This study continues English critic/biographer/novelist Wilson’s recent spate of articulate religion books (including Jesus:...
A mellifluous, perceptive intellectual history of the Victorians’ struggles with faith.
This study continues English critic/biographer/novelist Wilson’s recent spate of articulate religion books (including Jesus: A Life, 1992, and Paul: The Mind of an Apostle, 1997). It defies easy classification. In the sweeping style of the grand narrative, Wilson converses wittily on the philosophy, literature, art, science, music, and theology of Europe during more than six decades. Amazingly enough, he does it brilliantly. Wilson has a keen eye for historical detail and can chronicle even a familiar story (such as why Darwin hesitated before publishing On the Origin of Species) in a fresh way. He notes that religious faith was shaken in the last half of the 19th century because of biblical criticism, the onslaught of Darwinism, and a new awareness of economic injustice. We meet the era’s most famous thinkers, such as Kant, Marx, and the James brothers, as well as some less celebrated, such as the libertine poet Algernon Swinburune. The latter was among those most openly hostile to religion, while others (George Eliot, whom Wilson calls that “poor horse-faced lady”) persisted in stubborn, though relatively private, unbelief. At the other end of the spectrum, Sigmund Freud and William James were clearly fascinated by religion, though Freud thought it would fade into obsolescence as civilization marched forward, and James considered it a useful psychological crutch. By century’s end, there appeared to be “no good arguments left for religion.” The Church of England in particular was devastated by the challenge from its intellectuals and its own wealth and power. Yet the rumors of God’s imminent death proved to be greatly exaggerated, since the 20th century has seen a new crop of philosophers and theologians (as well as ordinary believers) bent on demonstrating God’s vitality.Pub Date: June 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-393-04745-8
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1999
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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