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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great for what it is.,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Heretics: The Bloody History of the Christian Church (Paperback)
First let me explain why I bought this book. I am an evolutionary psychologist and I am designing a course on skepticism and pseudoscience in addition to teaching evolutionary psychology. I am doing a great deal of reading about the Christian myth because it seems that the Christians, as a whole, are the group that is most vociferous about their opinions on the facts regarding evolution. I felt that I needed a few more arrows in my quiver to deal with the (sometime outlandish) confrontations that I recieve or have yet to recieve.Heretics was a wonderful read for what I needed. It is a short concise journey from about 400bc when the existing bible was written (or at least editied by the Romans) through present day Christianity. Sumner Davis pulls a few punches, but I felt that mosty he was presenting a chronological path that included all the horrors of Christianity and the church, that was free from opinionated bias. It was an easy read that was clear and easy to understand. It was not full of Bible quotes and obscure historical information, just a well ordered introduction to the history of the Christian religion. This book is a great one to start with since it is so short and concise. It will provide a good adjunct to further reading on the topic and I think ultimately it is further clear evidence that man is behind religion 100% and that if there was a god it would never condone the behavior that the Christians have portrayed throughout their violent,ignorant, and abusive history.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not looking and yet I found it.,
By Deanna Harrington (Toronto, ON) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Heretics: The Bloody History of the Christian Church (Paperback)
It is odd, really how I found this little book. I am an avid fan of Mr. Sagan's books that he penned with his very famous mother Dr. Margulis, and had done a web search to see if he had written anything new, when I came across Heretics, The Bloody History of The Christian Church. As a Roman Catholic, I hesitated at first, although the book certainly looked interesting. After looking at several other possibilities, I told myself I had nothing to loose, so I ordered a copy. I convinced myself, and rightly so, that any book Mr. Sagan though highly enough to introduce must be worthy of a read. It certainly was. As most everyone knows, there are a number of historical events and ideologies that are not taught in Catechism classes. As I am only 34, I do not remember the pre-Vatican days, although my mother certainly does. After reading this book a second time, I mailed my copy to her. She was not very happy with me, and made sure I knew. This book has reopened some issues for me. I had always been concerned with problems pertaining to the history of my faith, and these topics, while not "taboo" were certainly not discussed, nor their interest encouraged by the sisters at the schools I had attended. I can now see why. Davis' book made me very angry almost from page one. I became determined to find what I had convinced myself were the many historical errors in Davis writing, and I worked diligently to reveal his flawed thinking. I had imagined an entirely different review that I would someday write about this book. I had convinced myself after reading the last page; Davis had embellished much of his work. Things could never have been nearly as bad as he portrayed them. As a researcher at a small private college, I had convinced myself that all I need do was investigate the work of other historians to dispatch him. No "genuine" and by this I mean to say secularly educated historian seemed to disagree with Davis. In fact, many had read this same book and though highly of it! It turned out that, far from embellishing his work, I discovered he had actually been very lenient. I had learned more about the history and politic of my faith in the few hours it took to read this book, the resulting research, and the correspondences from some of his other readers, than in all the Faith Formation classes and every spirituality workshop I had attended in my adult life. It would be easy to blame this book for causing a "crisis of faith" but it would also be dishonest. I had always wondered, never questioning, perhaps because I lacked the real historical background as to exactly what it was that bothered me so much. Now I have many of the answers I had been discouraged from seeking. Many pulled from this book. My friends now ask, "Where is your faith." I agree with Davis: a faith untried is no faith at all. At least after reading this book I can understand why I was so uncomfortable with my faith. I truly enjoy Mr. Sagan's wit and charm, and I hope he forgives me for reserving space on my shelf for the rest of Davis books. This book may very well open your eyes to a whole world of truths as it has my own. On a side note, I e-mailed the author, and much to my surprise, he e-mailed me back.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not clear? Give me a break.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Heretics: The Bloody History of the Christian Church (Paperback)
This book was as straightforward and clear as can be. With Dorion Sagan (son of the late astronomer Carl) doing the technical editing (himself having written and published over a dozen books) I could find NO "gramatical" issues whatsoever. The previous comment concerning the author's need to "find an established writer" to assist him? I believe (having read four of his books he IS an established writer. Who pased the 11th commandment "Thou shall always follow Turabian (APA, ALA, etc.) format in thy writing"?I did a bit of research on his materials (based on the end credits. It is true...there is nothing new under the son. BUT..where Davis comes through is in HOW he explains it. It DOES apply to the timeline he uses(the flight of the Wright brothers would hardly figure into the aim of the book). The best review I have read thus far was in "Freethought" a journal for "free thinkers." They write dozens of reviews each year...yet they thought it was a very good book. Perhaps they should hire a "seasoned editor?" Why run down something that you could not write yourself? I for one will be recomending this book to all of my friends (who live outside the Bible belt) and look forward to Davis' next literary foray. Cindy
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