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The Religious Case Against Belief

James P. Carse

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Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A provocative, insightful explanation for why it is that belief—not religion—keeps us in a perilous state of willful ignorance

In The Religious Case Against Belief, James Carse identifies the twenty-first century’s most forbidding villain: belief. In distinguishing religions from belief systems, Carse works to reveal how belief—with its restriction on thought and encouragement of hostility—has corrupted religion and spawned violence the world over.

Galileo, Martin Luther, Abraham Lincoln, and Jesus Christ—using their stories Carse creates his own brand of parable and establishes a new vocabulary with which to study conflict in the modern world. The Religious Case Against Belief introduces three kinds of ignorance: ordinary ignorance (a mundane lack of knowledge, such as ignorance of tomorrow’s weather or the reason why your stove is malfunctioning), willful ignorance (an intentional avoidance of accessible knowledge), and finally higher ignorance (a learned understanding that no matter how many truths we may accumulate, our knowledge falls infinitely short of the truth).

While ordinary ignorance is common to all people, Carse associates the strongest manifestation of willful ignorance with the most fervent (and dangerous) of believers. He points to the historic conflict between Martin Luther and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V both to reveal this seemingly religious collision as a clash of belief and to identify belief ’s inherently destructive characteristics. From Luther to the contemporary Christian right, we learn that believers construct identity by erecting boundaries and by fostering aggression between the believer and the other. This is why belief systems choose—at great cost—to remain locked in bloody conflict rather than to engage in dialogue, recognizing the great deal they have in common. This is willful ignorance.

In fierce contrast to willful ignorance, higher ignorance is an acquired state enhanced by religion. Those traveling the path to higher ignorance recognize faith teachings (such as the Bible) as poetry intended to promote contemplation, interpretation, and a sense of wonder. For evidence of religion’s deeply embedded rejection of singular truth and its acceptance of diverse dialogue, Carse looks to the many faces of Jesus presented in the books of the Bible and elsewhere. Uncontaminated by belief systems, religion rejects the imagined boundaries that falsely divide people and ideas, working to expand horizons.

The Religious Case Against Belief exposes a world in which religion and belief have become erroneously (and terrifyingly) conflated. In strengthening their association with powerful belief systems, religions have departed from their essential purpose as agencies of higher ignorance. Carse uses his wideranging understanding of religion to find a viable and vital path away from what he calls the Age of Faith II and toward open-ended global dialogue. Far from abstract philosophical musing, The Religious Case Against Belief is required reading for our age.

Elementary Forms Of The Religious Life: Newly Translated By Karen E. Fields

Emile Durkheim

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Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Surprisingly Modern 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I've read Suicide and Division of Labor and was interested in a historical sort of way. Elementary Forms is positively shocking. Pages 8-18 and 433-48 will change your life. In those 25 or so pages he outlines a sociology of knowledge that presages the works of Mead, Berger, and the phenomenologists. He's 50 years ahead of Merleau-Ponty's great Phenomenology of Perception which treads over much of the same material. The rest of EFRL is interesting as well but if you read nothing else of Durkheim's read those pages. They completely reinvigorated the stuffy "father of sociology" I had known.

Editorial Review:

"Karen Fields has given us a splendid new translation of the greatest work of sociology ever written, one we will not be embarrassed to assign to our students. In addition she has written a brilliant and profound introduction. The publication of this translation is an occasion for general celebration, for a veritable 'collective effervescence.'

-- Robert N. Bellah Co-author of Habits of the Heart, and editor of Emile Durkheim on Morality and Society

"This superb new translation finally allows non-French speaking American readers fully to appreciate Durkheim's genius. It is a labor of love for which all scholars must be grateful."

--Lewis A. Coser

The Age Of Reason

Thomas Paine

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Total reviews: 113 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Paine defended God's reputation 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Given the vitriol with which Christians have denounced Thomas Paine for more than 200 years, one may be under the impression, as I was, that he was an atheist. He was generally denounced as such, and Theodore Roosevelt's reference to him as a "filthy little atheist" was not atypical. But upon actually reading this famous tome of his, I discovered he was in fact a devout man of God. It was only Christianity and other organized religions he had a problem with, and he explains why.

Paine was a creationist who believed nature is God's primary revelation of himself to humankind. In this revelation are all the tools we need, to understand, to behave, to treat others with respect and kindness, to stand in awe of the creator and worship him. Thomas Paine did not appreciate anyone belittling God by suggesting he behaved as "revealed" in those old writings of men who did dastardly things and then justified their behaviors by claiming God told them to do it! Paine could see that the biblical God was created by men the same way they created all the other pagan gods of the day. (Christianity was not the first to have a virgin birth, resurrections and blood sacrifices.)

