Pierre Hadot makes a good case for the role occupied by priests used to belong to philosophers, and called for philosophy to take it back up now that religion is waning. John Cooper's Pursuits of Wisdom runs with his ideas in a way more palatable for those of us who studied philosophy in English, but that also makes it heavier reading than Hadot. I recommend either to anyone who finds Alain de Botton's diagnosis persuasive but not his prescription.