About this title: Why I am not a Christian is considered one of the most blasphemous philosophical documents ever written, and at a time when we have faith schools and wars over religious beliefs, its message today couldn't be more relevant. If religion provides comfortable responses to the questions that have always beset humankind - why are we here, what is the point of being alive, how ought we to behave - then Russell snatches that comfort away, leaving us instead with other, more troublesome alternatives: responsibility, autonomy, self-awareness. If it were possible to sum up this book in a sentence, then ...
read more
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Acceptable. Book has some water damage, but book is still completely readable. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Touchstone
Date Published: 1967-10-30
ISBN-13:9780671203238ISBN:0671203231
Description: Good. 1957 printing. Several names inscribed on FFEP. Binding is tight with significant lean. Text is clean, bright and unmarked. Cover lightly sun faded. Careful packaging and fast shipping. We recommend EXPEDITED MAIL for even faster delivery! read more
Description: Acceptable. 1967-Paperback----Used-Acceptable-Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
Description: Good. 0671203231 Standard used condition ie. These are good quality new books from the publisher with a bump, shelf wear, or some sunfading to outer edges of book. Has remainder mark. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Simon and Schuster, New York
Date Published: 1957
Description: Fair. No dust jacket. Covers and end papers show some moisture damage, staining and rubbing. Owner's name stamped on front end paper. Interior is complete, clean and unmarked. 266 p. 21 cm. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Touchstone
Date Published: 1980
ISBN-13:9780671203238ISBN:0671203231
Description: Fine. Near Fine to Fine condition, new looking copy, no creases in spine, no slant, tight clean unmarked, 266 bright white pages, edited by Paul Edwards. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Touchstone Books, Division of Simon and Schuster
Date Published: 1967
ISBN-13:9780671203238ISBN:0671203231
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. clean, unmarked good condition paperback, perfect for a student! Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. Audience: General/trade. classic book with several important essays on religious thought read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Unwin Books, London
Date Published: 1975
ISBN-13:9780042000282ISBN:0042000289
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. clean text except slight underlining throughout book, tight binding, minor shelf wear, bent corners, nice reading copy, help support indpendent booksellers! 208p. : 1port.; 20 cm. Includes Portraits. This collection originally published: London: Allen and Unwin, 1957. Bibliography: p.208. -Includes index. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 266 Pages, Index. Audience: General/trade. Dedicated as few men have been to the life of reason, Russell has always been concerned with the basic questions to which religion also addresses itself..... read more
"Russell first defines what he means by a Christian: someone who believes in God, the immortality of the soul, and Jesus Christ. Then he explains why he does not believe. Step-by-step he dismisses as fallacious the arguments for the existence of God: the first cause argument, the argument from design, etc. Then he discusses whether we survive death. Then the character of Jesus, as presented in the Gospels. He agrees that Jesus was an admirable man, but not divine and not the best or wisest of men. He gives examples from the Gospels.
He believes that all religions are false and harmful. He even calls religion "a disease born of fear" and "a source of untold misery to the human race." Fear leads to cruelty, he says. "A habit of basing convictions upon evidence, and of giving them only that degree of certainty which the evidence warrants, would, if it became general, cure most of the ills from which the world is suffering."
He explains his agnostic views with his usual lucidity. Russell was not an atheist; he was just not convinced by the arguments for God. He was always wary of certainties. So this book does not resolve anything, but it will give you plenty to think about. It is not a difficult read."
"I heard an audio presentation of the first chapter of this book. I was not terribly impressed. Russell's interpretation of some of the words of Christ are simplistic and under analyzed. This is a trend that I have noticed among atheist authors, the worst of which was Dawkins' interpretation of the story of the Good Samaritan which he seems to think perpetuates the idea of an "in/out group" mentality. This is the stupidest thing I have ever heard and makes me wonder if Dawkins, in fact, read the text. Russell didn't dash my hopes of atheist having any idea what they are talking about when it comes to biblical interpretation but he certainly tried. Russell presumes an eternal universe which is a concept which, I think, has largely been disregarded by serious scientific work (let me know if I am wrong). This might just be reminiscent of Russell's time and context but he doesn't offer any evidence for the theory. I thought he was a little dismissive of the "argument from injustice" but I don't have any real response to his argument against it yet. I write this keeping in mind that Russell said in his presentation that he would have to be brief in his presentation. The rest of the presentation was unremarkable. I do have to say that what I have read of Russell impresses me much more than what I have read of the new wave of atheist authors that have come about in the last couple years. If you are on the look out for atheist authors I recommend Russell and Sagan, by far much better than Dawkins, Harris and Hitchens. I have not dipped into Dennett, yet."
