Cox, Harvey - Religion Spirtuality Consciousness - 09.09.25

“The Secular City” “The Future of Faith: The Rise and Fall of Beliefs and the Coming Age of Spirit” An exploration into the future of religion and spirituality.

Prof Harvey Cox is the Hollis Professor at Harvard Divinity School, the oldest professorship at Harvard dating back to 1721. He has taught there since 1965 & just recently retired at age 80. He resurrected a long lost tradition that permits the Hollis professor to own a cow to graze in the Harvard yard; his retirement ceremony included “Faith” the cow. Prof. Cox has been one of the most important liberal theologians during the last half century & a leading trend spotter in American religion. He has also been a prominent civil rights & anti-war activist throughout his career. His book, “The Secular City” predicted much of what we now witness unfolding as dogmatic religious beliefs become stronger and secular values take on higher spiritual value & meaning. Forty years ago, Prof. Cox viewed this as a maturing of humanity and a divine gift, rather than a threat to religion. “The Future of Faith: The Rise and Fall of Beliefs and the Coming Age of Spirit” offers a new starting point to what has happened in the past and where the current religious trends seem to be pointing in the future.