Picture of author.
22+ Works 349 Members 3 Reviews

Om forfatteren

David Tacey was born in Melbourne and his family later moved to Alice Springs, central Australia. He spent his adolescence and early adulthood living alongside Aboriginal cultures. This brought about his lifelong interest in Aboriginal religions and the spiritual relationship between land, nature vis mere and human consciousness. He studied literature, philosophy and art history in his Bachelor of Arts degree at Flinders University, and earned his PhD at Adelaide University in literature and psychoanalysis. After winning the Bentham Prize at Adelaide he was one of four Australians to be awarded a post-doctoral fellowship by the Harkness Foundation, New York. He has published 14 books, 70 refereed essays in journals, 45 chapters in edited volumes, and 50 articles in non-refereed journals and magazines. David Tracey has maintained a commitment to public awareness in the areas of religious education, indigenous health, men's issues and environmental issues. He is currently Emeritus Professor of Literature at La Trobe University in Melbourne and Research Professor at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture in Canberra. (Bowker Author Biography) vis mindre

Omfatter også følgende navne: David J. Tacey, BY (AUTHOR): DAVID TACEY .

Værker af David Tacey

How to Read Jung (How to Read) (2006) 47 eksemplarer
Jung and the New Age (2001) 14 eksemplarer
The Jung Reader (2012) 6 eksemplarer

Associated Works

Oxford Textbook of Spirituality in Healthcare (2012) — Bidragyder — 19 eksemplarer

Satte nøgleord på

Almen Viden

Køn
male

Medlemmer

Anmeldelser

In Religion as Metaphor David Tacey argues for a metaphorical understanding of religion. The focus is on Christianity, so in some ways this is directed at Christians who still believe in a literal understanding of the Bible. The same approach can be used for all the major religions of the world. In fact, rather than revising one of these religions perhaps it would be better to create a new metaphorical religion from scratch, doing away with the baggage associated with every contemporary religion. But that is beside the point and likely not possible, so trying to get people to understand their current religion as metaphor is the option to refuting religion.

The problem with some commentators, and to some extent Tacey, is that they confuse atheism as being nonspiritual. Atheism is exactly what the word says, non-theistic, no belief in a God. That is not the same as refuting some kind of spirituality minus a God figure. Those people reduce the options to literalism or atheism, then propose a way to salvage one of the religions but without using the word God. Oh well, I do think the essence of the task will lead to what many already do, accept that religions have many wonderful things to offer but are in fact false in their current form. Making the understanding metaphorical, as the works were intended in the first place, will lead to a spiritual world one hopes.

Tacey makes a wonderful argument for how to read the Christian religion as metaphor. Yes, he does keep pointing out the very serious errors in fundamentalism's literalism, but that is justified since fundamentalism (regardless of which religion) is the most dangerous force in the world today.

I would recommend this book to everyone who wants to understand how they can be rational and spiritual at the same time. Many of us do so without salvaging one of the religions but for most it will be necessary to maintain some connection to their comfort zone and this book shows how one can do so.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via Edelweiss.
… (mere)
 
Markeret
pomo58 | May 4, 2016 |
In "Edge of the Sacred" David Tacey argues that spiritual change and political development in Australia are intimately related. He says that we are presently in a curious and vital place in the hisory of this nation where a spiritual revival is needed before our social and political life can move forward. This is the 'edge' upon which society is currentrly poised.

The social structure waits on the human spirit to show the way oout of its najor problems. The ecological crisis, racism, violence, macho-style masculinity, alcohol and drug abuse, and other contemporary illnesses are explored as problems of the spirit, requiring a spiritual response - not just government or monetary initiatives.… (mere)
 
Markeret
Saraswati_Library | Jun 18, 2010 |

Lister

Måske også interessante?

Associated Authors

Statistikker

Værker
22
Also by
1
Medlemmer
349
Popularitet
#68,500
Vurdering
4.1
Anmeldelser
3
ISBN
46
Sprog
2

Diagrammer og grafer