With no written description of God, and only the creation to go on, Paine was in the uncommon position of actually having to think for himself about what God must be like, what he expects of us, how we should behave. Thinking is work, but like most work, it can be invigorating and rewarding--written descriptions are severely limiting, confined to the words used, while one's imagination is limitless. (Similarly, the more literally one takes something, the more limited its application.) Paine loved observing and imagining what God must be like; he wasn't limited to the feeble, misguided words of ancients.

Those of us conditioned to getting our description of God through written material might at first think Paine to be at a great disadvantage. How silly, we are tempted to think, to imagine our understanding of God could be complete merely by looking around us. How could we possibly figure out that God wants us to have slaves, keep the Ten Commandments, offer sacrifices, flatter him more on Sunday (or is it Saturday?) and burn witches--all merely by observing nature? Then it dawns on us, and wow! If we believe God is good, then without these writings our imagination about his goodness is limitless. Throughout our lives, no matter how much we mature and grow in understanding, at any given moment we push the limits of God's goodness to the extremes of our imagination--never fully comprehending it, only approaching it. We are filled with awe and we are drawn to emulate that goodness. How silly all this stuff about a touchy biblical god who throws his weight around killing people at the drop of a pin if they don't offer the right sacrifice begins to look!

Thus Thomas Paine was offended by the pettiness and absurdities of man-made religion. By observing God directly, he did not find himself in the awkward position of having to create excuses for God's supposed evil behaviors, his weird pagan-like fascination with blood sacrifices, his horrible temper or his morbid fascination with punishment--like stoning unruly kids to death, striking people dead for small infractions and imposing the death the penalty for every human being's mistakes, misdeeds or mere failures to flatter him (to say nothing of torturing them to death by endless fire). Paine wasn't saddled with the burden of explaining why the deity he worships doesn't want women in pulpits or gays in love. He's not stuck with having to defend fantastic promises that are (let's be honest) never kept, and prophecies never really fulfilled. Ironically, the only thing he ever had to defend was God's reputation--which Bible writers had dragged through the mud by attributing their own wicked pursuits to God.

Paine's respect and adoration for God was pure, unadulterated by human contraption. In other words, he worshipped God without all the baggage. And all the while, Christians called him an atheist for not helping them carry theirs.

It's worth noting that Thomas Paine's contemplation of God was not some kind of nebulous feel-good meditation. He was moved to action. In addition to defending God's reputation, Paine personally worked to end slavery, particularly with his 1775 essay, "African Slavery in America." That makes Paine a better person than the biblical God, and not by a little; I mean, God isn't even neutral on slavery, he encourages it (emphatically and repeatedly, according to the Bible). And, of course, while Paine worked to end slavery, his biggest obstacle was Christians who defended the practice on clear biblical grounds. They got their understanding of God through a written description, while Paine got an entirely different understanding of God merely by contemplating God's real revelation, the creation.

Would Paine still believe in God today? Who knows? When he died, Charles Darwin was but a four-month-old baby. In that day, there simply was no plausible explanation for the origin of species.* Nearly everyone, including Paine, chalked it all up to God--the source of all things existing. Things of mystery have always been affairs of the gods.

*(It is a common misconception among Christians that evolution attempts to explain the origin of life, but it does not.)

But for the fact that Paine was not an atheist, one might consider The Age of Reason a foreshadowing of today's popular works by Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and others. They and Paine all easily demonstrate how the writings that eventually got voted into the canon that is our present-day Bible could not possibly be a revelation from God. But unlike the others, Paine's purpose was to defend God, not doubt his existence.

This book affords an additional plus. We get a fascinating glimpse of Paine's life and times in the 18th century, 200+ years ago. I was especially interested in his arrest over the nature of his writings. And while this review is an overview, Paine's meticulous tribute to "the age of reason" is a thing of real substance--you'll find detailed arguments not routinely employed by today's writers. You'll also get a more balanced view of deism than we usually get from Christians, who typically misrepresent it as a message of gloom and doom (God created us and then just "abandoned" us). The founding fathers of the United States were more deist than anything else, and thus not Christian, contrary to popular belief.

