Philosophy of Religion Books - Page 5

Prison to Praise

Merlin Robert Carothers

By: Hodder and Stoughton Religious Amazon Marketplace: 18 new & used starting at $2.03

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A heart change 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

In 1 Corinthians 1, Paul writes about the ways of God seeming foolish to man.
In Isa 55:9 God says through Isaiah : For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
In Prison to Praise, Merlin Carrothers shares with us something that sounds so foolish to my human ears. Unlike some other books, it doesn't have promises of great things like the Prayer of Jabez - only a heart change.
I was assigned this book as part of a Biblical Counselor program. I found others to read because this looked like a 'formula' book.
When my husband first starting reading this book, he was transformed - and encouraged me to read it....but still, my way was to put it off. One day I picked it up - and I was furious - "Praise God for the evil? Praise God for the bad?". I just couldn't line it up with my theology.
Then, I was in a crisis in my life - and anxious, fearful, and discouraged and in despair. When I prayed for God to hear my cry, the verse "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise" (Ps 100:4) came to me, with "be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God" Phil 4:6.
I have spent a month listening to God open up this teaching to me, and show me "If this had not happened in your life, you would not have this blessing....If that had happened in your life, you would not have that blessing" as well as opening up stories in the Bible where the ugly looking things ended up being the path to glory. This book opened the door in my heart to a new relationship with the Father, only behind my salvation in 1969 and my Baptism in the Holy Spirit in 1977.
I don't know the deeper meanings of the words, I can't speak to whether we give thanks 'in' or 'for', but I know that as I embrace the principles illustrated in this book, my heart is changed, fear is chased off, and I am in the presence of the Lord more and more, and in His presence is fullness of joy(Ps 16:11).

I didn't get cars, houses, lands or money - but I have the peace that passes understanding that keeps my heart and mind in Christ Jesus - I am walking in the joy Jesus wanted me to live in - and that is of far greater worth than anything on this earth!
So if you are ready to give up fear for faith, despair for hope, and confusion for clarity in Christ, pick up this book. To me, that is worth trying something that seems foolish, and I encourage it, I challenge you to read this book, and open your heart to God.

The Phenomenon of Man

Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

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Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

way ahead of his time 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Teilhard de Chardin was way ahead of his time. The Phenomenon of Man is fascinating to read, especially because the series of events on Earth since the book was written has provided a lot of support for Teilhard de Chardin's ideas. The author was a visionary who perceived the evolution of Homo sapiens in both biological and spiritual contexts, and used the interplay between his scientific and religious training to synthesize a completely original and shockingly accurate model of humanity.

Hardcore biologists will find plenty of holes in de Chardin's scientific arguments (remember that the role of genetics in evolution had not been realized at the time when this book was written). Likewise, theologists will find plenty of fodder for argument. But anyone who takes the time to read this book with an open mind will learn something valuable about the connectedness of people everywhere. The phenomenon described here is neither purely scientific, nor purely religious, but it goes a long way towards explaining how people are destined to work together for a better future.

Editorial Review:

Visionary theologian and evolutionary theorist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin applied his whole life, his tremendous intellect, and his great spiritual faith to building a philosophy that would reconcile religion with the scientific theory of evolution. In this timeless book, which contains the quintessence of his thought, Teilhard argues that just as living organisms sprung from inorganic matter and evolved into ever more complex thinking beings, humans are evolving toward an "omega point"—defined by Teilhard as a convergence with the Divine.

Religion Explained: The Human Instincts That Fashion Gods, Spirits and Ancestors

Pascal Boyer

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Total reviews: 60 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Overuse of the word intuition 1 out of 5 stars.
3 of 36 people found this review helpful.

I was disappointed in the author's overuse of the word intuition. Especially since he did not define it in the book, and then he attached it to many other words and really overused it, ending up in the last chapter with 66 uses. I enjoyed the substantive content, but feel he deconstructed too much. His use of counterintuitive was also bothersome. I could not get beyond my own conception that intuition is something that feels an inspiratation from outside oneself, and therefore his use grated on me from the get go. Many folks today are using the term intuition in a contemporary sexy way, colloquially, and what they really mean to say deals more with guessing and rational thought processed, than the frequently surprising and unexpected aspects of true, often irrational, intuition.

