Editorial Review

Among his many gifts, Joseph Campbell's most impressive was the unique ability to take a contemporary situation, such as the murder and funeral of President John F. Kennedy, and help us understand its impact in the context of ancient mythology. Herein lies the power of Read more

Reviews (104)

What a Wonderful Book
Joseph Campbell knows his subject, mythology and religious stories, so well that you can tell it has become instinctual for him to tie all the world's imagery and symbology together in a way that connects human beings in a truly transcendent way. This book clarifies how similar we all really are, at the core of our beings, despite where we live and in what millenia we are living in. So full of rich, thought-provoking conversation, I would recommend this to everyone, from young to old. It is just an awesome book that makes you fall in love with humans and human nature -- bad and good alike.

Brilliant
Both Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyer create a must read from their historic interview.This book has become my blueprint.

A book that seems to make religious nuts bitter.
Well versed and thought out, this book stands out and has been used in many of todays religion studies.Though some of his points can be perceived as "stretched", he is still a scholar in his field.It seems that the people that often criticize him and his works have little to no experience or education on the subject at hand and do it solely on the fact that it sometimes criticizes the monotony of modern and ancient religion.I recommend this book to everyone. Read the book and make your own educated determination. It could open your eyes and your mind.Or you can close your mind, avoid the book, and start a "crusade" against the author for speaking his opinion. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1904-    2. Anthropology - Cultural    3. Campbell, Joseph,    4. Comparative Religion    5. Folklore & Mythology - Mythology    6. General    7. Interviews    8. Myth    9. Philosophy    10. Religion    11. Religion historians    12. Religious    13. Sociology    14. Sociology of Religion    15. United States    16. Campbell, Joseph    17. Myths & mythology    18. Philosophy / General   

Reviews (7)

Excellent Book - Meme Theory Discredited
Overall, this academic treatise on the evolutionary, anthropological, and psychological roots of religion is excellent. Atran's knowledge is encyclopedic; it deepened my understanding of some of the new frameworks inhabiting evolutionary theories of biological development. But the book has its strengths and weaknesses, as would any that attempts to tackle such a broad topic as religion.
Definitely not a popular science book!
This book has all the information a layperson can ask for, but the wording is unnecessarily complex. I felt like I was reading an extended scientific paper, replete with discussions on the various evolutionary theories in the literature. Perhaps not the best book to use as a primer on the subject (if that is what you seek).

A Timely Contribution
If you are someone with an overwhelming need to understand so-called 'religious' beliefs and associated behaviour, whether one's own or that of others, then Scott Atran's book is for you.
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Subjects:  1. Philosophy    2. Psychology of Religion    3. Religious    4. Philosophy / Religious    5. Philosophy of religion    6. Philosophy | Religion   

Reviews (209)

Sad Story But Inevitable Outcome (new review)
It is sad to hear that a 19 year old priest that gave his all just one day realised it was all in vain. One who chooses to be a priest should be convinced before he begins that God exists and that he knows God otherwise what happened to Barker is going to happen to anyone. Barker's case should be a test case, only ordain priests that are certain about their faith and are not going to loose it later down the track. Not everyone can be a priest, it takes faith, it takes a change of life, it takes commitment, it means that when you're put to the test as Barker was you don't fold. You can believe in vain the bible makes this very clear and Barker knows it all too well!
Clear, concise reasoning
Dan Barker provides clear and concise reasoning in refuting the bible's claims, as well as claims that a god exists.A must have for anyone doubting religion, as well as for those who have overly religious relatives.

A must have for rational thought
I love this book and think anyone who doesn't just follow should read as well as own. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Atheism    2. Faith    3. Philosophy / Religious    4. Religion    5. Religion - Christian Life    6. Religion / Atheism    7. Christianity    8. Controversial works    9. Free thought    10. Humanism    11. Philosophy    12. Religious   

Reviews (2)

