Back Talk: Adam Frank

Adrian Bellesguard

Adam Frank is an astrophysicist at the University of Rochester. In The Constant Fire: Beyond the Science vs. Religion Debate (California; $24.95), he attempts to move past the antagonisms between religious fundamentalists and the New Atheists. Instead of debating the Bible or arguing about the existence of evil, he turns to thinkers like William James, Rudolf Otto and Mircea Eliade for ideas about experience, the sacred, the sublime and hierophanies, manifestations of the sacred in the physical world.    --Christine Smallwood

You use the word "sacred" instead of the word "religion" or "spirituality." What do you mean by that?

If you trace the etymology of "sacred," you'll see it's related to the architecture of Roman temples. The sacer was the domain inside the temple, where you met the gods. So the sacred was the inside, and the profane was the outside of the temple, where you sold your walnuts or whatever. It's this sense that we have, that we sometimes encounter--or the sacred erupts into our lives--this sense of the world being wholly other than our profane and everyday experience. You just suddenly notice how weird everything is, or how beautiful.

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