Editorial Review:

Paine's years of study and reflection on the role of religion in society culminated with this, his final work. An attack on revealed religion from the deist point of view — embodied by Paine's credo, "I believe in one God, and no more" — its critical and objective examination of Old and New Testaments cites numerous contradictions.

The Philokalia, Volume 4: The Complete Text; Compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain & St. Markarios of Corinth (Philokalia)

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Total reviews: 34 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Worth waiting for! 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Excellent text of the writings of the early Christians. I'd recommend it, and the rest of the series, to anyone who wants to know how the Church started and what it actually believed.

My only problem with the order was that it took so long to arrive. It was one delay after another.

Editorial Review:

The Philokalia is a collection of texts written between the fourth and the fifteenth centuries by spiritual masters of the Orthodox Christian tradition. First published in Greek in 1782, then translated into Slavonic and later into Russian, The Philokalia has exercised an influence in the recent history of the Orthodox Church far greater than that of any book apart from the Bible. It is concerned with themes of universal importance: how man may develop his inner powers and awake from illusion; how he may overcome fragmentation and achieve spiritual wholeness; how he may attain the life of contemplative stillness and union with God.

Compiled by Bishop Kallistos Ware

The fourth volume of The Philokalia

Volumes I through III are also available.

The Eagle of the Ninth

Rosemary Sutcliff

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Total reviews: 38 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A moving adventure tale set in Roman Britain 4 out of 5 stars.
10 of 10 people found this review helpful.

The Eagle of the Ninth is a moving adventure tale set in Roman Britain of the 2nd century AD. The straightforward, uncomplicated story was probably intended for children and certainly for young adults. Nevertheless, adults of all ages will find in it much to enjoy. The characterization of life in early Britain is quite convincing. Rome and the Senate are but a distant echo. Here we live the provincial life of a barely pacified country. A young Roman centurion recently injured in battle and so unable to serve in the legions, sets out to find the lost "eagle" (i.e. battle standard) of his father's legion. That legion, the Ninth Hispana, along with his father, had disappeared twelve years previously in Caledonia (the north of modern Scotland). In the course of many adventures the hero will learn of his father's fate. Interestingly, the book reminds me of the works of Rudyard Kipling dealing with the Indian subcontinent. Ironically, instead of English colonizers living among "noble savages", the shoe is on the other foot, and colonial Romans live among the barbarian tribes of Britain. Anyone with an inclination towards historical fiction will enjoy this moving adventure story. Commentators have pointed out that this is probably an apt description of how the British national identity was forged over the centuries.

Editorial Review:

One of Rosemary Sutcliff's acclaimed books set in Roman Britain. The Eagle of the Ninth tells the story of a young Roman officer who sets out to discover the truth behind the mysterious disappearance of the Ninth Legion, who marched into the mists of northern Britain and never came back. * The Eagle of the Ninth is the first in an outstanding series of books about the Roman occupation which was followed by The Silver Branch and The Lantern Bearers also published by Oxford Children's Books. * Packed with real-life detail about Roman warfare and featuring a likeable adventuring hero, this story will have particular appeal for boys. * Rosemary Sutcliff is the acknowledged master of children's historical storytelling, she was awarded the OBE for her services to children's literature in 1975. She died in 1992.

History of Philosophy, Volume 1 (History of Philosophy)

Frederick Copleston

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Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Conceived originally as a serious presentation of  the development of philosophy for Catholic  seminary students, Frederick Copleston's nine-volume  A History Of Philosophy has  journeyed far beyond the modest purpose of its author to  universal acclaim as the best history of  philosophy in English.

Copleston, an Oxford Jesuit  of immense erudition who once tangled with A. J.  Ayer in a fabled debate about the existence of God  and the possibility of metaphysics, knew that  seminary students were fed a woefully inadequate diet  of theses and proofs, and that their familiarity  with most of history's great thinkers was reduced  to simplistic caricatures. Copleston set out to  redress the wrong by writing a complete history of  Western philosophy, one crackling with incident and  intellectual excitement -- and one that gives full  place to each thinker, presenting his thought in a  beautifully rounded manner and showing his links  to those who went before and to those who came  after him.

Nature and Destiny of Man, The Volume 1 (Gifford Lectures)

Reinhold Niebuhr

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Absorbing and Rewarding 5 out of 5 stars.
49 of 51 people found this review helpful.

In the Nature and Destiny of Man, Reinhold Niebuhr, the influential "Christian realist" theologian, deals with big issues: the nature of man, history, and the end of the history. He offers deep - I would say profound - support for his views, but not proof. He offers one interpretation of the meaning of life's mysteries but not the only possible interpretation.

