In more than fifty books, Robert Coles has written extensively about these authors and many others. A Pulitzer Prize winner for his work with Children of Crisis , Coles is a research psychiatrist for Harvard University Health Services and Professor of Psychiatry and Medical Humanities at Harvard Medical School and the James Agee Professor of Social Ethics. Inspiration for the current volume came from Dorothy Day and Paul Tillich, to whom the book is dedicated. He concludes that there is room for both the secular and spiritual mind, but it is difficult to cross the gulf between them and embrace both. She was praised and encouraged to continue her work with the poor, but when she started saying and doing so in the name of God the reactions of her secular associates changed.
Coles finds secularism has existed throughout the centuries.
Probably his most interesting observations concern secularism at about the turn of the last two centuries. Psychoanalysis was at that that time viewed as a rival to religion, but it is now viewed as part of the thinking of many religious denominations. This short volume is a good place to begin the reading of Coles' extensive work for readers interested in the tension between secular and religious orientations. It is likely that many readers of Collegium News advise student volunteers and interns. It provides many insights for individuals considering a year or more of volunteer service.