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S'està carregant… A World Full of Gods: An Inquiry into Polytheism (2005 original; edició 2005)de John Michael Greer
Informació de l'obraA World Full of Gods: An Inquiry into Polytheism de John Michael Greer (2005)
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Apunta't a LibraryThing per saber si aquest llibre et pot agradar. No hi ha cap discussió a Converses sobre aquesta obra. The single best introduction to polytheism for a modern monotheist culture - easy to follow and understand that polytheists really do "think different". One of the few books in my library that I regularly loan out or give away and always replace. Required on any pagan bookshelf. ( ) A mildly entertaining introduction to polytheist thought that rapidly devolves into a long diatribe against monotheists. The book attempts to respond to the questions raised by christian theology, but falls short of the expectations of learned readers on many points. When faced with the doctrine of eternal salvation, the author resorts to whataboutism and fails to consider applying the forms of theology which were developed by ancient pagans for the purpose of countering the claims of Christian monotheism. In hindsight, he could have used emperor's Julian's dialogues or neoplatonic theology to propose an alternative to the eternal salvation of the Christians, but instead of doing so he insists on pointing out how the perception of divinity in polytheism differs from monotheism. On another note, he doesn't take into account the rise of Islam in the western world which poses a much more dangerous threat than the dying cults of Judaism and Christianity. This book is a mature, scholarly exploration of the spiritual, philosophical and moral legitimacy of polytheism as a spiritual path. Modern Western culture tends to view monotheism as the only truly mature and legitimate form of religiosity, based on the idea that cultures "grow out of" polytheism to embrace monotheism. Greer, a critic of the "myth of progress" which claims that every new stage of human cultural development is necessarily better than the previous one, systematically builds his case for not only the legitimacy of polytheism, but the ways in which it answers and solves several of the nagging problems of monotheism such as "why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?" and the fact that human beings have always been religious but the diversity of religious experiences does not suggest a single divine being at the root of all. I would recommend this book to any student of comparative religion, or anyone with an open mind who wants to gain an understanding of the rapdily growing communities of polytheist spirituality. I found the first chapter of this book extremely difficult to understand and I could not comprehend its inclusion in the book. I gained nothing from the first chapter and, honestly, little more from the rest. From the second chapter onwards, I was able to follow the arguments being put forward for polytheism (as opposed to monotheism or atheism), but I am not sure I agreed with them. Some of the logic appeared circular to me: Greer seemed to disprove reasoning used by monotheists and atheists, but, in the next breath would use that very same reasoning to build a case for polytheism. But, then, what do I know. I feel this book could have been so much more; I just don't know how it could have been improved. This book just didn't flow for me; I felt like I gained nothing from reading it; and it left me feeling rather frustrated. The quality of this edition was poor, with the words crammed into the margins, causing me to often read the title of the book rather than the follow-on from the previous sentence, spelling and grammatical errors. I would have preferred either footnotes or endnotes position at the back of the book; I gave up reading the notes as it was too fussy to find them before reading each new chapter. Sense ressenyes | afegeix-hi una ressenya
An investigation into the underpinnings and superstructures of the Pagan world view Pagan religions have tended to be more concerned with practice that with theory and in a system that has no dogma - no legislated doctrine - that is as it should be. Yet as the movement grows and matures, it is inevitable that we will begin to think in a more abstract way about our models and systems. John Michael Greer has provided a primer on the kinds of ideas and themes that must be included in any discussion of the theology and philosophy of Neo-pagan religions. Much of the book takes shape in a dialogue with existing ideas in theology, philosophy, and comparative religion. It looks to find a middle ground between too much and too little reference to the work of other scholars to find a comprehensible yet intellectually rigorous middle ground. It aims to be part of a conversation, that stretches out over the centuries. Voices of polytheist spirituality have had little place in that conversation for many years, but much of value has been said in their absence. The rebirth of polytheism as a living religious tradition in the Western world will inevitably force a reassessment of much of that heritage, and pose challenges to some of its most cherished assumptions. Yet reassessment is not necessarily rejection, and the traditions of modern polytheism are deeply enough indebted to legacies from the past that an attentive ear to earlier phases of the conversation is not out of place. No s'han trobat descripcions de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — S'està carregant… GèneresClassificació Decimal de Dewey (DDC)211.32Religions Natural Theology and Secularism Deism and Atheism TheismLCC (Clas. Bibl. Congrés EUA)ValoracióMitjana:
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