Customer Reviews

Dostoevsky, Kierkegard, Nietzsche and Kafka

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I'm rather surprised that only one previous reviewer (Mr. English) seemed to be distracted by the Christian-centric focus of Mr. Hubben's book. While not without value or at least some interest, it became almost difficult to read the words on the page from beneath the thick Christian polish covering it all. Please don't mistake this for any kind of anti-Christian rant on my part. Not in the least. However, it can not be overlooked that the thesis of this book, even if not spelled out to us in such exact words, is that the lives of these philosophers/writers (and, I'd gather, all man), as well as nothing less than the history of Europe, would have been far brighter and more meaningful should they all have embraced Christ. Again, there's no problem with that as a thesis or even, I'm sure, as a personal belief. Unfortunately, however, if one goes into this book without already knowing that there would be a truly overt pro-Christian slant to every aspect of the essay, it will prove for some frustrating reading. Also, I do have to add that the theory not-so-subtly put forth by the author that Kafka's misery stemmed from being Jewish (and that simply being Jewish, in itself, was a possible line of reasoning for any Jewish misery), and that it could have been avoided should he have been Christian.... Well, that seems to be just blatantly offensive and over the top. It's this type of end-logic to every problem raised that makes for some less than satisfying reading-- especially when one considers the four men that have been chosen as subjects.

This book about three of my favorite thinkers was one of the easiest books I have read, I'm grateful that it also introduced me to the work of a forth great thinker: Kierkegaard.

Although I might disagree that the four men are directly related to existentialism (If Nietzsche was alive he would've agreed with me.), but there is no doubt all four writers were alienated from the society they rejected, and each in his own way embarked on a quest to find the truth.

I'm at a loss to explain why this book is accused of having a "Christian-centric focus", Mr. Hubben simply presented the biographies objectively, and related them to the work's of other great authors.
Let us not forget that the theme of the four men's lives was being rejected (mainly by the church and society) for not believing what was believed and not going blindly with the flow.

Mr. Hubben accurately reports the suffering of the four men on totally different levels, he didn't suggest in any way that embracing Christ would've been a better choice:
1- Kierkegaard who opposed the church not Christianity.
2- Dostoevsky who chose a leap of faith, and talked of Christ almost in all of his work, but still never stopped questioning and doubting.
3- Nietzsche who decided to revolt against all rules and chose to be an atheist.
4- Kafka, a non believer among Jews, who felt a profound sense of alienation from society as well.

How can the enumeration of the facts surrounding the lives of these four men be described as pro-Christian???

The religion/faith factor in these four men's lives can't be ignored while studying their lives, but that doesn't mean necessarily the author is presenting a pro-Christian point of view. The four men were not chosen as the subject of this book to challenge any religious values, but simply to celebrate great minds and free spirits that were not afraid of expressing themselves.

This book is a good objective overview of four remarkable thinkers, who were never appreciated during their lives.

Some pages should have been ripped out. Mostly the ones where Hubben asserts his opinions . . . if they are his opinions; you can't always tell because he doesn't distinguish when he's talking for the writers (by way of explication), or when he's merely blowing off some personal steam about the current state of Christianity in the world. Contrary to the blurb, I found the book to be a miserable resource for expanding my knowledge on the merits of existentialist thinking. Hubben is very narrow-minded in his approach to existentialism; he's good about saying he understands where it came from, but he's not so good about addressing the possible arguments to his (basic) point that existentialism exalts the "via negativa." Also, I found his treatment of Kafka downright despicable in its oversimplification and lack of aesthetic appreciation. I gave this book 2 stars instead of 1 because it wasn't completely banal; not only did it get me to think (however angry and contrary those thoughts were), but it also actually turned me on to Nietzsche and Dostoevsky in a way that I don't believe Hubben intended. Hubben, contrary to his seeming intention, actually did a lot of work to validate the philosphical-religious musings of the 2 writers . . . the absolute best part of this is where Hubben appears to have convinced himself and then come under the hypnosis of the idea that, as Nietzsche claimed, God is dead, as he goes on to repeat this in chapter after consecutive chapter. It's like, in trying to discover and prove one thing, thinking out on paper, he came across the opposite, but out of stubborness or shame, or whatever, he continued to take his "unfortunate" (for him) discoveries to their extremes and, mostly futilely, bend them to support his thesis. So 2 stars instead of one, but 2 basically mocking stars. Big deal . . . you don't need this book; it mostly doesn't achieve what it purports to achieve.

My main problem with this book is Hubben's inability to see the true depth of any of the men he portrays. Although I was attracted to the book mainly because of my interest in Kierkegaard and Dostoyesvsky, I thought Hubben managed to gloss over much of Kierkegaard's philosophy. Furthermore, he seems to rely a great deal on a blind "classical" interpretation of the ideas that these men have, so he doesn't capably manage to give much new information. All and all, I think it has the potential to be a good book -- but it needs to be rewritten and substantiated.

Excellent overview of the major themes characterizing the work of these thinkers. Balanced presentation of view points and interesting biographical information included. I've read all of these authors for decades and this book ties in major threads beautifully. Extremely insightful and well written. In fact, I can't put it down and I'm anxious to revisit Nietzsche and Kafka with the analyses provided in this book.

