Customer Reviews

Fifth Dimension

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Hick uses the common ground of mysticism to explore the Real, Transcendent Other behind religions and what may lie in store for us after death. He stresses the optimism of all the systems (the good news) and the need for selfless humanitarian action (love) in this world.

John Hick has long been known as a philosopher, a philosopher of religion, who is eminently clear thinking, and even more valuably, clear writing. Whether the reader agrees or disagrees with him, s/he knows clearly what it is s/he agrees or disagrees with!
In "The Fifth Dimension" John is at his preeminent best. He takes utterly seriously the "naturalist" explanation of the meaning, or lack thereof, of life, and does not dismiss it - for it cannot be disproved. However, neither can the "religious" explanation of the meaning of life be disproved.
The vision of what it means to be human in the context of our amazing scientific probing of the mysteries of the cosmos that he outlines and details is truly breathtaking.
I can only end with the words Augustine is said to have heard: Tolle, lege!
Leonard Swidler, dialogue@temple.edu

Hick's excellent book presents the case for optimism that Ultimate Reality, although ineffable and beyond human categories of thought, is benign. While giving naturalism a fair presentation, the implication that it is bad news for the many is shown clearly. The fifth dimension is a spiritual realm which transcends the physical world. There is something within each of us which is akin to that realm. With full humility Hick presents the case for the view that we are finite fallible fragments of the universe, and that each of the major religious traditions is a path (not the only path) to Reality. His pluralistic thesis is well supported with examples from all the great religious traditions.