On Religion (Thinking in Action)

Rating:
Summary: This book demonstrates thinking in action
Review: Brilliant. Well written, informative, passionate. It is refreshing to see a philosopher who writes with the fervour of Kierkegaard, someone who is in the academic world not because they wish to further their own name but because they are driven by the questions that ought to keep us all up at night. This book is brilliantly paced and achieves the almost impossible task of making Derrida understandable. In the spirit of C.S. Lewis, John Caputo offers us a first-rate body of thought in a way that is well written and understandable to those outside the academic ivory tower. In the introduction to this book, Caputo makes the convincing claim that when it comes to religion there is no absolute beginning, however if you are looking for an introduction to religion from a continental philosophical viewpoint then this is a close to an absolute beginning as you are likely to get.

Rating:
Summary: Post-Secularism? No thanks!
Review: Caputo has written much on Derrida's approach to religion and if your familiar with this attitude also associated with Levinas, usually dubbed as post-secularism, then you know what to expect. I enjoyed some of the insights within this book, but Zizek's On Belief from the same series surpasses this work on many accounts. Pass this one up in favor his. It's much more relevant and intellectually challenging.

Rating:
Summary: Post-Secularism? No thanks!
Review: Caputo has written much on Derrida's approach to religion and if your familiar with this attitude also associated with Levinas, usually dubbed as post-secularism, then you know what to expect. I enjoyed some of the insights within this book, but Zizek's On Belief from the same series surpasses this work on many accounts. Pass this one up in favor his. It's much more relevant and intellectually challenging.

Rating:
Summary: It's as informal as Emil Cioran
Review: Christopher Hitchens has repeatedly & rightfully insisted that religion is based on arrogance. Fundamentalists don't believe in a religion despite its arrogance, but precisely because of its arrogance. People are genetically programmed to be fundamentalists because it strengthens the tribe. Arrogance & smugness & a religious superiority complex are martial virtues that benefit predatory tribes. Fundamentalism was created by the social-darwinist instinct.

I admire John Caputo for his denigration of fundamentalism. But I was unpleasantly surprised by his naive vilification of atheists: "That is why this tragic line fails the test of the facere veritatem and why, by the way, the lovers of the necessary [id est, atheists] are usually tied up with right-wing politics; they usually tell us to have the steel to love things the way they are, and not to coddle the weak or the poor, while religious people, who are lovers of the impossible, are down in the bad neighborhoods trying to change things, doing the truth."

Now wait just a minute here. I happen to know plenty of atheists (with their grim tragic viewpoint) and they're some of the nicest people I know. I also know plenty of religionists and a lot of them can be correctly categorized as social-darwinist fascist-bullies with a healthy macho contempt for weaklings & losers.

Caputo came up with a phrase that resonates with me. He talks about how atheists view the cosmos as a "blind rage". But you don't necessarily have to be an atheist to have that opinion. There's always the gnostic possibility that God and the lifeforce (creator of the blind rage) are 2 separate things.

Rating:
Summary: Doing the impossible
Review: I've just finished reading On Religion and thought I'd make use of cyberspace to say how much I enjoyed it. I continue to be part of a formal religion (Christian/Anglican) but constantly wonder why; frustrated and angered by blinkered thinking and knowing that I do not believe-as-fact most (any?) of the 'doctrine'. And yet, and yet.....I know it gives shape to
something which is somehow fundamental to existence. My normal reaction to this chronic uncertainty is anxiety, so I found Caputo's idea that the very impossibility of knowing is something to be passionate about a really inspiring one. Worrying about the love of God makes it impossible to do the love of God.

And it was very good to read a book on religion which flew along, was full of passion and made me laugh.

Rating:
Summary: What a fun read!
Review: We've just read this book for a theology class and it was a joy to read. The author writes beautifully in a conversational style that is very easy to understand. It is refreshing to read theology that ignites a passion for life and a passion for God. The content of the book might not be completely new but the delivery presents the material in a very palatable form. There are points in the book that I actually laughed out loud and I think that its the first time I've ever done that with a book on religion. Nonetheless, you will find enough content to make you think without spoon-feeding you any answers. There is definitely lots of salt in the book and I would highly recommend it for anyone searching for meaning in their lives.