Buy new:
$24.50
Delivery Wednesday, December 11
Ships from: Amazon
Sold by: TheBookwormBooks
$24.50
FREE International Returns
No Import Fees Deposit & $13.80 Shipping to France Details

Shipping & Fee Details

Price $24.50
AmazonGlobal Shipping $13.80
Estimated Import Fees Deposit $0.00
Total $38.30

Delivery Wednesday, December 11
Or fastest delivery Thursday, December 5. Order within 21 hrs 28 mins
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$24.50 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$24.50
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon
Ships from
Amazon
Returns
Returnable until Jan 31, 2025
Returnable until Jan 31, 2025
For the 2024 holiday season, eligible items purchased between November 1 and December 31, 2024 can be returned until January 31, 2025.
Read full return policy
Returns
Returnable until Jan 31, 2025
For the 2024 holiday season, eligible items purchased between November 1 and December 31, 2024 can be returned until January 31, 2025.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$3.29
Item in good condition. Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc... Item in good condition. Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc... See less
$19.98 delivery December 18 - January 13. Details
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$24.50 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$24.50
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Ships from and sold by glenthebookseller.
Added to

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Other sellers on Amazon
New & Used (9) from   $8.53
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Ronald Aronson
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Living Without God: New Directions for Atheists, Agnostics, Secularists, and the Undecided Hardcover – September 1, 2008

by Ronald Aronson (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 20 ratings
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$24.50","priceAmount":24.50,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"24","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"50","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"aYbhc72%2FLt6bNBJCCT2zWeXeiaZT6XmwcwP9b2f4k9P0vHs4byQQoX84yI3aJb9VIK7Ij%2BkCR%2BnfcRHj66WnhuRCI18peBgG2Fgudlz9rHqLPZvmQAf1OeDu0Pq7qUoWlG6z8O0of8wUVXhlk4ER59p6ivzUy%2BloL2nufEoMdPgkA0ULmOIj8D5zeco7U67J","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$3.29","priceAmount":3.29,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"3","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"29","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"aYbhc72%2FLt6bNBJCCT2zWeXeiaZT6Xmwq42Ju56%2F4wjdFI3FOz79D%2BISrc8JO4C%2FYUZvZ2N9u3Xsd1qKtKGhLRAsXHzgpdG4cOUb23xDLTB7XnFU%2FSrFfGLdYCk8RYSaBqTJ0kISfz0x0b0bwLfS%2Byxy9eFwJ%2B65pe6B1mqBN1eSMZqjLn2bFtXnDspxrg6Z","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

Ronald Aronson has a mission: to demonstrate that a life without religion can be coherent, moral, and committed. Optimistic and stirring, Living Without God is less interested in attacking religion than in developing a positive philosophy for atheists, agnostics, secular humanists, skeptics, and freethinkers. Aronson proposes contemporary answers to Immanuel Kant’s three great questions: What can I know? What ought I to do? What can I hope? Grounded in the sense that we are deeply dependent and interconnected beings who are rooted in the universe, nature, history, society, and the global economy, Living Without God explores the experience and issues of 21st-century secularists, especially in America. Reflecting on such perplexing questions as why we are grateful for life’s gifts, who or what is responsible for inequalities, and how to live in the face of aging and dying, Living Without God is also refreshingly topical, touching on such subjects as contemporary terrorism, the war in Iraq, affirmative action, and the remarkable rise of Barack Obama.
Previous slide of product details
  1. Print length
    288 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Counterpoint
  4. Publication date
    September 1, 2008
  5. Dimensions
    6.25 x 1 x 9.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1593761600
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1593761608
  8. See all details
Next slide of product details
The%20Amazon%20Book%20Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
20 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Landon Shultz
5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful, Honest, and Well Written.
Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2013
Verified Purchase
As a Christian minister, I read this book looking for an understanding of secular humanism., and I found that the author does a fine job of articulating a philosophy of life without reference to God. Most of the other atheists/agnostics I have read are so busy attacking fundamentalism that they spend no effort to develop a positive philosophy of their own. Professor Aronson begins by addressing the question of how to be thankful without a religious world view. He properly recognizes that life without thankfulness loses much of its richness and joy. He also addresses how to be moral, how to face death, and how to find hope in times of struggle. He has the most difficulty with the issue of hope, saying that we find hope in a blind determination to keep going. To me, he seems to be saying that if you are strong enough to find hope in times of heartache and despair, then you will be okay, but if not, too bad. His philosophy, therefore, is only for the strong. The Christian Faith, however, can work both for persons who are weak and for persons who are strong. The strong find challenges that stretch them to their limits, and the weak find compassion and love to help them overcome challenges that would be beyond them. In any event, Living Without God is a thoughtful, honest, and well-written book.
6 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Victorbooks
5.0 out of 5 stars A very good read and one I recommend to others!
Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2013
Verified Purchase
I have been an atheist for a very, very long time. When people discovered this, I was often met with an accusative question as to why, meaning of course that God being evident everywhere (sic) how could I, having travelled so broadly and studied so much believe such criminal nonsense. I gave several reasons, but despite the reasonableness of my argument I never felt I had any hope of persuading my listener. Having attacked the problem head on, by reading the well-written arguments of other atheists, I now feel confident that if called upon to do so I could defend my belief with a thousand and one striking reasons!
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Matthew Sullivan
3.0 out of 5 stars Living Without God 101
Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2011
Verified Purchase
Not as inspiring or "new directional" as I'd hoped. Most of the discussions are on a very basic, even anecdotal, level, and the topics chosen--and how they're treated--aren't revelatory. Discussions of free will or social responsibility are very basic and don't pull from the best of current thinking. What's more, the author doesn't even claim to be doing this.