Older Editions are Better
I currently have a 1979 version of this book; however, it is published by the International Headquarters Sufi Movement, Geneva, and not by the Shambhala. I must say that I am a little shocked that the current version being offered to the public does not have the same content (as described by the table of contents) as the 1979 version. My version has "The way of illumination", "The Inner life", "The Soul, Whence and Whither", and "The Purpose of Life". Now, the publishers at/of Shambhala, for whatever reason, thought that they were justified to change things up a bit or a lot by changing the titles of the contents(I can not even imagine why it would be necessary), rearranging the contents, and even omitting content in it's original version. In any event, I find this terribly unsettling. At any rate, if it is possible to get an older version, then do so. Anything written by Hazrat Inayat Khan is for anyone coming from whatever religious background who maybe seeking more, as he respects and cherishes, whole heartedly, the Vedanta, Zend-Avesta, Kabala, Bible, Qur'an, and others. I think that this is what makes him and his work so unique; that he is so unrelentingly loving and understanding of mankind. "The Inner Life" deals with topics such as: original spiritual qualities of man, man's union with God, defining genuine happiness. The best thing about Hazrat Khan is that you do not have to be a proclaimed Sufi to benefit from his work. His work was written for everyone.
Living Sufism
If you have read the Carl Ernst books on Sufism you will get a good feel for the academic view. If you read this you will get a good feel for the living tradition of Sufism. This book is great for those who want to gobeyond studying Sufism to experiancing Sufism. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Islam - General    2. Islam - Sufism    3. Philosophy    4. Religion    5. Religion - World Religions    6. Religious    7. Sufism    8. Islam    9. Mysticism    10. Religion / Sufism   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (30)

About Authentic Meeting
I find the notes of Walter Kaufmann very valuable and gives another way of understanding the Old Testament.If you get an edition of I AND THOU, I highly recommend getting one translated with notes by Walter Kaufmann.The main theme of Buber in this book is that there are two basic relationships with life I-Thou and I-It.When we meet life in I-Thou we enter the sacred and are truly authentic to each other.From this basic relationship comes a kind of Monotheism as well as the ethics of personal conscience and integrity and meeting another person in their fullness, rather than reducing them or life to a thing which can be manipulated or analyzed or even objectively known.I feel that Buber opened the heart and core of the Old Testament to me, beyond what my previously more Christian studies implied was there (making any message there inferior to what the New Testament gives).Before then all I could get was outmoded laws, grisly wars, strange folklore, and proverbial common sense with an occasionally wise statement which was a nugget of gold in the strange medley of books.But once I got what this kind of authentic relating was about, something seemed to unify for me about the Old Testament and the rest made sense.I still find a lot of what I used to find there, but with the key Buber gave, I could see something growing at the very heart of Judaism behind all those books about what it meant to meet each other authentically and to feel I divinity that says I AM.

When I read "I and Thou" the first time...
When I read "I and Thou" the first time......I cried for nearly a week.
Excellent Read Regarding Mystic-Philosophy
I enjoyed this book. This book transforms the relational world we live in; into a workable experience. People live in an I-You or an I-It world. This book offers incredible insight into how we live; and how we are human. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. God    2. Judaism - General    3. Life    4. Philosophy    5. Relationism    6. Religion    7. Religious    8. Christianity    9. Religion / General   

Reviews (89)

My First Intro
This was my first delving into the wonderful world of Nietsche.Very good and very interesting.I've had a passing interest in Philosophy for a while and have gotten into it deeper the past few months and this is a good choice, I feel, for anyone just starting to delve into the philosophy game.

GOD IS DEAD!
"According to Nietzsche, God created everything but then died sometime in the past out of pity for humanity's imperfections."
The Anti-Christ[ian] Speaks
Some years before Friedrich Nietzsche resorted to the blunt polemic of his books Twilight of the Idols and The Anti-Christ, he produced a literary masterwork that contained not only the main lines of his [later] philosophy, but combined it with a tremendous poetic sensibility to create an imaginative - and polemical - narrative.That book is Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for None and All.Nietzsche regarded it as his greatest work after he had finished it (although all four books would not be published until after his death - which itself came after a decade of insanity), although he also thought that it was widely misunderstood and wrote several other books to clarify the points contained within it.
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Subjects:  1. Ethics & Moral Philosophy    2. General    3. History & Surveys - 19th Century    4. Philosophy    5. Religious    6. Superman (Philosophical concep    7. Superman (Philosophical concept)    8. Literary Collections / General    9. Modern Western philosophy, c 1600 to the present   

Reviews (36)

Sings and Stings
This book has that unique ability to make you feel as though you are learning something while, at the same time, make you feel like you knew nothing until you opened the book. Schaeffer is a good writer and has good observations.