Editorial Review:

Why are there religious beliefs in all cultures? Do they have features in common and why does religion persist in the face of science? Pascal Boyer shows how experimental findings in cognitive science, evolutionary biology and cultural anthropology are now providing precise answers to these general questions, and providing for the first time real answers to the question: why do we believe?

A Work of Heart : Understanding How God Shapes Spiritual Leaders

Reggie McNeal

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Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Outstanding book on leadership 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

One of the best books on leadership I have ever read. The four brief biographies (on Moses, David, Paul and Jesus) that make up the first part of the book are extremely insightful and practical. McNeal writes with authenticity and clarity. There's not a lot of "fluff" or stuff that's rehashed from one leadership book to another. Every chapter is well worth a slow read. His dry wit also adds some spice to the read. Very good stuff.

The Best 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Absolutely the best book on spiritual leadership and development I've ever read! I have bought and sent numerous copies to friends involved in spiritual leadership positions. I'm sold on Reggie McNeal and the powerful scriptural insights he shares.

Editorial Review:

A Leadership Network Publication

Spiritual leaders must become experts in matters of the heart. They must learn to discern God at work in their own lives, shaping their hearts to embrace the particular ministries to which they are called. A Work of Heart shows how God prepares leaders today just as he did in biblical times-and how God creates these leaders in order to share his heart with his people.

Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief

Andrew Newberg, Eugene D'Aquili, Vince Rause

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Total reviews: 77 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Why have we humans always longed to connect with something larger than ourselves? Why does consciousness inevitably involve us in a spiritual quest? Why, in short, won't God go away? Theologians, philosophers, and psychologists have debated this question through the ages, arriving at a range of contradictory and ultimately unprovable answers. But in this brilliant, groundbreaking new book, researchers Andrew Newberg and Eugene d'Aquili offer an explanation that is at once profoundly simple and scientifically precise: the religious impulse is rooted in the biology of the brain.

Newberg and d'Aquili base this revolutionary conclusion on a long-term investigation of brain function and behavior as well as studies they conducted using high-tech imaging techniques to examine the brains of meditating Buddhists and Franciscan nuns at prayer. What they discovered was that intensely focused spiritual contemplation triggers an alteration in the activity of the brain that leads us to perceive transcendent religious experiences as solid and tangibly real. In other words, the sensation that Buddhists call "oneness with the universe" and the Franciscans attribute to the palpable presence of God is not a delusion or a manifestation of wishful thinking but rather a chain of neurological events that can be objectively observed, recorded, and actually photographed.

The inescapable conclusion is that God is hard-wired into the human brain.

In Why God Won't Go Away, Newberg and d'Aquili document their pioneering explorations in the field of neurotheology, an emerging discipline dedicated to understanding the complex relationship between spirituality and the brain. Along the way, they delve into such essential questions as whether humans are biologically compelled to make myths; what is the evolutionary connection between religious ecstasy and sexual orgasm; what do Near Death Experiences reveal about the nature of spiritual phenomena; and how does ritual create its own neurological environment. As their journey unfolds, Newberg and d'Aquili realize that a single, overarching question lies at the heart of their pursuit: Is religion merely a product of biology or has the human brain been mysteriously endowed with the unique capacity to reach and know God?

Blending cutting-edge science with illuminating insights into the nature of consciousness and spirituality, Why God Won't Go Away bridges faith and reason, mysticism and empirical data. The neurological basis of how the brain identifies the "real" is nothing short of miraculous. This fascinating, eye-opening book dares to explore both the miracle and the biology of our enduring relationship with God.

The Jesus Puzzle. Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ? : Challenging the Existence of an Historical Jesus

Earl Doherty

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Total reviews: 102 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The gospel story of Jesus is a work of dramatic fiction 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 9 people found this review helpful.

"The Jesus Puzzle" by Earl Doherty.

This book should be of interest to those who have doubts about divine intervention in human affairs (theism).

Doherty addresses the Jesus Puzzle by tracing the likely ancestry of the books of the New Testament. There are two "traditions". The Jerusalem Tradition, which refers to the "Son of God", and includes the Pauline and other epistles; and the Galilean Tradition, which refers to the "Son of Man", and includes the gospels and a hypothetical collection of sayings known to Biblical scholars as Q.