Niebuhr begins by arguing that the Christian view of man's nature, compared with alternative views, is more complete and offers more explanatory power. According to the Christian view, man is made in the image of God. Unlike alternative views that establish a good/bad duality between mind and body, in the Christian view, both mind and body are good because both are created by God. Man is made to live in harmony with others and God's will but violates this harmony when he - inevitably - makes himself the center and source of meaning for his life.

Man has tremendous creative and imaginative powers, and his mind can transcend both itself (since he can make his own thoughts the object of contemplation) and the natural world (since he can manipulate natural forces to create new possibilities and vitalities of nature). Because man cannot find ultimate meaning in what he can transcend, he cannot find ultimate meaning within himself or in the natural world. This is why we turn to religion.

Christianity is a religion of revelation, meaning that Christians believe that God must speak to us in order for us to arrive at a correct understanding of his nature and will. If the Bible is to be believed, God spoke to man throughout history but his message was not clearly understood. Because of our misunderstanding, and because God's law is so radically different from man's law, Jesus' message was highly offensive to his listeners. What Jesus told us is that God overcomes evil not by destroying evildoers but by taking their evil upon himself. God's love is suffering love.

To live in accordance with the law of love seems to require that we accept the reality of an existence beyond this life. If the reality of this other existence is denied, then Jesus' statement that "whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" makes no sense.

Yet, we are not to despise this life. To be righteous, to a Christian, means to serve others, and we need to strive after intermediate and partial arrangements that help point the way toward ultimate resolutions and revelations. God provides ultimate meaning. Just as the human mind can provide meaning to a sequence of chronological events by comprehending them all in an instant, so God provides meaning by comprehending all events both prospectively and retrospectively.

This poor summary of what Niebuhr has to say on the largest subjects makes it sound as if this is a very otherworldly book. It is not. The book contains a great deal of keen observation of human behavior and current events at the outset of World War II, and Niebuhr later became extremely influential in the U.S. State Department. Niebuhr's observations on politics and social justice still speak to us with great immediacy.

Editorial Review:

Arguably Niebuhr's most important work, this book offers a sustained articulation of his theological ethics and is considered a landmark in 20th-century thought. This book issues a challenge to Western civilization to understand its roots in the faith of the Bible. The growth, corruption and purification of the important Western emphases on individuality are chronicled here insightfully.

Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution

Steve McIntosh

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Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A wonderful refinement of the integralist theory 4 out of 5 stars.
24 of 24 people found this review helpful.

Mr. McIntosh does a superb job in refining what the integralists had previously written concerning the spiral integral. His prose is easy to read and his points are made very clearly. If you have ever been frustrated or confused with Cowan and Beck's explanations in Spiral Dynamics then please read this book. It explains and refines their model in a lucid and succinct style. If you have ever felt that Wilber's explanations for his AQAL model left you wanting then read this book as McIntosh lays it out and then builds on it beautifully.

What the author does exceptionally well, five stars in Amazon parlance, is layout a model where he cores the evolution of spiral integral theory to three main topics. Those topics are psychology, science and religion. He does the best job of all the integralists' writings to explain how the integral model evolved into existence on the psychology and science. Though he does not denigrate religion he does not explain the evolution for the third leg of the stool with the detail and deftness he delivers on the other two legs.

Mr. McIntosh should not be faulted for this as this flaw is one which all of the integralist theorists share. That is they play fast and loose with history, quoting events in time as it suits their arguments instead of adhering to the evolved model as they do with psychology, science, biology etc. This is somewhat ironic as the author dings Wilber for this in the book and then proceeds to replicate the same behavior himself in support of his arguments.

McIntosh departs from the integralist theorist peers in majoring in the explanation and refinement of integralist theory almost completely for the group spiral and not the individual. This is one of the factors which make his book much easier to understand than all the others. When walking through a theoretical landscape the switching between group and individual models makes complex theory much more difficult to follow. In fact I think it creates a mindset in most integral theorist writers to create identical symmetries between the group and the individual where few actually exist. The author escapes from this trap by staying on the group throughout and this is a fundamental reason why his book succeeds where others have not.

