Philosophize This! – Episode #240: Varieties of Religion Today (Charles Taylor)
Host: Stephen West | Date: November 8, 2025

Overview

This episode explores Charles Taylor’s book Varieties of Religion Today, which responds both to William James’s classic Varieties of Religious Experience and to the ongoing evolution of religious life and belief in the modern world. Stephen West guides listeners through Taylor’s critique of James’s (and modern society's) focus on religion as a purely individual experience, investigating the social, historical, and communal dimensions of religion and the distinctive spiritual predicament of our era.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. William James: Religion as Individual Experience (00:30–6:20)

• Background: James’s 1902 book focused on individual religious experience, not institutional practices.
• “Religion is something that goes on in the heart of an individual. It’s a personal experience when an individual feels a connection to whatever it is they call the divine.” — Stephen West, (01:05)
• James saw organized religion as, at best, a diluted version of these private mystical moments; at worst, as corrupt or even corporate.
• Religion, for James, “doesn’t require mass forms or churches at all.”
• Taylor credits James for crystallizing how many contemporary people, especially in the West, relate to religion, but also sees this focus as incomplete and potentially misleading.

2. Taylor’s Critique: Beyond the Personal (6:20–13:00)

• Taylor argues James’s view is overly narrow—missing how religion’s role has shifted historically.
• Important to understand not only personal meaning-making, but also religion’s communal and structural aspects.
• Taylor’s book aims not to prescribe religious practice but to describe the complexity of religious life so modern people can better understand their own stance, whether religious or not.

3. The Foundational Question: Transcendence or Immanence? (13:00–19:00)

• James’s question: Should I live as if there’s something transcendent beyond this world giving life meaning, or not?
• Two basic answers:
  • Closed stance: Rejecting transcendence, focusing only on immanent (this-worldly) explanations.
    • “God is not the hide and seek champion of the universe, okay?” — West paraphrasing (15:38)
    • This position sees meaning and values as arising entirely from human society, nature, etc.
  • Open stance: Allowing for transcendence, even if unverifiable.
    • James: The very fact of being drawn toward transcendence may justify exploring it.
    • Some truths or experiences (like trust) require active participation and vulnerability.
    • “There are kinds of knowledge that require the participation of the knower in something…” (17:32)

4. The Modern Critic, and Why the Past Was Different (19:00–23:30)

• Critics often call religion a “transcendent security blanket”—a comforting but irrational belief.
• Taylor cautions against this modern projection; historically, meaning was so embedded in society that “what if everything is meaningless” wasn't a persuasive concern.
  • The medieval monk, for instance, would see doubts as mere temptations, not threatening existential dilemmas.
• Modernity uniquely destabilizes the “taken for granted” status of religious meaning.

5. Religion’s Evolution: Durkheim’s Perspective & Taylor’s Categories (23:30–38:30)

• Durkheim (another classic thinker): Religion not just about individuals, but about social solidarity and collective rituals—“the glue that binds a society together.”
• Taylor maps three historical epochs:
  • Paleo Durkheim Religion: In earlier societies, all significant activity (marriage, schooling, governance) was religiously embedded; belonging and participation were inseparable from religion.
    • “To even live in a Paleo Durkheim society is to be participating in a religion.” (27:00)
  • Neo Durkheim Religion: Like in the modern US, where religion still provides some shared identity (e.g., “In God We Trust”), but isn’t required for societal participation.
  • Post-Durkheim Religion: Modern Europe as example—religion is completely optional, a matter of personal preference. This shift aligns with “expressive individualism” and the “age of authenticity.”
    • People “pick” their beliefs and practices like consumer products.
    • “Why wouldn’t religion become as a la carte to us as what kind of watch you’re going to wear?” (35:20)

6. The Modern Spiritual Predicament: Individualism, Community, and (Superficial) Choices (38:30–47:30)

• In our “post-Durkheim” context, many treat religion as a private, consumer-like choice (“spiritual but not religious”).
• Dangers:
  • Loss of deep communal accountability and interpretive support.
  • Tendency to rationalize, make excuses, or avoid genuine challenge (“How easy does it become... to just skip church for a couple weeks or a couple years simply because you decided it wasn’t necessary?” — 42:10)
  • Religious practice risks becoming shallow—a matter of taste, not transformation.
• Taylor emphasizes that:
  • True growth (religious or secular) usually requires challenging communal commitment.
  • The same pitfalls apply to secular, “immanent” worldviews—without community, activists and scientists alike risk complacency.

7. Modernity’s Unique Fragility: Pluralism and the Cusp of Belief (47:30–56:30)

• Our age is defined by “structural pluralism”—an unprecedented diversity of worldviews.
• This makes both belief and nonbelief fragile and easily destabilized.
  • The Christian doctor who admires nonbelievers, or the atheist encountering powerful “transcendent” experiences—both now live surrounded by credible alternatives.
• “To be someone alive today is likely to be someone who can relate to this doubt that crops up in their head far more than that Dominican monk from our example earlier.” (54:20)
• Taylor’s quote (55:12):

  “James is our great philosopher of the cusp. He tells us more than anyone else about what it’s like to stand in that open space and feel the winds pulling you now here, now there.”

• The resulting “cross-pressures” produce a modern predicament: many of us oscillate between transcendence and immanence, unable to fully commit to either.

8. Taylor’s Closing Guidance (56:30–End)

• Taylor does not prescribe religious or secular paths, but urges us to recognize structural challenges:
  • Avoid common modern “traps” (superficiality, isolation, endless rationalization).
  • “Pick a path that genuinely challenges you... and stick to that path long enough with a group of people really holding you accountable that you can actually see the benefits of being someone that’s committed themselves to that path.” (57:10)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On James's legacy:
  “William James absolutely nailed it when it comes to predicting the ways people of our time are going to be thinking about it.” (05:10)

• On the limitations of private, a la carte spirituality:
  “When real religious community doesn’t really matter anymore because it’s only what an individual person feels that matters... Think of all the problems this potentially creates for specifically a modern person.” (42:30)

• On the need for communal challenge:
  “How easy is it to call yourself an activist and never do anything that’s even difficult for you?” (45:44)

• On the modern spiritual predicament:
  “Getting caught in this place where you sort of oscillate between an imminence view and a transcendence view... It’s on this cusp between belief and unbelief that more and more modern people are starting to live their lives.” (55:00)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Background on William James: 00:30–6:20
• Taylor’s critique of James: 6:20–13:00
• The Immanence/Transcendence Question: 13:00–19:00
• Modern Critique vs. Historical Experience: 19:00–23:30
• Types of Religion (Paleo/Neo/Post-Durkheim): 23:30–38:30
• Emergence of Expressive Individualism: 35:20–42:30
• Risks of Modern Individualistic Religion: 42:10–47:30
• Pluralism and Fragile Belief: 47:30–56:30
• Final Guidance and Summary: 56:30–end

Conclusion

Stephen West, via Charles Taylor’s work, unpacks the subtle, nuanced evolution of religious life—from something totally societal and communal to the modern condition marked by radical personal choice, pluralism, and the risk of superficiality. Whether religious or secular, the episode urges listeners to find commitment and accountability in community, to genuinely challenge themselves, and to navigate modernity’s “cusp” with eyes wide open.

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