The epistles, written in the first century CE, refer to Christ as a mythical character and intermediary between God and man; they draw on Old Testament prophesies. But they fail to mention a human Jesus. It is not until the earliest gospel, written by Mark about 90 CE, that Jesus appears in human form, complete with biography. Doherty suggests that if such a person had existed, the epistle writers would have mentioned him, as that would have stregthened their case.

Because the epistles are silent about the biography of Jesus, Doherty infers that no such person existed. Instead, Jesus was created by the author of Mark's gospel, not as an historical person but as a fictional character. Mark's writing used the technique called "midrash" to combine material from the Q document with Old Testament prophesies. The result was a brilliant work of drama which was futher embellished by the other gospel writers. The entire gospel account of Jesus's life and death, says Doherty, is a literary fabrication.

As a non-believer, I found this theory to be quite reassuring, as there is no longer any need to account for the unnatural events in the life and death of Jesus. But in order to appreciate it more fully you would need a more thorough knowledge of the Bible and Christian doctrines.

Editorial Review:

A new presentation of the argument that no historical Jesus existed. A full and comprehensive survey of the question through an examination of the early Christian record, canonical and non-canonical, from Q to the Gospels, from the earliest Pauline epistles to the second century apologists, along with Jewish, Gnostic, and Greco-Roman documents of the time. The philosophy of the era, its religious expression in the pagan mystery cults, fascinating glimpses into the historical background of the period, an in-depth consideration of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, are only some of the additional topics covered in the book. A richly-detailed, highly lucid and entertaining account of how Christianity began without an historical Jesus of Nazareth, who came to life only on the pages of the Gospels. The book has been styled for the general reader, though the scholarly community will find it of value as well.

Darwin on Trial

Phillip E. Johnson

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Total reviews: 152 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

This book is even confirmed by its critics 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 9 people found this review helpful.

I have finally read this book, after years of reading criticisms of it, and I am amazed at what a good case Johnson actually makes and how woefully inept most of his critics have been.
For those who have not read the book, Johnson argues the following points:
* The scientific establishment, rather than defending evolution against criticism, has determined that no such criticism shall take place.
* Evolution is defined so loosely that no criticism of it is possible.
* The term "natural selection" is a tautology and so explains nothing.
* The experimental evidence for Darwinism does not provide "any persuasive reason for believing that natural selection can produce new species, new organs, or other major changes, or even minor changes that are permanent."
* Darwinians are so clever at finding evidence that confirms their theory and explaining the evidence that appears to contradict it, that it looks as if all the evidence is supportive.
* The theory of sexual selection contradicts the theory of natural selection.
* Haeckel's hypothesis that "ontology recapitulates phylogeny" is still taught in schools despite being completely discredited more than a century ago. (This I know to be true, as I still teach a syllabus which requires it.)
* Darwinian theory is not falsifiable, because its supporters cannot or will not make the risky predictions which would allow it to be falsified.
* Anyone who questions the orthodoxy of scientific naturalism, or Darwinism in particular, is rigorously persecuted by the scientific establishment.
This must be one of the most vilified books ever written. Johnson is repeatedly accused by critics of trespassing into an area in which he has no expertise, as his whole professional career has been devoted to the practice and interpretation of law. These critics appear not to have noticed that this book is a response to a legal decision. He is also accused of trying to prove the case for creationism, whereas his introductory chapter states explicitly that he is not defending creation-science and his book does not address the Biblical accounts of creation." (p.14)
In addition, Johnson is accused of the following: misunderstanding the scientific process and rules of evidence, misrepresenting the works of respected scientists, discrediting the fossil evidence, neglecting the evolution of plants, poor reasoning, inability to frame an argument, abysmal writing, taking criticisms of creationism personally and acting like a spoilt child when his book is criticised.
There is one important respect in which the book is out-of-date: it was published in 1993, several years before the completion of the human genome project, and can thus give no account of the enormous weight of genetic evidence which has poured in since then. But I think Johnson can hardly be blamed for this.
And yet, the astonishing thing is that hardly any of these critics (even the small number who have actually read the book) have even mentioned, much less refuted, his major arguments. Thus his book, unlike the theory he is criticizing, has withstood the test of falsification. From a scientific point of view, this is the strongest possible confirmation that he is right.

