Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: God's Defenders: What They Believe and Why They Are Wrong by S. T. Joshi ISBN: 1-59102-080-8 Publisher: Prometheus Books Pub. Date: June, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (11 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Crude, but effective
Comment: Let's face it -- the religious establishment doesn't spare its invective, or its power. It's time for sane people who reject the fairy-stories of religion to stand up, and stop the vaccilation around the subject of gods and religion.
Either there is a god, or gods, or there isn't. Either one system of religion is fully correct, or none is. There is no other way around it. These are simple, direct questions. Humanity has solved many which are far more complex.
Either God created Adam and Eve and the Flood and Jesus and all that, or he did not. Either Mohammed is God's prophet, or he is not. Either Zeus is the father of all gods and hurls down thunderbolts from Mt. Olympus, or he does not. There is no room for misinterpretation, nor allegory, nor error: all of the books, bibles and traditions of all those religions and beliefs teach perdition, hell, torment and death for those that challenge their beliefs. There is no way around it. The tenets of a religion are either true or false. If true, prove it so. Put up, O Deities, or shut up.
On all of these points Mr. Joshi is sound, well-researched and well-informed. He dispatches his victims eloquently and well, he picks his fights, defines his terms and marshalls his arguments very well.
I would much prefer, however, to see Mr. Joshi's treatment of the people who really *matter* -- those who formulate policy and dominate the airwaves, rather than the professional opinion-havers.
Rating: 2
Summary: Uneven Mencken-style attack on religion
Comment: For whom is this book written?
Certainly not for the religious. They are unlikely to be persuaded by Joshi's unique brand of invective. As in his previous works on atheism, he employs schoolyard epithets to discredit his opponents. (In the introduction, he repeatedly calls the ninety-plus percent of Americans who believe in God "stupid.").
Broad ad hominem attacks are one of two distinctive and unfortunate Joshi trademarks. The other is a propensity to cite H.P. Lovecraft as an authority on religious matters. Lovecraft was, I will grant you, an expert on plumbing the dark interstices of his own tormented psyche and describing in remarkably creative detail what he found there. Upon finishing this book, however, some readers may wish that Lovecraft had more frequently followed Joshi's advice (p. 207): "Literary folk should not write about religion."
If the book is not useful as a device for winning converts to atheism, it may be equally ineffective as a learned treatise for the committed atheist. Does the knowledgeable atheist (who Joshi says must be acquainted with research in an extraordinary number of fields of human knowledge) really *need* to see Jerry Falwell debunked? There is no real attempt at systematic philosophical discourse in this book, and very little detailed discussion of scientifically-based argument. (I note that on page 26, Joshi confuses Steven Weinberg with Paul Davies).
The real strength of this book, I suspect, lies in its appeal to those whom Schleiermacher called "cultured despisers of religion." Joshi seeks to follow in the footsteps of H.L. Mencken, attempting to make his readers laugh at religious foolery. On occasion, Joshi does rise to a level of brilliance comparable to that of his mentor; his critique of Neale Donald Walsch (author of the "Conversations with God" series) is laugh-out-loud funny in the grand Mencken style.
Stripped of invective, the other chapters occasionally provide an effective critique of Joshi's targets. I picked up the book especially because it promised a rebuttal of C.S. Lewis. The Lewis chapter is not bad, though as Joshi admits, John Beversluis already plowed this ground quite thoroughly before him.
Overall, Joshi has chosen an odd combination of figures to attack. Most of them are lightweights, philosophically speaking, though some, like T.S. Elliot, are respected literary figures. This makes for an uneven book. It also has the paradoxical effect of making the reader want to pick up works by Joshi's targets, to see what they really said, in context.
My primary critique would be that Joshi does not understand the religious impulse and makes no attempt to do so. Even Marx and Freud were much more sympathetic with the innate human drive toward transcendental meaning. Joshi's lack of understanding makes his critique seem superficial and unsatisfying at times.
Rating: 4
Summary: Damning! If you'll excuse the expression...
Comment: I really can't add that much to some of the reviews listed here. If you are religious, then this book will have you convinced that all atheists will find you beneath contempt & will gleefully vomit abuse at you. Incidentally, this perception would be incorrect. If, like me, you agree with Joshi's conclusions & share his views, then you will be very pleased & stimulated by his reasoned arguments. Also, if you are like me, you will soon tire of the puerile invective of the kind Joshi excels.
As one reviewer stated, one need not be a Universal Genius to see through the facade that is religion. I applaud Joshi's efforts in dismantling the lame arguments endorsed by the likes of T. S. Eliot, Buckley, and William James, but you needn't use a shotgun on a housefly. The pro-God arguments are, in and of themselves, so shaky that Joshi doesn't need to resort to calling James "poor Willie" or Buckley a "fool". In resorting to these tactics, Joshi has sadly miscalculated.
Don't get me wrong, sometimes invective is very amusing & effective. Nietzsche, Mencken and Schopenhauer all loved to hit below the belt, but then all three were literary geniuses and genuinely funny! Joshi isn't either. His humor is either condescending (due to his self-importance) or self-pitying (due to his lack of cash).
Books by David Hume, Carl Sagan or Daniel Dennett would all make better introductions to agnostic/atheistic thought for the novice. Not only do they make their points as well as Joshi does, they understand how human fear & frailty leads to theism.
That said, Joshi's arguments destroys his opponents'. Although Falwell & Chesterton are easy targets, Joshi wonderfully reduces the arguments of (pseudo) intellectuals like Stephen Carter, William F. Buckley and William James to bits. He is equally able at rebutting Christian sacred cows like T. S. Eliot & the ridiculously influential C. S. Lewis. It is because of Joshi's effective arguments that I give this four stars. If he had toned-down some of the personal abuse, I would have easily given it five.
Incidentally, Joshi makes a lame joke about dour Scotsmen. Hmmm. I don't think David Hume or John Stuart Mill would appreciate that...
 |
Title: The Impossibility of God by Michael Martin, Ricki Monnier ISBN: 1591021200 Publisher: Prometheus Books Pub. Date: December, 2003 List Price(USD): $32.00 |
 |
Title: Has Science Found God? The Latest Results in the Search for Purpose in the Universe by Victor J. Stenger ISBN: 1591020182 Publisher: Prometheus Books Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
 |
Title: Atheism: A Reader by S. T. Joshi ISBN: 1573928550 Publisher: Prometheus Books Pub. Date: November, 2000 List Price(USD): $21.00 |
 |
Title: Science and Religion: Are They Compatible? by Paul Kurtz, Barry Karr, Ranjit Sandhu ISBN: 1591020646 Publisher: Prometheus Books Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
 |
Title: Unintelligent Design by Mark Perakh ISBN: 1591020840 Publisher: Prometheus Books Pub. Date: December, 2003 List Price(USD): $32.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