Would make a good sermon, but a treatise on modernity?
Schaeffer adds yet another book to the "this is why christians have it right" category of literature.Though Christians, nor Schaeffer, by no means have a monopoly on such an approach; I found it to be especially unsettling in it's lack of insight into modernism.
A Christian Who Engages Culture
The idea of the project How Should We Then Live?, both as a film documentary and as a book, was conceived in 1974 and completed in 1976. In the Acknowledgments, Francis Schaeffer writes about the idea behind the project: "Using my study, over the past forty years, of Western thought and culture as a base, we could attempt to present the flow and development which have led to twentieth-century thinking, and by so doing hope to show the essential answers." The subtitle to How Should We Then Live? is "The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture." Starting from ancient Roman times, tracing man's development throughout the Middle Ages, going to the Renaissance, Reformation, and Enlightenment, he shows the steps which led to the modern era.
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Subjects:  1. Christianity - Christian Life - Character & Values    2. Christianity - Christian Life - General    3. Christianity - Christian Life - Social Issues    4. Christianity - Discipleship    5. Civilization, Christian    6. Civilization, Western    7. Ethics    8. Religion    9. Religion - Christian Life    10. Religious   

Reviews (38)

Fearsome and fearless.
Nietzsche's intent, since his first books, was to build a new kind of ethics, based, not on old notions of morality, altruism, and surveillance, but on the most powerful self-assurance, the assurance of one's will to power. Before such a project could be turned into reality, its obstacles should be removed -- and the Christian morality is its enemy par excellence.
It's a good read, but...
it gets a bit repeatative at times. definatly not for those who are closed minded and/or christian.

Christ better Watch Out for Me! I'm Feeding Him to the Hogs!
I've met so many better-than-thou and jerk Christians in my life, I'll do to Christ what the Anti-Christ only dreams of. So all you phony and better-than-thou Christians better watch out, because if I ever get my hands on Christ, I'm feeding him to the hogs via a woodchipper - literally. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. History & Surveys - 19th Century    2. History & Surveys - Modern    3. Philosophy    4. Religious    5. Philosophy / Religious   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (43)

An Oldie But A Goodie

This Edition is Fine, Contrary to One Reviewer's Misplaced Assessment
This edition (Modern Library, 1999, 640 pp.) of James' classic is fine, contrary to the review from "a reader" (Washington, D.C.).That reviewer is apparently criticizing a different edition, "William James and The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Centenary Celebration" (Hardcover) (edited by J. Carrette, published by Routledge in 2005).At 272 pages, the Routledge edition is seriously abridged.The Washington, D.C. reviewer's assessment of the Routledge edition may be entirely correct; however, it should have been appended to that edition's Amazon.com web page, instead of this one (i.e., the Modern Library edition).Misplaced here, it could easily confuse would-be purchasers.

Buy a different edition of this great book.
Shame on Routledge for touting as a centenary edition this dog, riddled with egregious typos ("simiotics"? "ernestly"?), whose footnotes refer one to pages on which that which is alleged to have taken place does not, in fact, take place.
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Subjects:  1. Comparative Religion    2. Philosophy    3. Pluralism    4. Religion - Classic Works    5. Religious    6. Religion / Philosophy    7. Religious experience   

Reviews (18)

A Spiritual Classic from a Great Scientific Mind
I first picked up Pascal's Pensees because I was intrigued by his reputation as a genius of physics and mathematics.I was not very far into it before I realized that I was reading a Christian spiritual classic, in its own right. Religion of the Heart and of the Head
Before actually reading "Pensees," I knew Blaise Pascal and his "Pensees" only from snippets of quotes such as, "The heart has its reason of which reason knows nothing" and from "Pascal's Wager": better to risk believing in God and living with Him for all eternity and being wrong, then risk not believing in God and living apart from Him in all eternity and because you were wrong. Pascal's Pensees
For thousands of years humanity has been searching for the presence of an invisible God.Blaise Pascal's "Pensees" is an excellent book describing why God's presence in our lives is so important.Even though I disagree with Pascal's reasoning concerning the defense and support of the Christian faith, he comes across as someone interested in the well-being and happiness of others, which makes it possible for "Pensees" to be beneficial to people of all faiths.
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Subjects:  1. Apologetic works    2. Apologetics    3. Catholic Church    4. Christianity - Theology - Catholic    5. Doctrines    6. Early works to 1800    7. History & Surveys - Modern - Renaissance Era    8. Literature: Classics    9. Philosophy    10. Philosophy / Religious    11. Philosophy of religion   