"I've read through some of the goodreads reviews of this book, and there seem to be two major themes in the criticisms that Russell is getting:
a) "I don't agree with him."
That's great. Russell would love that. Why? Because his argument is not that everyone should be atheists like him...his argument is that everyone should be free to express and debate their opinions without fear of repression or retaliation. He claims that the issue of god and religion should go through the same scientific tests and rigor that all other claims about reality and how the world works endure (his argument against the existence of god is produced by the utter failure of "god," or any other supernatural deity, to pass those tests).
b) "He kinda talks about a lot of things in this book and not just religion or god."
Well, suffice it to say that it would be very difficult to talk about a *worldview* like god and religion without talking about all of these other issues given the fact that they have infiltrated everything from gender roles to academic freedom. In fact, I'd argue that he is very poignant in his discussion of the influence of organized religion on how people choose to interact with one another. His discussion of these overarching themes in society are exactly on the mark, and lets not forget that this is a collection of essays and not a single-themed book.
Russell, like other prominent atheists, suffers from the same vulnerability that theists do: namely that the attempt to empirically or rationally verify/falsify the existence of a supernatural deity is impossible. Both the atheist and theist claims rely on this being a possibility, which is why I choose to remain an agnostic. However, Russell's arguments against the toxic influence of organized religion are by his strongest and should be compelling to anyone who has a small inkling of open mindedness.
Some of my favorite discussion in this book is on interpersonal relationships and how so many individuals are simply horrible to the people around them. Russell is a realist in the truest sense of the word when it comes to human interaction, and his argument tracing this back to the influence of organized religions and their power is indeed compelling. Prefacing this with the fact that I work in the field of domestic violence and sexual assault, I found the following words (on sex and interpersonal relationships) to be very powerful and very true: "boys and girls should be taught respect for each other's liberty; they should be made to feel that nothing gives one human being rights over another."
Amen brother! (hehe, I'm clever)
P.S. Russell is pretty amusing too. The first essay (actually a speech he made) is laugh-out-loud sarcastic, but his sarcasm comes in more subtle in later essays in the book."
"This book had a truly profound impact on my teenaged life and principally my wholesale rebellion against God. At the behest of my older brother, I began devouring books on philosophy when I was 12, even though I noticed that I would often receive queer looks from my friends when I mentioned such or quoted from them. My favorite phrase from Russell of all time originates, I think, in this book, a typically snotty English phrase of superiority: "This strikes me as curious." I used this and other Russellian phrases for several years, to the detriment of several friendships more than likely, through my sophomore year in college. For all intents and purposes, I sometimes do miss this era when I was smarter than God. This was the first book which gave me the courage to become an agnostic rather than the militant atheist I had been beforehand. It was a wonderfully liberating feeling because, after this, I could go about as if I were seriously questioning things without risking open disapproval. Instead of being just another teen miscreant with an attitude, I became an intellectual with an attitude. For some reason, that made me feel better about myself, probably because I thought it might be a hedge against any possible eternal judgment: I could always argue that I had been TRYING to believe.
Many of Russell's criticisms of Christianity are still valid, especially when he talks about religious hypocrisy. On the other hand, some are just a bit silly, like throwing rocks at someone you really don't like and is unable to respond. Hence I think that as seminal as this books is, there is a mean streak at its core. Still these essays are well worth reading, especially to understand the climate of philosophy of the age in which this was written. Besides that, it's as close to readable philosophy as one can get without really getting deeply into it. I think of it as a very good quality white zinfandel, a decent introduction to thinking, but not a place where anyone would want to remain for any length of time. I tend to think that overall, Russell's best contribution was in the philosophy of science, even though every mind seeking to understand early 20th century philosophy must read Russell, concurrently with Whitehead, Wittgenstein, Moore and even the Italian Peano, responsible for early logical symbolism and the great German logician Frege. After all, for serious philosophy, there's always Principia Mathematica to peruse after this. It's almost a shame that Godel spoils the conclusions."
We guarantee every item's condition, as described on Alibris. If you are not satisfied that an item is as described, return your purchase for a refund.
rating
