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Spiritual Values for Those Without Eternal Life

Martin Hägglund, This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom, New York: Pantheon, 2019

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Abstract

Martin Hägglund’s This Life: Secular Faith and Spiritual Freedom offers a naturalistic, this-worldly theology with eloquence and heart. Nevertheless, from a religious studies perspective, there is a fair amount to criticize. This review essay identifies two shortcomings in this book and then develops a typology of religious teachings about eternal life in order to assess places where Hägglund’s critique succeeds.

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Notes

  1. For a good argument that Hägglund should not call this-worldly commitments a secular ‘faith,’ see Pippin and Hägglund (2019).

  2. Hägglund refers to the first kind of eternal life as ‘timeless repose’ (28). Kevin Hector (2020) also marks the distinction I am making, categorizing the two kinds as, respectively, ‘a mystical strand’ and ‘an abundant life strand’ of eternal life.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy & Religion, Appalachian State University, Greer Hall 113, Boone, NC, 28608, USA

    Kevin Schilbrack

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  1. Kevin Schilbrack
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Correspondence to Kevin Schilbrack.

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Schilbrack, K. Spiritual Values for Those Without Eternal Life. SOPHIA 58, 753–759 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11841-019-00754-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11841-019-00754-8

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