Time Exposure

"Richard Fenn is one of the most original and dulcet voices in the study of religion."--Nicholas Jay Demerath, III, University of Massachusetts at Amherst "In a masterful rethinking of secularization theory, Fenn suggests that we focus upon the experience of time, the subjugation to the mere passage of time that, in whatever form, defines secularity. Whether discussing grief or mourning, rituals or merely varieties of waiting, Fenn makes the haunting case that the final fruits of Christianity are found in an experience of the temporal that no longer foreshadows the eternal. The loss of transcendence leaves individuals to recognize the self-justifying nature of societies that can provide no providential shelter from the relentless passage of time as it moves toward a death that itself foreshadows only uncertainty. This book is a must read for all whose faith have left them with nothing, so to speak, but time." --Ralph Hood Editor, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion "In this unusual and powerful book, the author, a sociologist and a theologian, pursues a rich and many-layered discourse on the way time is used (and abused) in contemporary secular society. Ingeniously exploiting diverse and unlikely sources, he illustrates how public and private perceptions of time and commemoration take on diverging symbolic meaning for modern man, who is at once both the creation and the victim of the secularization process. With rare eloquence and subtlety, Fenn examines the secularizing approach to time to be found in the gospels, the Church, contemporary film and drama, to produce a work of impressive originality. Even before one has finished reading this book for the first time, one knows that one will certainly read it again." Bryan Wilson, All Souls College, Oxford