My review is very much in line with that of another reviewer, Mr. Townshend. This book by Hubben is a precious and rare volume that fully appreciates the prophetic role of four great thinkers in perceiving and describing the underlying spiritual failure of 19th century Europe. They see that despite European colonial success, middle class religiosity, stable social values, high rates of literacy, incredible industrial productivity, identification with "Christian civilization" [sic], and high level philosophical, theological, artistic, and musical creativity, they each see that underneath lies incredible spiritual emptiness, evil of every kind, chaos, and doom. These "underlying issues" are at the root of the social, economic, and political crises that were the occasion of World Wars I and II, the Nazi holocaust "experiment," and Leninist/Stalinist/post-Stalinist USSR. Especially with Doestoevsky and Kierkegaard, he also sees a reaching out to Christ, seeking a new inward path of connection. These two men were self-consciously struggling in the presence of Christ, just as the author describes common folks who are Christian miners are struggling to affirm their faith in the midst of the daily struggle. A faith affirmed from a secure middle class vantage point is not a faith that will lift mankind out of the morass of his darkness, or out of what Kirkegaard calls "the aesthetic stage." Rather, man must emerge from this darkness (it is a darkness that can afflict so-called Christians as well as atheists) by emergence into a Christ-centered moral and religious "stage."
I totally disagree with the idea that the Christ-centered statements in this book make it too polemical and intellectually dishonest. Rather, the author, Mr. Hubben, has transcended, and helps all to see, that by contrast with a remarkable exposition of "darkness" by these authors we can better see the vibrant hope that exists in "the light."

I was extremely disappointed by this work and even stopped reading it after the section on Nietzsche, which is the third 'writer' discussed in the book. While the overview and topic of the book seemed like a good idea I found it significantly lacking. The writer is strongly biased towards one interpretation and the section on Nietzsche's writings contained many egregious errors. Most of the conclusions in the book were almost forced and author's opinion usually stood without any objective merit. I believe there are better books on these fine, talented individuals that you can spend your money on. Please keep in mind that this book was originally writen in the 1950's and this plays into the author's views, being focused highly on WWII and Religion. While I did gain a minute amount of insight into the author's views on these writers it is not enough for me to give it 2 stars.

The grouping of these select individuals is what originally caught my eye and why I decided to purchase the book. I was thoroughly disappointed with the text. The only thorough chapter is over Kierkergaard and that is because it is the longest in the work. Hubben got too caught up in wanting a short overview of these individuals and sacrificed qualitiy for lack of quanitity. Please refer to other texts over existential philosophers any every cost.

I first bought the book many years ago when I was in college - and now - in this vain and vulgar day and age I return to reread items of long ago. My comments are prelim - as I need to digest the contents a bit - but surely - it has to be one of the better c. 200 page essays available these days and presents a potent sometimes stunnig summary of Nietzsche, Kafka, etc. A bit tempered of course by Hubben's personal experiences in WWII; he sometimes seems to limit evil to the Axis powers of WWII - when in fact horrid evil is and has been present in - alas - far too many arenas of time and space. Nonetheless - in this day of banal dribble and pretentious 'academic' self-promotion this book is surely worth the time and money in question. I was impressed by every page. I found this to be a sincere and educational essay.

I had William Hubben as a religion teacher at the private school I attended in Philadelphia in the '60s. Typical junior high students, we had no idea who the man was. We knew he had a book and some of us got the book out of the library to be sitting there "reading" it as he entered the room.

William Hubben was a German Quaker and survivor of some degree of persecution under the Nazi regime. I am pretty sure it got down to his wife hiding a list of people the secret police were looking for, sticking it in her bra, that saved him, with the policeman apparently unwilling or not caring about doing a body search on his wife.

Mr. Hubben also was the Quaker representative to the Vatican Council under Pope John the XXIII. It is easy in today's secularized world to underestimate the importance of that event.

I got a good dose of his beliefs as an eighth grader when he and another Quaker thinker organized a conference between two Philadelphia Quaker schools about God and faith.

He maintained in that lecture that faith in God was an indispensable part of moral life today. One student asked if atheism couldn't substitute, but Hubben said no. I agree, even though there are some very morally responsible atheists I prefer to some less responsible religious types.

He was most decidedly not like the nuns who had taught me before him. He believed in no miracles. You might say that he saw Jesus as a specially endowed teacher of faith and morality. The usual view for a Catholic, that Jesus' miracles confirmed his identity as the Son of God, and that you could therefore accept Jesus' revelations as valid, was not part of his view of Christ.

I remember the day I was shocked when he said that the "loaves and fishes" story simply meant that so many people had brought food that the community has succeeded in feeding itself. There was no miracle.

I was taken aback by this because it took away the whole dimension of the Christ as a bona fide Son of God. I, at the time, young, but in certain areas wise beyond my years, felt that he had not grasped the entirety of the meaning of the redefinition of Christ. At this point, I still wonder. Perhaps his book, as I finish it will give me a clue.

A few years later I became an atheist, but within another seven emerged from that, the result of a period of isolation inducing an epiphany. I became a follower of Jung and Gurdjieff whose POV would be a Gnostic or Esoteric Christianity. I also look for the way to combine the rational and the esoteric in a far less mundane, less reductionist way than the Quaker progressive slant on Divinity that one might think William Hubben, and a whole cohort of Quakers, actually have to this day.

His book, I am still in the middle of it. I felt compelled to comment on his life, which I felt is not represented at all in the book or elsewhere. I think it adds to his stature as a commentator.

He wrote that book because Nietzsche and Dostoyevsky, Kierkegaard, and Kafka represent approaches and points of view about the crisis of faith and religion that the West is presently living through and that I have lived through myself.

Interested in this topic? A small group of us is reading Jung's Aion right now at my forum, The Grove. Just google The Grove, Roy, Jung, and Aion, and it will come up.

Aion represents Jung's solution to the problems touched upon in Hubben's book, the post-institutional Christianity of spiritual individuals. It is exactly what I think Mr. Hubben was driving at when I knew him.

I would love to have had the chance to know his opinion of Jung and Gurdjieff. I am sure that, at least in the case of Jung, he would have had one. William Hubben died in the '70s.