The Secular Quest for Meaning in Life: Denton Papers in Implicit Religion

This collection of twenty papers originally contributed to the annual Denton Conferences in Implicit Religion bespeaks, through the range and quality of its contents, the achievement of its editor in gaining currency for the concept of "implicit religion" in a project spanning three decades. As Dr. Bailey immediatly concedes, the concept of implicit religion has been criticized for lacking analytical specificity, transgressing appropriate boundaries and promoting an empirically over-inclusive understanding of religion and spirituality. This volume of Denton Papers in Implicit Religion makes absorbing reading and is a vital exploration of the idea of implicit religion and its relation to various themes in society. Edward Bailey, who edits this work, is to be congratulated on his energy in promoting the concept and for stimulating conferences and research for the last quarter of a century and more. In the late 1960's he was beginning to sketch out his plans for research on implicit religion at much the same time as we at Lancaster University were helping to reshape religious education towards a like concept within an overall framework of comparative studies and as an adjunct to 'explicit' religion. In American sociology the idea of civil religion became fashionable. These currents flowed together in various ways: and these Denton Papers manifest the fruitfulness of the notion of implicit religion. Between the various sections within the whole collection there is interwoven a helpful commentary by Edward Bailey. Some papers have a conceptual dimension, such as those in Part I. Part II fastens on empirical approaches to the various themes. It applies the notion of implicit religion to such matters as War Memorials and football. There is an epilogue about the future. Middlesex University is entrenching the idea by creating a Chair in Implicit Religion. In this globalised world, the excitation of national and minority feelings is often stimulated by large external and threatening forces. It is especially important for research in implicit religion to help us further to understand how nationalist values can be understood - often combining with explicitly religious beliefs and practices, and sometimes expressing themselves independently.