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Loading... The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern…de Alister E. McGrath
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irá adorar Registre-se no LibraryThing tpara descobrir se gostará deste livro.  circvs | Jan 3, 2009 |  This book should be read by every secularist. It cannot be dismissed lightly, but neither need the secularist overly fear it. I enjoyed it in part because it introduced me to some old atheistic writers that I will want to pursue. While rightly pointing out the failures of establishment atheism (USSR, etc), I think that this book should remind us to review the realities of established Christianity in Europe. Pentecostalism is presented to remind that Christianity is a moving target, but is Pentecostalism so far removed from the vulnerabilities of the old Christian orthodoxies? McGrath almost insists on the hard definition of atheism, but is it not possible that atheism can also re-imagine itself? I think it is a little strange, but no less refreshing, that this polemic against atheism appeals to "postmodern" pluralism. (  ) Darrol | Dec 23, 2007 | A very interesting trip through atheism as conceived from the French Revolution to the fall of the Berlin Wall two centuries later. McGrath makes an interesting case for atheism as a leech philosophy (in that it is simply a case of denying what others assert), and gives an good overview of how movements within Christianity like Pentecostalism show that religious belief adapts and in doing so shows that it is a permanent feature of human life. As a Protestant McGrath’s focus is on his own religion but the same would apply elsewhere. There are, I think, two significant problems with McGrath’s thesis that atheism is in twilight. Firstly he makes the case himself that, historically, popular forms of atheism have risen in response to violent and aggressive forms of religion – a thesis borne out after the publication of this work by the batch of remarkably popular atheist books, provoked by the prominence of Christian and Islamic fundamentalisms. All the religions have been periodically violent and aggressive throughout their history (alongside other things), and there is nothing to indicate that this cycle is going to stop. Secondly, in the secular West (at least) there are vast numbers of people for whom religion and spirituality more generally have little or no importance – non-intellectual atheists, if you like – who do not have this aspect to their lives or see why they need it. That constituency may well be of limited scale, but it seems to be as solid and sure of itself as any other body. Probably of course there have always been many such people, even in deeply religious societies, only now they have no reason to hide it. And that is, of course, only another reason that they will not be going anywhere. (  ) roblong | Nov 6, 2007 |  sem resenhas | adicionar uma resenha
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In this bold and provocative new book, the author of In the Beginning and The Reenchantment of Nature challenges the widely held assumption that the world is becoming more secular and demonstrates why atheism cannot provide the moral and intellectual guidance essential for coping with the complexities of modern life.
Atheism is one of the most important movements in modern Western culture. For the last two hundred years, it seemed to be on the verge of eliminating religion as an outmoded and dangerous superstition. Recent years, however, have witnessed the decline of disbelief and a rise in religious devotion throughout the world. In THE TWILIGHT OF ATHEISM, the distinguished historian and theologian Alister McGrath examines what went wrong with the atheist dream and explains why religion and faith are destined to play a central role in the twenty-first century.
A former atheist who is now one of Christianity’s foremost scholars, McGrath traces the history of atheism from its emergence in eighteenth-century Europe as a revolutionary worldview that offered liberation from the rigidity of traditional religion and the oppression of tyrannical monarchs, to its golden age in the first half of the twentieth century. Blending thoughtful, authoritative historical analysis with incisive portraits of such leading and influential atheists as Sigmund Freud and Richard Dawkins, McGrath exposes the flaws at the heart of atheism, and argues that the renewal of faith is a natural, inevitable, and necessary response to its failures.
THE TWILIGHT OF ATHEISM will unsettle believers and nonbelievers alike. A powerful rebuttal of the philosophy that, for better and for worse, has exerted tremendous influence on Western history, it carries major implications for the future of both religion and unbelief in our society.
(retirado da Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:24 -0400)
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I'm only on page 20 so far, and have found a number of factual errors, such as the assertion that Lucretius was an atheist, that Homer wrote the judgement of Paris episode, and others. Obviously he hasn't read the primary sources.
However I bought the book because of what's promised in the table of contents- a lengthy treament of more modern movements and individuals (including a section on one of my favourite atheist poets A. C. Swinburne). The book looks to be a readable introduction to a number of figures, unfortunately one which will necessitate going to the sources he mentions, to get an accurate picture.