The computer has increasingly become the principal model for the mind, which means our most basic experience of "reality" is as mediated through a screen, or stored in a cloud. As a result, we are losing a sense of the concrete and imposing presence of the real, and the fundamental claim it makes on us, a claim that Iris Murdoch once described as the essence of love. In response to this postmodern predicament, the present book aims to draw on the classical philosophical tradition in order to articulate a robust philosophical anthropology, and a new appreciation of the importance of the "transcendental properties" of being: beauty, goodness, and truth. The book begins with a reflection on the importance of metaphysics in our contemporary setting, and then presents the human person's relation to the world under the signs of the transcendentals: beauty is the gracious invitation into reality, goodness is the self-gift of freedom in response to this invitation, and truth is the consummation of our relation to the real in knowledge. The book culminates in an argument for why love is ultimately a matter of being, and why metaphysical reason in indispensable in faith.

One of our most influential political theorists offers a boundary-breaking—and liberating—perspective on the meaning of life in the internet age Human beings have taken one thing for granted since our earliest days: we are bodily creatures dealing with one another on a face-to-face basis. The internet has shattered this fundamental feature of human existence. We are suddenly living our lives in two worlds at once—shifting endlessly from virtual to physical reality as we reach out to others. Worse yet, we are developing different personal identities in our two worlds. We say and do things in virtual reality that flatly contradict our face-to-face commitments to family, friends, and fellow-workers—and vice versa. The Postmodern Predicament explores these dilemmas at each phase of the life cycle, beginning at the moment a young child picks up a cell phone. The existentialist tradition of the twentieth century provides a precious perspective on our postmodern dilemmas. Thinkers and doers like Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre considered the fragmentation of modern life as a central source of contemporary anxieties. Like them, Ackerman views the challenges of the internet age as a political, no less than personal, problem—and proposes concrete reforms that that could mobilize broad-based support for democracy against demagogic assaults on its very foundations.

The computer has increasingly become the principal model for the mind, which means our most basic experience of “reality” is as mediated through a screen, or stored in a cloud. As a result, we are losing a sense of the concrete and imposing presence of the real, and the fundamental claim it makes on us, a claim that Iris Murdoch once described as the essence of love. In response to this postmodern predicament, the present book aims to draw on the classical philosophical tradition in order to articulate a robust philosophical anthropology, and a new appreciation of the importance of the “transcendental properties” of being: beauty, goodness, and truth. The book begins with a reflection on the importance of metaphysics in our contemporary setting, and then presents the human person’s relation to the world under the signs of the transcendentals: beauty is the gracious invitation into reality, goodness is the self-gift of freedom in response to this invitation, and truth is the consummation of our relation to the real in knowledge. The book culminates in an argument for why love is ultimately a matter of being, and why metaphysical reason in indispensable in faith.

Society no longer encourages wonder or spending time pondering the big questions of life. Indeed, the childlike gifts of curiosity and gratitude have been trampled over by technology and benumbed by complacency. In these engaging pages, Bobby Angel reveals how and why your life has meaning. Drawing from major thinkers from ancient to modern times, personal stories, historical lessons, and popular movies, he assists the layperson in absorbing vital philosophical concepts in an easily digestible way. As you learn to examine how your thinking defines you, you will awaken from the widespread postmodern slumber in which we collectively find ourselves and learn to navigate life boldly in our strange world. By sharing his unique perspective, Angel aims to revive the joy of contemplating the good, the true, and the beautiful with Christ as the prism. You will discover practical antidotes for overcoming nihilism, social isolation, and relativism and will also come to grasp: - The main principles of the four "big movements" in philosophy - The relationship between faith and reason, from medieval philosophy to the present - The lasting effects of the Enlightenment - The fatal flaws of postmodernist views on the dignity of the human person, contemporary art, and politics We can't go backward to either a medieval or Enlightenment worldview, Angel argues, because the postmodern genie is out of the bottle. But take courage, for you have been created to live in these times. In our era of deconstruction, you can hold fast to the light amid the gathering darkness, draw upon the important lessons of the past, and reground yourself in order to flourish. The human blueprint is not destroyed. God is not dead. The truth has not been eradicated.

Gavin Hyman explores in depth two antithetical schools of postmodern theology--the "radical orthodoxy" of John Milbank and the "nihilist textualism" of Don Cupitt. Hyman critiques Milbank's influential project from a postmodern perspective, and then points out the major difficulties with Cupitt's approach. Finally, he explores the work of Mark C. Taylor and Michael de Certeau to articulate a "third way" that leads beyond the responses of both Cupitt and Milbank.

Can West and East ever understand each other? In this extraordinary book one of the world's leading Muslim scholars explores an area which has which has been almost entirely neglected by scholars in the field - the area of postmodernism and Islam. This landmark work is startling, constantly perceptive and certain to be debated for years to come.