The Religious Case Against Belief
by James P. Carse
List Price:
Our Price: $5.94
You Save: $19.01 (76%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.17 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: James P. CarseEdition: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2008-05-29
ISBN: 1615544321
Number of pages: 240
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Summary of The Religious Case Against Belief
A provocative, insightful explanation for why it is that belief?not religion?keeps us in a perilous state of willful ignoranceIn 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.
Theology Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Theology Books
Praying the Names of Jesus: A Daily Guideby Ann Spangler
Zondervan; Published: 2006-09-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.89
Price in other shops:
Case for Christ, Theby Lee Strobel
Zondervan; Published: 2002-10-01; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $18.31
Price in other shops:
What's So Amazing About Grace?by Philip Yancey
Zondervan; Published: 2002-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
The Jesus I Never Knewby Philip Yancey
Zondervan; Published: 2002-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.50
Price in other shops:
Who's Afraid of the Old Testament God?by Alden Thompson
Zondervan; Published: 1989-09; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
Upanisads (Oxford World's Classics)Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1998-11-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.58
Price in other shops:
St. Augustine Confessions (Oxford World's Classics)by Saint Augustine
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1998-06-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
Christ the Lord: A Crisis in the Life of Godby Miles Jack
Arrow/Children S (a Division of Random House; Published: 2003-03; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
The Mind of the Makerby Dorothy L. Sayers
HarperOne; Published: 1987-09-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.39
Price in other shops:
Living Jesus: Learning the Heart of the Gospelby Luke Timothy Johnson
HarperOne; Published: 2000-01-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.50
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Unmasking Buddhismby Bernard Faure
Wiley-Blackwell; Published: 2009-03-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.97
Price in other shops:
Breakfast at the Victory: The Mysticism of Ordinary Experienceby James P. Carse
Harpercollins; Published: 1994-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.75
Price in other shops:
Natural Reflections: Human Cognition at the Nexus of Science and Religion (The Terry Lectures Series)by Barbara Herrnstein Smith
Yale University Press; Published: 2010-01-19; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $19.97
Price in other shops:
Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachiaby Dennis Covington
Da Capo Press; Published: 2009-08-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.48
Price in other shops:
Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know--And Doesn'tby Stephen Prothero
HarperOne; Published: 2008-03-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.43
Price in other shops:
A Friendly Letter to Skeptics and Atheists: Musings on Why God Is Good and Faith Isn't Evilby David G. Myers
Jossey-Bass; Published: 2008-09-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops:
The Gospel of the Beloved Discipleby James P. Carse
Harper San Francisco; Published: 1997-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.45
Price in other shops:
The Silence of God: Meditations on Prayerby James P. Carse
Harper San Francisco; Published: 1995-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.99
Breakfast at the Victory: The Mysticism of Ordinary Experienceby James P. Carse
HarperOne; Published: 1995-06-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.49
Price in other shops:
Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibilityby James P. Carse
Ballantine Books; Published: 1987-08-12; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $44.48