68 of 69 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bravo! This thoughtful book hits the bull's-eye!, June 1, 2008
Whereas many, perhaps most, books on "spirituality" make the case that "faith," "belief," and "convictions" are positive, laudable, and commendable, they cast suspicion on "religion" as being misguided and mistaken. The present book reverses such a judgment and asserts, in short: "belief" bad; "religion" good.
James Carse, professor emeritus of religion at New York University, has written a reflective and religiously literate critique of belief and its distorted understanding of the nature of religion.
According to Carse, the "blind ignorance" of belief systems, locked in literalism and absolutism, leads to violence of "the other"; the "higher ignorance" at the core of authentic religion, exemplified in imaginative "musicality," is the beginning of wisdom.
"What belief systems conspicuously lack is music," writes Carse. "They are monotonal. One voice speaks for all others." On the other hand, "religion in its purest form is a vast work of poetry. As such, its vitality comes in the form of communitas [a community of authentic dialogue], fully independent of any civitas [political or secular establishment]. Belief is very often a sign that whatever counts for religion has been pushed aside."
Carse points out that to be human at all is to live in an ill-lit zone of imponderables: Why am I alive at all? Where did I come from and where am I going? What happens at death? How should I conduct myself in a world as confused as this? Why must so much of the world live in misery and violence? Why such collective self-destruction? Why do the evil prosper? Why is there something rather than nothing?
Whereas belief systems fairly bristle with (alleged) definitive answers, leaving no ambiguity in their arrogant declarations of truth, religion, in the best sense of the word, seeks to peer beyond the boundaries and catch a vision of life beyond the horizon. Like a magnificent symphony, with an orchestration of mystery, awe, wonder, and a "higher ignorance," it is open to the future rather than locked in a closed and stifling world.
Belief systems are actually pseudo-religions. Imprisoned within the confining boundaries of dogmatic "certainties," "true believers" lack the vision of poetic imagination that opens new horizons of possibility.
In seeking to show the contrast between religion and faith, Carse provides intriguing "takes" on such widely divergent figures as Plato, Galileo, Luther, Lincoln, Jesus, and Emily Dickinson. An intriguing study in the philosophy of religion, The Religious Case Against Belief provides excellent food for thought.
Although the author does not mention the following quotation from the German philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900), the quotation might well be chosen as an excellent and fitting epigraph to Carse's book: "'Faith' means not wanting to know what is true. . . . A very popular error: having the courage of one's convictions; rather it is a matter of having the courage for an attack on one's convictions."
About the author: James P. Carse is professor emeritus of religion at New York University, where for thirty years he directed the Religious Studies Program. His previous books include The Silence of God, Finite and Infinite Games, and Breakfast at the Victory. He lives in New York City.
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21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Separating Dogma and Spirit Gives Insight and Hope!, June 24, 2008
This book invites the reader to explore the differences between belief (dogma, doctrine, etc) and religion (living faith, spirit, connection with God/Spirit). I find it fascinating and very very accessible -- thought provoking AND fluid, not heavy as some theology books can be. Whatever a person's faith or spiritual journey, this book can be a valuable asset in looking at one's own journey and, most important, at the ways in which we (historically, collectively) tend to deal with differences in belief/tradition. Also looks at political and social belief structures.....fascinating and liberating!
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