Doubt
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Cited midway through this magisterial book by Hecht (The End of the Soul), the Zen maxim "Great Doubt: great awakening. Little Doubt: little awakening. No Doubt: no awakening" reveals that skepticism is the sine qua non of reflection, and discloses the centrality that doubt and disbelief have played in fueling intellectual discovery. Most scholarship focuses on the belief systems that have defined religious history while leaving doubters burnt along the wayside. Hecht's poetical prose beautifully dramatizes the struggle between belief and denial, in terms of historical currents and individual wrestlings with the angel. Doubt is revealed to be the subtle stirring that has precipitated many of the more widely remembered innovations in politics, religion and science, such as medieval Jewish philosopher Gersonides's doubt of Ptolemaic cosmology 200-300 years before Copernicus, Kepler or Galileo. The breadth of this work is stunning in its coverage of nearly all extant written history. Hecht's exegesis traces doubt's meandering path from the fragments of pre-Socratics and early religious heretics in Asia, carefully elucidating the evolution of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, through the intermingling of Eastern and Western religious and philosophical thought in the Middle Ages that is often left out of popular histories, to the preeminence of doubt in thrusting open the doors of modernity with the Cartesian "I am a thing... that doubts," ergo sum. Writing with acute sensitivity, Hecht draws the reader toward personal reflection on some of the most timeless questions ever posed.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Let others admire cathedrals: poet and historian Hecht celebrates the creations of doubters. In this remarkably wide ranging history, Hecht recounts how doubters from Socrates to Wittgenstein have translated their misgivings about regnant orthodoxies into new philosophic insights and political horizons. Though she explores the skepticism of early Greek thinkers challenging pagan gods, the tantric doubts of Tibetan monks chanting their way to enlightenment, and the poetic unbelief of heretical Muslim poets, Hecht gives center stage to Christianity, the religion that made doubt newly visible--and subversive--by identifying faith (not law, morality, or ritual) as the very key to salvation. Readers witness the martyrdom of iconoclastic doubters such as Bruno, Dolet, and Vanini, but Hecht also illuminates the wrenching episodes of doubt in the lives of passionate believers, including Paul and Augustine. In Jesus' anguished utterances in Gethsemane and at Calvary, Hecht hears even Christ experiencing the agony of doubt. Indeed, Hecht's affinity for the doubters who have advanced secular democracy and modern art does not blind her to the hidden kinship between profound doubters and seminal believers: both have confronted the perplexing gap between human aspirations and their tragic contradictions. In her provocative conclusion, Hecht ponders the novelty of a global confrontation pitting America not against the state-sanctioned doubt of Soviet atheism but, rather, against a religious fundamentalism hostile to all doubt. Bryce Christensen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
When we look for doubt among the ancients, in the West we are going to find the most lively cases in the Hellenistic period-the few hundred years between the dominace of Classical Greece and that of Classical Rome. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
When we look for doubt among the ancients, in the West we are going to find the most lively cases in the Hellenistic period-the few hundred years between the dominace of Classical Greece and that of Classical Rome. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a terrific book, whether for traditional believers or doubters. It shows that, despite the extreme polarization around matters of faith and belief, we're actually not in some dualism. Instead we're on a continuum of belief/faith and the book validates those who secretly or silently harbor doubts. Heart and mind, reason and belief must ultimately be reconciled inside each one of us or we have a shallow, untested faith.
The world is a hostile place for doubters or those with unconventional beliefs/faith. In public religious discourse these days, people get publicly shamed or humiliated for not having capital 'F' Faith, meaning a publicly identifiable faith.
But we all have to face these life questions and best to do it having read a book explicating the doubting side of the equation. I agree with Hecht that doubt (doubting, questioning, and discerning) helps us arrive at our own truth and own understanding (not some version of received wisdom). This is foundational to a life well lived.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Ronald W. Maron
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
If you have had 'doubt' about your religion, your faith or God in general and have felt that you are the only person who has experienced these thoughts, this is the book for you! For the past century we have had two camps that remain in total conflict; the religionists who fully believe in their version of holy scriptures and the materialists who feel that in order for reality to exist it must be scientifically measurable. You either belonged to one or the other, there was no room for doubt and agnosticism in between. One has to be chosen and their tenets committed to memory. This battle has been going on since the times of Socrates and Aristotle although the banners under which each side stood, over time, had a differing topic under which to stand. While the topics have changed, the conflict has remained the same.