Reviews (12)

A field manual for effective apologetics
I've had this book for several years but never got around to reading it. There was always a commentary or a systematic theology or something that demanded my attention. But I got involved in reading this book while trying to minister to a young guy who was very much romanced by German romanticism (especially Schopenhauer). Plantinga's systematic dismantling of Kant and his followers' position on whether one can know God enabled me to meet his objections.
Maximally Excellent
In WCB, Plantinga repeatedly refers to Alston's PERCEIVING GOD as "magisterial."Alston's book is indeed that.But Plantinga's own work in this volume is that and more.
Tremendous Work in Religious Epistemology
Alvin Plantinga's Warranted Christian Belief (WCB) examines the rationality of religious (particularly Christian) belief.WCB is the third and final instalment in the author's trilogy on the issue of warrant.Plantinga is a highly respected philosopher within the realms of epistemology and the philosophy of religion - he is also arguably one of the most significant philosophers of the late Twentieth century.
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Subjects:  1. Apologetics    2. Bible - CriticismInterpretation - General    3. Christianity    4. Christianity - Theology - General    5. Faith and reason    6. Philosophy    7. Religion    8. Religion - Theology - Biblical    9. Religious    10. Christian theology    11. Philosophy of religion    12. Philosophy | Religion    13. Religion / Philosophy   

Editorial Review

Augustine's Read more

Reviews (29)

Finally, a good translation
Saint Augustine was one-of-a-kind. As an "Early Church Father" his impact upon Christianity is second only to Jesus and the Apostles. No one has been more prolific in their writing than the Bishop of Hippo. The City of God is a must read for anyone that possess the St.Augustine Prayer Book, and/or the Confessions. You need it to appreciate even more fully the spirituality of this saint. It helps one to understand more about why he said things the way he said them. I have given this book to high school seniors that have later considered a religious vocation. Should you get this book, my prayer for you is that the King of Glory will bless you as much as He blessed me in the reading. PAX, bb

St. Augustine's Writings
Excellent book of St. Augustine's writings, just what I wanted to read.

A Must Read!
This is a classic work of the Ancient Church. St. Augustine presents to us the Biblical view as to why things are the way they are. Beginning with Genesis 3:15 we have two cities in the world: the City of man and the City of God. These two cities exist together till the end of the world. He explains God's plan in all this and how those in the City of God must understand thier citizenship in the City of God and the definition of this city and all that God is doing in the City of God and what he is doing to and allowing in the City of man. Augustine follows Paul in his opening argument in Romans 1:18ff to Acts 17, this book is both an apologetic and a theology of the Christian faith. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Apologetics    2. Augustine    3. Christianity    4. Christianity - General    5. Christianity - History - General    6. Christianity - Literature    7. Christianity - Theology - History    8. Early works to 1800    9. God    10. Kingdom of God    11. Literature: Classics    12. Philosophy    13. Religion - Classic Works    14. Religious    15. Other prose: classical, early & medieval    16. Religion / General   

Reviews (44)

What to think.
Looking over the vast descrepency of reviews on this book (which I have read) I had an interesting thought.
There really is no other book quite like this
What is it?
A powerful, difficult, complex work
This is Gurdjieff's magnum opus, his greatest and most potent work, but also his most difficult. This is not a book for those merely "curious" about Gurdjieff or for the casual reader (for those, I'd recommend "Meetings with Remarkable Men" or the works of Ouspensky as better introductions to Gurdjieff's teaching.)
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Subjects:  1. History & Surveys - Modern    2. Human beings    3. New Age / Body, Mind & Spirit    4. Philosophy    5. Religious    6. Spirituality - General    7. Modern Western philosophy, c 1600 to the present    8. Philosophy / History, Criticism, Surveys   

Reviews (20)

Spinoza's Divorce Lawyer
What "Amadeus" did for Salieri, Stewart's book does for Leibniz. If Spinoza and Leibniz were in the midst of a bitter divorce, this is precisely the sort of book Spinoza's attorney would come up with. Here's the method...