The reason the author is awarded four stars for such a wonderful refinement of integralist theory is because of he has not factored in any standard model for history. I will admit that while I do focus on the history of humankind in an effort to try and define a standard model, the integralists must understand that there is such a standard model analogous to the one being refined in physics. I would ask the author when he crafted his model for a three legged stool - who or what is sitting on that stool? The answer of course must be human history. Since McIntosh majors in the group it has to be our collective evolutionary history sitting on the stool. The failure to make this connection causes the author to make historical assumptions which skew the potential applicability in his projections for the future where he does spend time to carefully make integral consciousness operational. Therefore allow me a moment to layout but the briefest and barebones model for human history so that this point can be clearly seen by the integralists and their readers. Until this factor has been taken into consideration in their models there will be no adoption and refinement for their ideas in the academic community. This is not a minor issue.

For those integral theorist and readers out there, I must state categorically that there exists a standard model for the telemetry of human history in exactly the same as there is for psychology, physics and physiology. There has been only three economic ages for humanity: the hunter-gatherers age (200,000-12,000bce), the agricultural age (12000 bce-1770ce) and the industrial age (1770ce through the foreseeable future).

At the very moment in time when our ancestors had fully developed the modern sized mind (starting 30,000 years ago) we see world wide an explosion in what we today call art. What they depicted was their first worldview which can be historically catalogued because wherever our ancestors were they drew the same types of images (lethal wild animals, vortex symbols and the pregnant Venus figures). These were not their grocery lists or individuals expressing themselves but rather the start of our unique magic based human worldview in pictorial form as drawing is always the precursor to writing. This was humanities 1st historical Axial Age. The Mind in the Cave and Inside the Neolithic Mind are two excellent books written by David Lewis-Williams and David Pearce which have proven this and taken their model to an accepted academic standard.

Just as in the hunter-gatherer age, three quarters of the way through their agricultural age suddenly humanity rewrote (800bce) their inherited worldview to one which was human centric and no longer strictly a nature based magical model. They did this because they had moved into increasingly larger villages, towns, cities, city-states and some even empires and the old rules simply did not successfully regulate human interaction. The first written texts attest to the changing worldview from their inherited one of animal sacrifice to feed their gods and keep the world in balance. Over time the sacrifices become symbolic, though a majority of the inhabitants on earth still saw them in the same way that the hunter-gatherers had tens of thousands of years before. It was only by the end of the agricultural age that majority had switched over to this very ne worldview.

Ancient times were an extremely brutal environment and the only way forward was to evolve a new golden rule centric worldview (do onto others as you would have them do onto you). That golden rule is at the core of all of the major religions which came into existence during the agricultural age to address this problem of human violence. The remainder of the farming age was spent in refining and codifying the rules for humanity which peaks in the middle Ages. This can be seen as late as the New Testament when Jesus throws the animals out of the Temple courtyard in one of his few recorded rages because even the symbolic act had become repugnant to the evolving worldview. Karen Armstrong lays out the change over magnificently in her book The Great Transformation, though her thinking is still not academically accepted as no scholar is willing to stake their career on the line against the current firewall that scholars have drawn in the sand between pre history (pre written history called prehistoric) and written history. Once that line is breached the progression from hunter-gatherer images traversing down through Sumerian, Akkadian, Egyptian and the ancient Hebrew scrolls will be self evident even for the causal observer in terms of the removal of animal and nature worship from popular worldview.

As we entered the industrial age the inherited worldview is coming under increasing review and will result in a 3rd Axial Age in the future (at two more long waves out by my reckoning). What the integralists such as the author must remember is that their philosophy will not be the trigger for this event. Their evolved worldview can serve to make the transition a less violent and difficult event than the previous Axial Age change was but will not likely serve as the tipping point. This can be seen clearly from the agricultural ages shift in worldview when there had been a broad spectrum in religious thinking from Archaic to Integral from a Spiral model perspective. What was codified was what the author references as the Traditional spiral. In other words the lowest common denominator for humanity was selected so that everyone could be brought onboard.

The major change in the industrial age is the rise of nations and the associated nationalism which comes with it at the group level. Nations will have to work through how they are going to successfully interact with one and other but this is not where integral thinking will be of effect as those rules will evolve from purely economic bulwarks. This is where the author's lack of factoring in the standard human history model reduces his thinking in his book. Integral thinking must occur as evolution does from the individual to the group. Multiculturalism will only grow from individuals and not by legal codes enforced at the end of a rifle barrel as all laws ultimately are. None of the previous Axial Ages were legislated into existence they simply grew organically out of the spectrum in evolving thinking.