So I really have to wonder who this book is meant for. It's not clearly set out to persuade an "undecided" of the merits of a secular worldview, and it doesn't provide a solid foundation for constructing that worldview either. Maybe if an atheist/agnostic had never really bothered thinking about the more "positive" ways of approaching a life of unbelief or how to live ethically and meaningfully in the world...

I certainly don't think that the book has no value or that it isn't written in a (mildly) engaging manner, but it wasn't very eye-opening, and it didn't do for me what, say, J. D. Trout's The Empathy Gap: Building Bridges to the Good Life and the Good Society did in terms of thinking about realistic social policy based on frank, evidence-based discussions of our minds and decision-making.

Maybe recommend it or pass it along to someone curious about a non-religious approach to living meaningfully (whether or not they are themselves undecided) who wants a different perspective without needing to be convinced by a solid, robust case
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Paul Beusterien
5.0 out of 5 stars OK, there is no God. Now what?
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2009
Verified Purchase
As the editorial reviews above point out, this book takes the next step beyond Dawkins, Dennett, Hitchens and Harris. Instead of focusing on why there is no reason to believe in God, this book is a thought-provoking exploration of what it means to live without God or religion.

One interesting item that caught me on an internal inconsistency was the page 140 discussion on destiny. There is a tendency to abdicate self-responsibility in favor of some vague sense of destiny.
8 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Kristi
2.0 out of 5 stars Too partisan
Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2010
Verified Purchase
While the ideas behind the book are decent, they are presented in other, better works than this. Arondson is very wordy, and at times his writing muddled and confusing. I would have loved this book, however, were it not for Arondson's partisan politics. I felt sometimes that I was reading good bits of how to live without god in between a larger debate against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Arondson almost makes readers feel as though they must agree with his politics in order to live a moral life without god.
7 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
RawdRichard
4.0 out of 5 stars almost misjudged
Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2009
Verified Purchase
I almost seriously misjudged this book. From the title I expected a rather different book; and when I realized that the author was planning to tell us about his ideas of how to live without god but included seemingly no awareness of previous work (for example that of Paul Kurtz, who's not mentioned anywhere), I found myself significantly discouraged. Then, too, the author's style of presenting a set of observations and then seemingly to refute them with another set, along with his tendency to want to "see all aspects" of an issue, can create some confusion and at times become quite tedious.
Fortunately for me, I persisted, and gradually I began to appreciate Aronson's dedication to investigating issues and questions that deepen and widen one's understandings, especially of how a life of meaning can be created via greater awareness of appropriate gratitude for the struggles and achievements of forebears of all kinds (including major philosophers) and the responsibilities (if we chose to accept them) toward those forebears (and their current-day offspring) in being a part of the continuing work of making possible advancement for all human life--without expecting god to do it for us.
If that is a part of why you might buy this book, it's an excellent purchase.
24 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Mr. L. A. Reid
5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful, compassionate and humane.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 16, 2010
Verified Purchase
Ronald Aronson has written a thoughtful, compassionate and humane guide for people who are trying to live without religious beliefs in contemporary Western society. He shows that the Humanist outlook is coherent and robust, and he does so while reflecting on the great challenges to the democratic way of life which have arisen during the last century. His tone is amiable and friendly, while at the same time he is clearly well-informed on topics from politics, philosophy, sociology and the arts. He is not polemical, but he is firm regarding his Humanist beliefs and moral values. Unlike Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris and Dennett, he is more concerned to find a way of living for the non-believer than to demolish the out-dated practices of religion. I liked the book very much because Aronson's unassuming style of writing and his strong sense of our common humanity. I am only sorry that the title "Living Without God" is a bleak, abstract phrase which does not really convey the warm, humane philosophy which the book contains. I hope that many people will read his book and recommend it to others too.
Report