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Religious Book Store > Religious books beginning with E
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Eight Theories of Religion |
Author: Daniel L. Pals
Published: 2006-01-12 |
List price: $44.95
Our price: $36.41
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As of: January 06th, 2009 05:22:46 AM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 great book! I would highly recommend
great book and Pals uses his creativeness to cover the major philosophers and scientists in a particular order to demonstrate intellectual evolution (intelligence evolves as time passes and we learn from previous ages) and he also brings out how the fact the philisophers (as most humans) try to "prove" THEIR experiences in life as they perceive it. The perception complicates their objectiveness. For instance, Freud was an atheist so Freud was out to prove there is no God. Freud did not want to reveal "truth" but only what HE thought was truth. Whether it is truth or not, was irrelevant to him and many others. Each philosopher builds on the previous with a critical critique of each by Pal and the others. I thought this was a great book and easy to read (unlike other philosophy books which are extremely difficult) 5 stars for Pals!
An excellent introduction to the study of religion
I had to read this book for my introduction to the study of religion-class, but it turned out to be a very interesting book. Pals has a good ability to explain complex terms and theories in relatively easy language, even when dealing with quite obscure ideas and material. The purpose of the book is to give new students and interested laymen a basic overview of the eight most important theories various researchers and thinkers have put forward since the birth of the "study of religion". Late in the 1800's, we moved from a strictly theological view of religion, (in reality; Christianity and all the others) to a more comparative perspective.
The eight (really nine, but oh well) theories were put forward by the following people, that each get a chapter before the conclusion ends the book in it's last chapter; E.B. Tylor & J. G. Frazer, Sigmund Freud, Émile Durkheim, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Mircea Eliade, E. E. Evans-Pritchard and finally Clifford Geertz. Each chapter contains a small biography of the thinker, an overview of the theory and the history of it, summaries of the most important works, analysis of the material presented, critiques put forward in response, notes and finally a bibliography of suggestions for further reading.
I found the book to be very useful and interesting, and it is an excellent introduction to the field for newcomers. The book shows relatively well the madness and basically evil ideas that is represented by Marx, Freud and to some degree Durkheim. "Strangely", these very people are of the same racial background, and all their ideas have had major negative effects for gentile culture, see a connection anyone? It is a very peculiar and suspicious side to Pals that whenever a theorist is doing something good he's a Jew, but when his ideas are bad for European cohesion, he's "a German" or a "Frenchman". This way, suddenly Freud, Boas and various others in the books are suddenly just your average Fritz German doing objective research with no political consequences. A volume that should be read along with this book is Kevin Macdonald's book "The Culture of Critique", available here on Amazon.
The two scientists that are most filled with genius in this book seems to me to be Mircea Eliade and Max Weber, the first one interestingly enough being friends with two major European freedom fighters; Corneliu Codreanu and Julius Evola. Eliade was actually a member of Codreanu's organization back in his native Rumania, something that should give you a good hint of his honourable soul.
To summarize; a sturdy hardcover book that gives you a highly valuable introduction to the field and that should be of interest to anyone remotely interested in politics, philosophy or religion.
Highly recommended!
Highly recommended
Refreshingly readable account of the major developments in the science of religion. An excellent introduction to the field for general audience.
 More Than I Expected
I actually needed this book for my Introduction to Religion class but I'm sure I will keep it even after I am finished with the class. Pals breaks down the theories into their simpliest forms and makes them so easy to understand. He summaries each theorist's section with an analysis and a critique which makes the interpretation of the text that much easier. This is a wonderful book and I would suggest it to anyone looking for possible explanations of some of the world's most popular religions...
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