{"product_id":"9781350572966","title":"Pragmatism and the Postsecular The Gift in American Philosophy, Religion, and Literature","description":"\u003ch1\u003ePragmatism and the Postsecular\u003c\/h1\u003e\u003ch2\u003eThe Gift in American Philosophy, Religion, and Literature\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003ch3\u003eTae Sung\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cb\u003ePhilosophy \/ Religious\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOffering a postsecular reading of Ralph Waldo Emerson and William James, \u003ci\u003ePragmatism and the Postsecular \u003c\/i\u003econtributes to an interdisciplinary discourse about gift theories across literary, religious, and philosophical studies.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In this study the focus is on Emerson and James' religious language of gifts. We see how they interpret the reception of gifts as dynamic sources of agency, inspiration, and empowerment-the kinds of moral sources that Charles Taylor worries might be increasingly unavailable in our secular age. Tae Sung applies a similar non-economic reading of dynamic gifts to American writers including Herman Melville, Ralph Ellison, Marilynne Robinson, and Min Jin Lee. His approach reframes related debates around religious ethics (after Derrida and John Milbank) and multicultural politics (after Richard Rorty and Taylor).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Aimed at readers interested in the complex relationship between the religious and secular in the US, Sung's reading of pragmatism challenges us to reconsider how we understand gifts. The goal of such a reconsideration is to locate common ethical and political ground between secular liberalism and religious traditionalism.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eTae Sung\u003c\/b\u003e is a Professor of English and Dean of Student Success at California Baptist University, USA. He completed his MA in theology at Fuller Seminary and his PhD in American literature and critical theory at UC Irvine where he was awarded the Strauss Fellowship in English and the Koehn Fellowship in Critical Theory for his dissertation on gift theories. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eGift: The (Im)possible Conditions of Grace in Melville's Fiction,\u003c\/i\u003e which appears in the volume \u003ci\u003eLiterature and Religious Experience \u003c\/i\u003e(2022), and \u003ci\u003eIn the Way of the Gift: The Conditions of Grace in Marilynne Robinson's Gilead\u003c\/i\u003e (2020).\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ctable\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePublication Date: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e26 November 2026\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePublisher: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBloomsbury Academic\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eImprint: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eBloomsbury Academic\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eISBN-13: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e9781350572966\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eFormat: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eHardback\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePage Count: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e208\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eWeight (oz): \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e17.76\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Academic","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51331260317836,"sku":"9781350572966","price":103.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0710\/9545\/1788\/files\/getimage_ef0b1446-5d20-4ea1-9cb4-29c836eb24c5.jpg?v=1783595543","url":"https:\/\/lateknightbooks.com\/products\/9781350572966","provider":"Late Knight Books and Services, LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}