Golden Cord

Charles Taliaferro is professor of philosophy and chair of the department of philosophy at St. Olaf College.

"Charles Taliaferro has written a thought-provoking, original work that succeeds in throwing some of the central tenets of naturalism into question. He has gathered cutting-edge scholarship from the context of debates about naturalism and discusses that within the framework of a theological account of the human condition. The result is a robust theological response to secular naturalism, one that deserves to be taken seriously by the latter's proponents." —Victoria Harrison, University of Glasgow"In The Golden Cord, Taliaferro aims to bring his previous insights together to build a cumulative case for a Christian worldview inspired by the Christian spirituality of the Cambridge Platonists. . . . In fewer than one hundred and eighty pages, the book covers enormous ground. . . . Taliaferro succeeds in presenting an impassioned book that is both thought-provoking and eminently readable, serving as an overview of, or introduction to, Christian philosophy" —The Expository Times"Taliaferro strives to demonstrate that there are certain 'golden cords' that one can follow throughout this life that will lead them to the God of eternal love. Taliaferro's critique of radical materialism is especially insightful, and readers will benefit from his discussion on why consciousness fits better within a theistic framework." —Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies"These [final] chapters do not merely talk abut the divine life: they disclose it. The skeptical reader may forget about the time and find himself drawn closer to communion with God. Here is a good book to lose oneself in." —Christian Research Journal"In this highly eclectic, personal, and engaging work, Charles Taliaferro argues why even 'gravity is a manifestation of God's love' . . . For Taliaferro, there are various cords in life that can lead us to God. To reach such a destination, he takes the reader along a journey whose terrain is steeped in literary metaphors, philosophical contours (and obstacles), and autobiographical insights and depictions. . . . [For him,] personal experience cannot be excised from any so-called academic work and it is refreshing to see an author (and a publisher) encourage such mixing." —The Heythrop Journal"[The Golden Cord] offers various reasons for resisting materialism and trusting the religious experience of God as an eternal, good being . . . insightfully argued and largely accessible to a wide academic audience. . . . Recommended for university and seminary libraries." —Catholic Library World". . . In eight chapters, Taliaferro . . brings the bases of naturalistic and materialist views to critical evaluation by examining challenges to consciousness and selfless agency. He response to the challenges that incoherence and the problem of evil pose for theism. This volume interweaves philosophers, including Augustine, Nagel, Dennett, Parfit, and Van Inwagen together with ancient Christian texts to cover an extraordinary breadth of literature . . . This volume is one of the best this reviewer has read in many years. Essential." —Choice"[One of the work's strength] lies in the easy accessibility of the important themes presented: experience, art and literature, and the way in which philosophical positions concerning God's existence imply and are grounded in different worldviews. Anselm's, Aquinas's, Hume's and other classical philosophical arguments for and against the existence of God will always be part of the human cultural heritage. But they do not of themselves address the question: why does it matter whether there is a God, or why does it matter that one believe (or disbelieve) in a God? What has it got to do with living a meaningful human life, or with enjoying one's life or finding one's inner peace? Taliaferro's book addresses and answers those questions admirably. . ." —Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews"In The Golden Cord, Charles Taliaferro again proves to be not only a careful and insightful thinker, but also a wonderfully enjoyable—and widely read—writer. As he tackles big questions of life, he engages the relevant philosophers of our time as well as literary figures from W. H. Auden and Virginia Woolf to Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell, Teilhard de Chardin, and J. R. R.Tolkien. As a guide, Taliaferro doesn't merely wander the edges; he plunges into core issues of our human existence, inviting his readers to wade into the great sea of divine love." —Matthew Dickerson, author of The Mind and the Machine: What it Means to be Human and Why it Matters"Charles Taliaferro is a first rate philosopher. The Golden Cord: A Short Book on the Secular and the Sacred is truly original in that it picks up the debate about the viability of secular naturalism and brings it into conversation with Cambridge Platonism and with ascetic theological considerations. It will be of interest to students and scholars in philosophy, popular culture, and spirituality." —William Abraham, Southern Methodist University