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How to live in a supposedly faithless world threatened by religious fundamentalism? Terry Eagleton, formidable thinker and renowned cultural critic, investigates in this thought-provoking book the contradictions, difficulties, and significance of the modern search for a replacement for God. Engaging with a phenomenally wide range of ideas, issues, and thinkers from the Enlightenment to today, Eagleton discusses the state of religion before and after 9/11, the ironies surrounding Western capitalism's part in spawning not only secularism but also fundamentalism, and the unsatisfactory surrogates for the Almighty invented in the post-Enlightenment era. ? The author reflects on the unique capacities of religion, the possibilities of culture and art as modern paths to salvation, the so-called war on terror's impact on atheism, and a host of other topics of concern to those who envision a future in which just and compassionate communities thrive. Lucid, stylish, and entertaining in his usual manner, Eagleton presents a brilliant survey of modern thought that also serves as a timely, urgently needed intervention into our perilous political present.… (more)
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Here’s a fairly random example, on page 29:
(John) Toland
Electress Sophia
(John) Milton
(?)
Giordano Bruno
William of Orange
Moses
Hegel
I’m not educated in a way where I can deal with page after page of this. I might be happy to read a clear explication of ideas, but not so interested in laundry lists of the arguments that various historical and literary figures had with other historical and literary figures.
In short, not my kind of book.