Editorial Review:

In clear, concise chapters, Johnson offers a casual, reasoned and scientifically sound evaluation of the support for Darwinism--from fossil records to molecular biology. In a new afterword, he responds to his critics and their arguments. "Unquestionably the best critique of Darwinism I have ever read."--Michael Denton, author of Evolution: A Theory in Crisis.

Man Is Not Alone : A Philosophy of Religion

Abraham Joshua Heschel

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Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

an explanation of religion 5 out of 5 stars.
31 of 31 people found this review helpful.

Heschel's book is a description of faith rather than an argument for faith: not an attempt to persuade the faithless, but an explanation of how the religious person thinks. I especially liked his discussion of prayer and ritual; Heschel explains, for example, that set written prayers exist to help us think about our faith as we read them. MUCH easier to read than his more famous book "God In Search Of Man"; I wish I had read this book first.

Editorial Review:

Man Is Not Alone is a profound, beautifully written examination of the ingredients of piety: how man senses God's presence, explores it, accepts it, and builds life upon it. Abraham Joshua Heschel's philosophy of religion is not a philosophy of doctrine or the interpretation of a dogma. He erects his carefully built structure of thought upon foundations which are universally valid but almost generally ignored. It was Man Is Not Alone which led Reinhold Niebuhr accurately to predict that Heschel would "become a commanding and authoritative voice not only in the Jewish community but in the religious life of America." With its companion volume, God in Search of Man, it is revered as a classic of modern theology.

The Works of Philo

of Alexandria Philo

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Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

While it would not be correct to say that Philo's works have been "lost"—scholars have always known and used Philo—they have essentially been "misplaced" as far as the average student of the Bible is concerned. Now the translation of the eminent classicist C. D. Yonge is available in an affordable, easy-to-read edition, with a new foreword and newly translated passages, and containing supposed fragments of Philo's writings from ancient authors such as John of Damascus. The title and arrangement of the writings have been standardized according to scholarly conventions.

A contemporary of Paul and Jesus, Philo Judaeus, of Alexandria, Egypt, is unquestionably among the most important writers for historians and students of Hellenistic Judaism and early Christianity. Although Philo does not explicitly mention Jesus, or Paul, or any of the followers of Jesus, Philo lived in their world. It is from Philo, for example, that we learn about how, like the Gospel of John, Jews (and Greeks) in the Greco-Roman world spoke of the creative force of God as God's Logos. Philo, too, employs interpretive strategies that parallel those of the author of Hebrews. Most scholars would agree that Philo and the author of Hebrews are drawing from the same, or at least similar, traditions of Hellenistic Judaism. With these kind of connections to the world of Judaism and early Christianity, Philo cannot be ignored.

Between Heaven and Hell: A Dialog Somewhere Beyond Death wtih John F. Kennedy, C. S. Lewis & Aldous Huxley

Peter Kreeft

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Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A Great Read 4 out of 5 stars.
90 of 90 people found this review helpful.

November 22, 1963 was a day that all who were alive that day will remember. It was the day J.F. Kennedy was killed. But in the shadow of that famous death two other great men died that day, Aldous Huxley and John F. Kennedy. This book deals with those three famous men and a fictional dialog they would have sometime after life, but before a final judgment.

These three great men each believed in an afterlife but differently. Lewis in ancient western theism, Kennedy was a humanist, and Huxley believed in ancient eastern pantheism. Each also believed or practiced different forms of Christianity. Lewis was more mainline orthodox Christianity, Kennedy was a modernist or humanistic Christianity and Huxley an Orientalized or mystical Christianity.

The three men meet in a white mist or fog, they debate where they are, what they believe and where they think they will end up. Like many of Kreeft's books it is written as a dialogue, a conversation in three parts. They each present their world views, their view of the afterlife and their understanding of what their life meant. Yet each is open to the `truth' what truth really is and if it has eternal impact.

This is one of those fun light reads, written in a unique and engaging manner that will presenting the three most common views currently accepted in Christianity, and three of the common interpretations of Christianity in today's world. If you want to understand other streams of Christianity or the Christians around you this book will give you a clear, concise and humorous presentation of the three main approaches today.

Editorial Review:

Combining logical argument with literary imagination, Peter Kreeft uses a dialogue between C.S. Lewis, John F. Kennedy and Aldous Huxley (all of whom died within hours of each other) to investigate the claims of Christ.