The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics, and the Modern West
by Mark Lilla
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Book Summary Information
Author: Mark LillaEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-09-11
ISBN: 1400043670
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: Knopf
Book Reviews of The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics, and the Modern West
Book Review: The Tenuous Rope of Political Thelogy
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm a huge reader of religious critisim. Purchasing this book, with a title like "The Stillborn God," I assumed that it was more along the ilk that found in "The God Delusion" and "God is not Great." That being said, I was still very happy with "The Stillborn God" and its through discussion of the development of politics from a religous standpoint, from the Hebrews to The Great Depression. Granted, a few more years of philosophy in college would have done me well before reading this book, but I was still blown away by the emensitity of Lilan's study and the realitve ease for a memeber of the "laity" like myself to read. If only for dificulty that I experienced not having better knowlege of Hobbes's "Leviathian", Rousseau's "Emile," or Locke's various essays. But, the fact that I now have some sort of idea of how revolutionary Hobbe's, Rousseau's, or Locke's works were is entirely a tribute to "The Stillborn God." Four out of Five stars....
Summary of The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics, and the Modern West
Religious passions are again driving world politics. The quest to bring political life under God's authority has been revived, confounding expectations of a secular future. In this major book, Mark Lilla reveals the sources of this age-old quest-and its surprising role in shaping Western thought.
The story could not be more timely. Most civilizations in history have been organized on the basis of a political theology - a myth or revelation about the correct ordering of society. Yet due to a crisis in Western Christendom nearly five hundred years ago, a novel intellectual challenge to political theology arose in Europe. By portraying religion as an expression of human nature, not a divine gift, modern Western thinkers found a way to free politics from God's authority and build barriers against destructive religious passions.
But the temptations of political theology are always present, even in the West. As Lilla vividly shows, the urge to reconnect politics to religion remained strong and took novel forms in modern European thought. By the Second World War a forceful political messianism had arisen, justifying the most deadly ideologies of the age.
Making us question what we thought we knew about religion, politics, and the fate of civilizations, Lilla reminds us of the modern West's unique trajectory and what is required to remain on it.
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