There has been no room for true 'doubt' of either side. This book not only explores those who doubted but, in many cases, the tremendous cost they paid for doing so. The author begins with the gods of the Greek Pantheon and progresses all the way to present day Islamic and Christian fundamentalism. On the opposite side of these religious arguments lie the early philosophical arguments and latter day scientific findings that refute the existence of anything beyond our senses. The author, while maybe not meaning to do it, shows her emotional connection to studies as the text proceeds.
It is an enjoyable read that allows the reader to re-contact the doubts they have had on this journey called 'life'.
There has been no room for true 'doubt' of either side. This book not only explores those who doubted but, in many cases, the tremendous cost they paid for doing so. The author begins with the gods of the Greek Pantheon and progresses all the way to present day Islamic and Christian fundamentalism. On the opposite side of these religious arguments lie the early philosophical arguments and latter day scientific findings that refute the existence of anything beyond our senses. The author, while maybe not meaning to do it, shows her emotional connection to studies as the text proceeds.
It is an enjoyable read that allows the reader to re-contact the doubts they have had on this journey called 'life'.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I've just stumbled upon this book by accident, and it is an astute and astuonding overview of *the* most important motive force in human adaptation to actuality that I've yet come across.
It's a book I wish I would have written, had I not been too lazy, preoccupied and too bloody busy with mundane things to. This is a Grand Synthesis in the best sense, performed with an historian's acuity and a poet's sensibility. This is the sort of thing you'll like, if you're the sort of person who likes this sort of thing. Read it, it's rather good.
It's a book I wish I would have written, had I not been too lazy, preoccupied and too bloody busy with mundane things to. This is a Grand Synthesis in the best sense, performed with an historian's acuity and a poet's sensibility. This is the sort of thing you'll like, if you're the sort of person who likes this sort of thing. Read it, it's rather good.
Want to see more reviews on this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 65 reviews
4.3 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mind expanding and fun
I loved this book. It is pretty long, and I spent about 6 weeks slowly working my way through it, looking forward to reading a little every night. Read more
Published on Jun 10 2004 by Tom Carr
5.0 out of 5 stars
relief
As a child I was forced to go to church by my parents. They didn't go them selves, except of course on holidays. There was a lot of Latin, sit, stand and kneeling. Read more
Published on Jun 5 2004 by twbanter
2.0 out of 5 stars
A major disappointment
Know this: the book is not about doubt. It is about hostility to religious belief of any kind, but especially Christian belief. Read more
Published on Jun 1 2004 by Gregory Fink
1.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointingly Misleading
I bought Jennifer Hecht's book, Doubt, believing the book jacket's claim to be "a fascinating account of how Doubt has been a driving force in the intellectual and religious... Read more
Published on May 17 2004 by Tim Rauk
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Wonderful Journey
I can't speak for typos, and know who Lyndon Johnson was - that was an error that should have been caught. Read more
Published on April 1 2004 by Mark P. Tokarski
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dubito...
Doubt resurfacing in modern times hath wrought more in the way of liberating the human mind that millennia of faith--that much is clear, and this sea-breeze account of its history... Read more
Published on Feb 23 2004 by John C. Landon
5.0 out of 5 stars
What you need to know...
Amazing... in one book, the wealth of history to confirm the doubter's faith. I started to dog-ear the important pages, but it became difficult to close the book (which was hard... Read more
Published on Dec 22 2003
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating and Amazing!
This book is a must-read! My sister gave it to me and now I'm giving it to several people for Christmas. I couldn't put it down! Read more
Published on Dec 1 2003
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great content; egregious errors
A very interesting book, with great content, especially for those not more familiar with the history of doubt, above all in doubt in the East. Read more
Published on Nov 19 2003 by S. J. Snyder
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > History > Americas > United States
- Books > History > Historical Study > History of Ideas
- Books > History > United States
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Humanities > History > United States
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Humanities > Philosophy > Epistemology
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Humanities > Philosophy > History & Surveys
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Humanities > Religious Studies
- Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Epistemology
- Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > History & Surveys
- Books > Religion & Spirituality > Religious Studies > Church & State
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
