Historical Book Recomendation Thread

[sophie]

Is there a must read book on Science of Religion or History of Religion?

That's a pretty massive topic.

There are tomes - volumes upon volumes of tomes written just on nominalism, Aristotelian thought, and their impact on 13th and 14th century Neoplatonic Christian theology, to give an example.

So you're going to have to specify your answer a bit, I think. Are you looking for intellectual history of specific religious topics? Or are you looking for an origins of religion? À la the (rather flawed) Joseph Campbell book, or the more modern linguistic and comparative religions treatments of the topic? The psychology of religion?

 

[Live trash can]

I have noe idea

So I guess my question is a bit like: Is there a good book written on Philosophy?

But there are areas in philosophy. And I guess what I am looking for is a well-written book, no matter what subject (within religion it is). And perhaps I just have to start somewhere!

 

[sophie]

I have noe idea

So I guess my question is a bit like: Is there a good book written on Philosophy?

But there are areas in philosophy. And I guess what I am looking for is a well-written book, no matter what subject (within religion it is). And perhaps I just have to start somewhere!

It comes down to what, in particular you're interested in?

I guess a good place to start, at least for the Western philosophical tradition would be to read through the major Greek schools, so reading some of the core texts of Plato, Aristotle, Lucretius/Epicurus, some Stoics like Zeno and Seneca, and Skeptics like Sextus Empiricus and Pyrro.

Here is a decent overview (albeit old). Here is another.

If you're interested in the Theological history of the Church, then you would want to pay careful attention to Neoplatonism, and in particular the Neoplatonism of Augustine, as that essentially set the standard upon which pretty much every Catholic theologian argued all the way up to Luther and beyond. He is referred to in Medieval texts as "The Doctor" (The Teacher) for a reason.

 

[Arakhor]

Charles Freeman did a fairly chunky book on early Christianity, starting with the Judaism of Jesus' time and going on from there.

 

[Live trash can]

Thanks both of you!

Do you know if Charles Freeman has been criticized in any way?

 

[Arakhor]

Haven't the foggiest, but if you like his work, he also did a sizeable book on the Ancient Mediterranean.

 

[Dachs]

Thanks both of you!

Do you know if Charles Freeman has been criticized in any way?

Yes.

His book The Closing of the Western Mind, on medieval European philosophy, contains bizarre gaps and strange holes. Not coincidentally, the gaps correspond to aspects of philosophy that do not mesh well with his thesis. His argument is that the advent of Christianity, a religion fundamentally antithetical to the expansion of reason and the development of knowledge, destroyed the classical Greek concept of learning and introduced a real dark age of philosophical and scientific thought. While he is quite adept at marshaling support for some aspects of the argument, he largely fails to acknowledge the many things that poke serious holes in it.

Since Freeman is notorious for tracking down online reviews of his work and arguing about them, I now live in paralyzing fear that he will find this comment and try to shame me over it.

I haven't read, and am not really qualified to discuss, anything else he has written, although he did respond to one review of Closing to claim that the book on early Christianity doubles down on the views expressed in the first book. Maybe @Plotinus would have more to say, if/when he returns.

 

[sophie]

On the Topic of @Plotinus, he's been running a multi-volume thread called Ask a Theologian which has assembled a massive backlog of questions and answers. In particular his sections on the History of the Early Church and Christianity may be of interest:

https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/ask-a-theologian-v.514885/#post-12903559

 

[Plotinus]

Of course if you want to know the truth about early Christianity you'd have to read my book on the subject...

I haven't read Freeman so I can't comment on what he says.

If you want an overview of western philosophy you couldn't really do better than Anthony Kenny's book. (Bertrand Russell's is more famous, of course, but although it's beautifully written it's so outdated and full of errors that it could only be recommended as a source for what Russell thought about various topics, not as an objective introduction to those topics.)

 

[Live trash can]

"This book is no less than a guide to the whole of Western philosophy―the ideas that have undergirded our civilization for two-and-a-half thousand years."

(Kenny's book)

That sounds interesting! And it has quite good reviews.

I have touched upon a series called "A History of Western Philosophy" OPUS
Do you know anything about that?

 

[Plotinus]

I'm not sure what series you're talking about - that is the title of Russell's book, but it's also the title of a thousand other works of one kind or another!

 

[Live trash can]

I'm not sure what series you're talking about - that is the title of Russell's book, but it's also the title of a thousand other works of one kind or another!

I know! It usually has a number on the cover (8 or more small volumes). And sometimes the letters OPUS.

 

[sophie]

"This book is no less than a guide to the whole of Western philosophy―the ideas that have undergirded our civilization for two-and-a-half thousand years."

(Kenny's book)

That sounds interesting! And it has quite good reviews.

I have touched upon a series called "A History of Western Philosophy" OPUS
Do you know anything about that?

I'm not sure what series you're talking about - that is the title of Russell's book, but it's also the title of a thousand other works of one kind or another!

Is it this one? OPUS standing for Oxford Paperback University Series?

 

[Live trash can]

weirdly enough it's not!

There are 8 volumes.

It is Oxford University Press.

 

[Plotinus]

In that case I don't know what series you're referring to, but if it's OUP it will almost certainly be reliable.

 

[Paul in Saudi]

I got the free sample for the Chamberlain biography. It was interesting, but too dense to really enjoy. Instead I got the novel about Chamberlain, Munich. I finished in two days and neglected my other projects. It was written by the same guy who wrote Fatherland. I recommend it.

 

[Plotinus]

I haven't read that one yet, but (almost) everything that Robert Harris writes is excellent. His non-fiction account of the Hitler Diaries (Selling Hitler) is amazing.

 

[Lexicus]

I haven't read that one yet, but (almost) everything that Robert Harris writes is excellent. His non-fiction account of the Hitler Diaries (Selling Hitler) is amazing.

Do you like the Cicero trilogy?

 

[Plotinus]

The first two are great. I haven't read the third yet.

 

[Cutlass]

Of course if you want to know the truth about early Christianity you'd have to read my book on the subject...

I haven't read Freeman so I can't comment on what he says.

If you want an overview of western philosophy you couldn't really do better than Anthony Kenny's book. (Bertrand Russell's is more famous, of course, but although it's beautifully written it's so outdated and full of errors that it could only be recommended as a source for what Russell thought about various topics, not as an objective introduction to those topics.)

Well that's as shameless a plug as I ever did see...

Welcome back.