Because Integral Consciousness has not been accepted academically the practice of playing with human history is an ongoing and ill-advised practice. However until a standard model is placed as the baseline for integral theory, it can never be accepted in the academic communities which serve as diffusion centers for all accepted human thinking. One can no more adjust the telemetry of human history than one could remove gravity from the earth. In other words the stool can't float to fit the theoretical models together but must be a foundational component of integral modeling theory. Therefore McIntosh and all the integralists must finish the work in building an academic quality model before embarking on political roadmaps such as the one the author proposes in his book. It is for this reason that it is four stars though to be honest this is not a flaw of the author by himself but is shared by all of the integral writers. McIntosh does further refine integral theory in his book but muddies it with premature moves to operationalize the excitement of the changes we are all now seeing in the world today.

Finally McIntosh clearly possesses a brilliant mind. What those of require who follow the evolution in integral theory is for the author to focus on completing the model to an accepted academic standard. There is where these philosophical giants can make their contribution to the world which our children will inherit. That is the application of integral consciousness which is required for the road ahead in my opinion.

Editorial Review:

What does the next step in evolution hold for society as a whole? This volume suggests that an integral worldview is crucial to the development of our civilization, and that through its understanding of the evolution of consciousness it can provide both realistic and pragmatic solutions to global problems."Integral Consciousness" is divided into two sections, the first serves as an accessible introduction to the power of integral consciousness, whilst the second brings together unique perspectives and breaks new ground in its application to philosophy, politics, and spirituality. This volume also includes a contextual critique of the integral consciousnesses leading advocate, Ken Wilber.

What's Wrong With the World

G. K. Chesterton

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Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great Edition 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This is a wonderful edition of What's Wrong With the World. If you have read much of Chesterton's social commentary or essay work, you know that he makes many allusions to people, places, and ideas that were common to him in the early part of the 20th Century. Ignatius Press did a great job footnoting many of these references, which makes this amazing work of Chesterton's much more accessible to the common man, whom he loved so much.

What's wrong with the world? I am. 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 7 people found this review helpful.

I think the collection of essays are generally well written, but there are some issues. Before I start, yes; I know WWWtW was written nearly 100 years ago for a primarily British audience. There are parallels with today's culture, but the book was written for quite a different population facing similar evils.

This may be petty, but the use of the "n" word really bothered me. I know Chesterton was a wordsmith, and was not a racist, but the use of that word really offended me. I know...different age and different culture, but I live in 21st century New York, not 20th century England. Is the use of the word meant to be offensive? I don't believe offense was Chesterton's motive. Chesterton even calls poor East Enders "guttersnipes", but this is his way of wordsmithing and even here the euphemism is not meant to be offensive, but clever. However, in spite of Chesterton's love of euphemisms and cleverness, I find the "n" word to be a huge stumbling block.

Chesterton's idea of the fundamental difference among the sexes is accurate. However, the whole objection to women not voting is rather unsettling. I know...different age and different culture, but it still bothers me. However, the notion of the Industrial and Post Industrial age forcing women into the workplace so that families can survive is an acute assessment.

What's not to like about Hudge and Gudge?

I think Chesterton is the Epitome of an age long since past. He chose not to pursue formal education, but the man was a generalist, and that suited him. There are too many specialists in the world, with large student loan debts, who cannot figure out why pulling on a push door will not open the door. If we had more Chestertons, I think the world would be a better place; there is always the need for generalists in a specialized world.

Editorial Review:

1912 work by the highly influential English writer of the early 20th century. Includes chapters on the homelessness of man, imperialism, feminism, education and the home of man.

Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson (All and Everything/First)

G. I. Gurdjieff

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Editorial Review:

The teaching of G. I. Gurdjieff (1866-1949) has come to be recognized as one of the most original, enduring, and penetrating of our century. While Gurdjieff used many different means to transmit his vision of the human dilemma and human possibility, he gave special importance to his acknowledged masterwork, Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson.

Beelzebub's Tales is an "ocean of story" and of ideas that one can explore for a lifetime. It is majestic in scale and content, challengingly inventive in prose style, and, for those very reasons, often approached with apprehension. The first English language edition of the Russian original appeared in 1950. Since then, readers have recognized the need for a revised translation that would clarify the verbal surface while respecting the author's own thought and style.

This revised edition, in preparation for many years under the direction of Gurdjieff's closest pupil, Jeanne de Salzmann, meets this need. Originally published in 1992, this translation offers a new experience of Gurdjieff's masterpiece for contemporary readers. It is presented in a sturdy cloth edition that echoes its original publication.