Customer Reviews

A Common Faith (The Terry Lectures Series)

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A little gem. Written 75+ years ago, timelessly relevant, calling us as citizens of the world to a faith not based on divergent mythologies, which is more of a critical choice now than ever before.
I suggest reading also: "Varieties of Scientific Experience - A Personal View on the Search for God" by Carl Sagan, and 2)"Breaking the Spell - Religion as a Natural Phenomenon" by Daniel Dennett.

In this book John Dewey presents a compelling argument for a union of religious and social ideals, and for consistency in both idea and action. Although the book is brief, the rhetoric is dense and the thesis is thought-provoking. This volume is an excellent example of Dewey's social and political thought. It should be read and considered not only by social scientists, but also by Christians who wish to intelligently grow their own faith.

This book is evil and is typical of the pathetic excuse we Americans like to call philosophy, pragmatism. Pragmatism is not philosophy because it denies metaphysics and just tries to find what will serve a given ideology. In other words, it is intellectual prostitution.

This particular book outlines a plan on how best to educate our youngsters for a functional social democracy. I have nothing against a social democracy, mind you, but as a telos for education it stinks. Education should be an apolitical search for the Truth--yes, with a capital T. Education should lead students out of the shadowy cave into the full light and glare of the Truth. Education means, after all, a leading out. But such a conception is incomprehensible to a mindset which believes that truth is simply what works. What works is determined by a given political/social system, and so truth is determined by ideology, and not vice versa.

Dewey's political preference is social democracy. An atheistic social democracy, to be precise, for Dewey thinks religion is bunk. Nevertheless, Dewey likes the religious, because the religious instills in people the zeal needed to accomplish the social engineering required for a socially democratic utopia. But how can you have religious zeal without its religious telos which is provided by the hocus pocus of, well, religion. Well, it is simple. You just decide that religion does not work and discard it, but you keep the carmel-nougaty goodness of the religious zeal and just attach it to the social democratic endeavors that, once realized, will usher in the Age of Aquarius and the Obama Presidency. Nevermind that the religious makes sense only within the context of religion. The former derives from the latter, after all, and if religion is untrue, then the religious will die. But that, of course, is logical, and even logic is too damn metaphysical for Dewey. Besides, he needs that religious zeal to work for his agenda, darn it! So, logic be damned!

The classic definition of evil is the absence of rationality. Dewey demonstrated just such an absence in this small book. Therefore, the book is evil, and Dewey is the spawn of Satan.