Free (DRM-free PDF) Modernitet og religion [Danish Academic Ideas Conflict History]

[ATDrake]

Modernitet og religion by Hans-Jørgen Schanz (Danish Wikipedia), a professor of the history of ideas and incidentally also a Knight of the Danish flag (roughly equivalent to an OBE), is his philosophical analytical post-modernist sort of treatise on the history of the conflict of ideas between notions of religiosity and modernity (as distinct from secularity), and how religion need not necessarily be anti-modern but should not be the basis for human rights, etc. etc., free courtesy of Aarhus University Press in Denmark.

This is their featured Danish-language free ebook for the month of June.

Although the blurb for this mentions Islamic fundamentalism, apparently the reviews for it say that it really focuses on modern western European forms of Christianity.

Currently free throughout June directly @ the university press' website (DRM-free PDF available worldwide).

Beskrivning på dansk
Modernitet og religion definerer kernebegreberne og fortæller, hvorfor totalitarismer som nazisme, stalisme og fascisme er en del af moderniseringen, men ikke er moderne. Den gør det desuden klart, hvorfor menneskerettighederne ikke kan have et religiøst grundlag - og hvorfor Karl Marx' religionskritik må revurderes.

Moderniteten truer det muslimske samfund. Perversion, respektløshed, materialisme og ugudelighed vælter ind fra det moderne Vesten - hvis man skal tro den fundamentalistiske muslim. Men han kæmper mod et fantom. Det moderne og det sekulære er ikke identiske. Religion er nok amoderne, men behøver ikke at være antimoderne. Og det moderne ligner ikke sig selv længere.

Denne bog leverer en idéhistorisk analyse af forholdet mellem religon og modernitet og påpeger, at den senere tids blodige konflikt mellem islamisme og vestlig modernitet ikke blot er ulykkelig, men også paradoksal. For netop inden for de sidste to årtier har det moderne antaget en selvindskrænket form, der principielt er fuldt forenelig med religion: Vor tids modernitet giver plads til, at det moderne ikke skal og ikke kan dække alt.

[murg]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Although the blurb for this mentions Islamic fundamentalism, apparently the reviews for it say that it really focuses on modern western European forms of Christianity.

I can see how these two are easily confused.

[ATDrake]

^

To be fair, there does seem to be a large chunk of it devoted to how reactionary elements in Christian churches and such contributed to supporting things like the rise of fascist movements in mid-20th-century Europe (at least as far as my really bad Dano-Norwegian can make out), and apparently that ties into the current aims of various fundamentalist forms of religion for government overthrow and imposition of assorted ideological stuff on the insufficiently opiated masses.

[svenlind]

Thank You very much for this one.