religion and its aspiration to transcendence: music in particular is a universal idiom that can overcome barriers of communication and provides “ecstatic” experiences in a godless world.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/12/7/468religionlawsecularist humanismCharles Taylorimmanent frameJehovah’s Witnesses |
| spellingShingle | Camil Ungureanu Secularist Humanism, Law and Religion in Ian McEwan’s <i>The Children Act</i> Religions religion law secularist humanism Charles Taylor immanent frame Jehovah’s Witnesses |
| title | Secularist Humanism, Law and Religion in Ian McEwan’s <i>The Children Act</i> |
| title_full | Secularist Humanism, Law and Religion in Ian McEwan’s <i>The Children Act</i> |
| title_fullStr | Secularist Humanism, Law and Religion in Ian McEwan’s <i>The Children Act</i> |
| title_full_unstemmed | Secularist Humanism, Law and Religion in Ian McEwan’s <i>The Children Act</i> |
| title_short | Secularist Humanism, Law and Religion in Ian McEwan’s <i>The Children Act</i> |
| title_sort | secularist humanism law and religion in ian mcewan s i the children act i |
| topic | religion law secularist humanism Charles Taylor immanent frame Jehovah’s Witnesses |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/12/7/468 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT camilungureanu secularisthumanismlawandreligioninianmcewansithechildrenacti |