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The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics, and the Modern West
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 201.72
EAN: 9781400043675
Edition: 1
ISBN: 1400043670
Label: Knopf
Manufacturer: Knopf
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: September 11, 2007
Publisher: Knopf
Release Date: September 11, 2007
Studio: Knopf
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Editorial Review:Religious passions are again driving world politics. The quest to bring political life under God’s authority has been revived, confounding expectations of a secular future. In this major book, Mark Lilla reveals the sources of this age-old quest—and its surprising role in shaping Western thought.The story could not be more timely. Most civilizations in history have been organized on the basis of a political theology – a myth or revelation about the correct ordering of society. Yet due to a crisis in Western Christendom nearly five hundred years ago, a novel intellectual challenge to political theology arose in Europe. By portraying religion as an expression of human nature, not a divine gift, modern Western thinkers found a way to free politics from God’s authority and build barriers against destructive religious passions.But the temptations of political theology are always present, even in the West. As Lilla vividly shows, the urge to reconnect politics to religion remained strong and took novel forms in modern European thought. By the Second World War a forceful political messianism had arisen, justifying the most deadly ideologies of the age.Making us question what we thought we knew about religion, politics, and the fate of civilizations, Lilla reminds us of the modern West’s unique trajectory and what is required to remain on it.
Customer Reviews
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Rating:  - Two Undying Worlds Forever in Conflict: The Stillborn God by Mark Lilla
Written in the straightforward tone of a lucid history lecture, Lilla's 310-page book argues that complacency and chauvinism, the idea that our country has paved the way for secular enlightenment and that all other nations will soon follow, have made the great nations allow for religious fanaticism to dangerously creep into political life. Secular political philosophies are the best but they don't have the appeal of religious political philosophies and that appeal is assurance and comprehensiveness. ... Read More
Rating:  - The Stillborn God
A very insightful and provocative introduction to Western political philosophy, which is also helpful for understanding today's political conflicts in both domestic and international contexts. The first part of the book that characterizes Christian orthodox in contrast to other religious doctrines might be deemed as an over-generalization. However, as you proceed to the later part of the book, you will see that the seemingly rough characterization of Chritianity is a reflective frame which has emerged ... Read More
Rating: - The History of the Great Separation
With books about atheism doing well in bookstores (like Christopher Hitchens's _God is Not Great_ or Richard Dawkins's _The God Delusion_), believers might worry that a book titled _The Stillborn God_ (Knopf) offers more of the same. This is not the case. The book's subtitle, _Religion, Politics, and the Modern West_, gives a bit better picture of its subject and theme, but does not make its content completely clear. Mark Lilla, a professor of the humanities at Columbia University and frequent contributor ... Read More
Rating: - Excellent Summary of Political Theology and Theological Philosophy
I'll admit straight away that I'm not formally trained in philosophy or theology. I would've liked to have at least minored in the former, but life had other plans. I absorbed what I could, at any rate.
That being said, I had very little trouble following the flow of Lilla's narrative. He was dead-on in his assessment that we in the West have made the common (and often fatal) error of forgetting where we came from and how we got here. We needed this reminder. It was quite enlightening to read ... Read More
Rating: - TRACING THE INTRINSIC CONTRADICTION
There are many excellent books exploring the internal flaws of organized religion, but "The Stillborn God" steps outside those problems and delineates the way in which the tenets of Christian and Jewish faith contradict and impede humanity's progress towards the rule of law. Lilla surveys the philosophical innovation of Hobbes and the later contortions of Rousseau, Kant, Hegel and others' attempts to reconcile the irreconcilable, ultimately leading European thought up to the marvel known colloquially as "World ... Read More
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