Customer Reviews

A Sociable God: Toward a New Understanding of Religion

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A Sociable God - Ken Wilber

Ken Wilber has been described as one of the greatest American philosophers of our times, a visionary genius and the Einstein of consciousness research. He has written almost two dozen works and counts Al Gore among a host of admirers. 'A Sociable God', originally published in 1983 (and re-issued in 2005) was the sixth book from this prolific author.

Wilber, in a new forward, states that the text "is still one of my favourite books. Its central points......are as valid today as they were when the book was first published." His contribution to the sociology of religion is to challenge the accepted wisdom that the increasing secularisation of modern society told anything like the complete story of the development of major world views and cultural values. While praising the many wonderful contributions of modernity and the secular-rational world, Wilber makes a very strong case for development beyond rational. He thus joins many scholars who have opened our eyes to the importance of the transpersonal in human psychological and sociological development.

Wilber's unique contributions are to clarify in great detail the many different usages of the term `religion' so that people can debate from common understandings. In chapter 5 he elucidates 9 separate definitions. Wilber also argues very cogently for the ability to discuss a `science of spirituality' showing that a broad definition of science can move beyond the dominance of the empirical-materialistic narrow science of the modern world and allow judgement of the `truth' claims of religion.

Since the book was written Wilber has refined his theories to produce an elaborate model of human evolution that shows the relationship of different forms of enquiry - psychological, socio-cultural and empirical - to a `theory of everything'. This "Integral Theory" has applications in law, politics, education, business, cultural studies, philosophy and, of course, religion. 'A Sociable God' brilliantly shows details of the building blocks that contribute to the religious-spiritual domain in Wilber's thought.

Dr Michael Liddle
Adelaide
South Australia
Jan 4, 2008

Perhaps one of Wilber's best books, this volume attempts to tackle the problem of religion in relation to the Integral Model.

Wilber begins by discussing the various meanings of religion, then addresses how religion can be phenomenologically experienced: mental belief, emotional faith, and religious experience.

There are two aspects of the book I appreciate most beyond religous-related descriptions from an IM standpoint. First, Wilber's descriptions of translation, transcription, and transformation offer the foundational model for his claim that ontology is dependent upon the level of development of the observer. Second, A Sociable God explains how and why religious experience is experienced so radically different in separate cultures. In this way, a spiritual vision (such as seeing an angel or a multi-headed god) can be understood as a function of the experience rising up through inherent culturally-learned beliefs.

Overall, this is a great book and a solid association relating Integral Theory to the field of cultural and institutionalized spirituality.