God Has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Time

God Has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Time
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Love, Charity and Devotion to Jesus Christ

A terrific study course on reconciliation!

perfect

This book should be required reading for every American

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God Has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Time
Desmond Tutu
Manufacturer: Image
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Theology | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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Tutu, Desmond | ( T ) | Authors, A-Z | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0385483716
Release Date: 2005-04-26

Book Description

Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu has long been admired throughout the world for the heroism and grace he exhibited while encouraging countless South Africans in their struggle for human rights. In God Has a Dream, his most soul-searching book, he shares the spiritual message that guided him through those troubled times. Drawing on personal and historical examples, Archbishop Tutu reaches out to readers of all religious backgrounds, showing how individual and global suffering can be transformed into joy and redemption. With his characteristic humor, Tutu offers an extremely personal and liberating message. He helps us to “see with the eyes of the heart” and to cultivate the qualities of love, forgiveness, humility, generosity, and courage that we need to change ourselves and our world.

Echoing the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., he writes, “God says to you, ‘I have a dream. Please help me to realize it. It is a dream of a world whose ugliness and squalor and poverty, its war and hostility, its greed and harsh competitiveness, its alienation and disharmony are changed into their glorious counterparts. When there will be more laughter, joy, and peace, where there will be justice and goodness and compassion and love and caring and sharing. I have a dream that my children will know that they are members of one family, the human family, God’s family, my family.’”

Addressing the timeless and universal concerns all people share, God Has a Dream envisions a world transformed through hope and compassion, humility and kindness, understanding and forgiveness.

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Echoing the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., he writes, "God says to you, 'I have a dream. Please help me to realize it. It is a dream of a world whose ugliness and squalor and poverty, its war and hostility, its greed and harsh competitiveness, its alienation and disharmony are changed into their glorious counterparts. When there will be more laughter, joy, and peace, where there will be justice and goodness and compassion and love and caring and sharing. I have a dream that my children will know that they are members of one family, the human family, God's family, my family.'"

Addressing the timeless and universal concerns all people share, God Has a Dream envisions a world transformed through hope and compassion, humility and kindness, understanding and forgiveness.

"I have the highest regard for my good and trusted friend Archbishop Desmond Tutu. I admire him for the wonderful, warm person he is and especially for the human principles he upholds, and I have no doubt that readers will enjoy and benefit from what he has to say in God Has a Dream."
    HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA

"Desmond Tutu shows each of us how to transform our pain and sorrow into hope and confidence in the future. Whether you are the head of a country or the head of a household, you will cherish his words."
   NELSON MANDELA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF SOUTH AFRICA AND NOBEL PEACE PRIZE RECIPIENT

"Archbishop Desmond Tutu, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. before him, has offered us a luminous vision of love and hope. God Has a Dream shows us how our personal and global suffering can be transformed into joy and redemption. With his great warmth and compassion, Archbishop Tutu offers a spiritual message that if heeded can change lives as well as history."
    JIMMY CARTER, 39TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND NOBEL PEACE PRIZE RECIPIENT

"Like Desmond Tutu's life, this book is a testament to the power of faith and optimism in human affairs."
   SENATOR GEORGE J. MITCHELL

Customer Reviews:

Love, Charity and Devotion to Jesus Christ.......2007-09-14

What an eloquent writer! Bishop Tutu writes so beautifully, especially when he describes the Love of God. The concept of transfiguration is explained in a passage about the cross which truly brought me closer to my Lord. Dear Christian brothers and sisters: read this book and be prepared to have your prejudices and fears about other people shattered by the Love of God.

A terrific study course on reconciliation!.......2007-05-14

I am leading a group study at St. John's Cathedral in Jacksonville, Florida using this beautiful book of meditations by Bishop Tutu. There are discussion question after each chapter.

perfect.......2007-03-11

The book came in in a short amount of time, and was in great condition.

This book should be required reading for every American.......2007-01-09

Desmond Tutu is a man of morals and conscience with the courage of his convictions. This book should be required reading for every school student. Better yet, invite him to talk -- he is outstanding!

Book review.......2007-01-04

A wonderful book that has so many good points. This book is full of love, compassion, and sharing attributes. Gentleness and forgiveness for all seems to be the theme throughout the book.

The American Vision: Modern Times, California Edition

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The American Vision: Modern Times, California Edition

Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill/Glencoe
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Art & Physics: Parallel Visions in Space, Time, and Light (P.S.)

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Art & Physics:Parallel Visions in Space, Time, and Light

Art & Physics: Parallel Visions in Space, Time, and Light (P.S.)
Leonard Shlain
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | History & Criticism | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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Art & Physics

ASIN: 0061227978
Release Date: 2007-02-27

Book Description

Art interprets the visible world. Physics charts its unseen workings. The two realms seem completely opposed. But consider that both strive to reveal truths for which there are no words––with physicists using the language of mathematics and artists using visual images. In Art & Physics, Leonard Shlain tracks their breakthroughs side by side throughout history to reveal an astonishing correlation of visions. From the classical Greek sculptors to Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns, and from Aristotle to Einstein, artists have foreshadowed the discoveries of scientists, such as when Monet and Cezanne intuited the coming upheaval in physics that Einstein would initiate. In this lively and colorful narrative, Leonard Shlain explores how artistic breakthroughs could have prefigured the visionary insights of physicists on so many occasions throughout history. Provicative and original, Art & Physics is a seamless integration of the romance of art and the drama of science––and an exhilarating history of ideas.

Customer Reviews:

Art & Physics:Parallel Visions in Space, Time, and Light.......2007-06-14

I thought this was a wonderful book. Tying the evolution of art to the evolution of thinking and science gave me a more holistic way to look at art. From the ancient Greeks through the Dark and Middle Ages, the Impressionists, and into modern times the parallels of physics to art are simply amazing. Perfect for us "left-brained" types.

Einstein's Cosmos: How Albert Einstein's Vision Transformed Our Understanding of Space and Time (Great Discoveries)

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An easy read.
Einstein For The Rest of Us
A crystal-clear window into Einstein's world
Genius is Simplification - this book does that
Among the Best Books on Einstein and his Works

Einstein's Cosmos: How Albert Einstein's Vision Transformed Our Understanding of Space and Time (Great Discoveries)
Michio Kaku
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Astronomy | Astronomy | Science | Subjects | Books

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Relativity | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos
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The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory

ASIN: 0393327000

Book Description

In paperback for the centenary of the discovery of relativity, "a fresh and highly visual tour through Einstein's astonishing legacy" (Brian Greene).

The year 2005 marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of the paper that launched Einstein's career, made E=mc2 famous, and ushered in a revolution in science—the paper that announced the theory of special relativity. And there's no better short book that explains just what Einstein did than Einstein's Cosmos. Keying Einstein's crucial discoveries to the simple mental images that inspired them, Michio Kaku finds a revealing new way to discuss these ideas, and delivers an appealing and always accessible introduction to Einstein's work.

Customer Reviews:

An easy read........2007-05-27

The professor, Michio Kaku, has easily become one of my favorite authors. That Einstein was the greatest scientist of the past century there's no doubt. And the author in addition to being a physicist is able to explain, in a warm, and caring way, how Einstein pictured, in his mind, what eventually became his theory of special relativity. But there's more; Prof. Kaku provides us a glimpse of the life, thoughts, frustrations, and accomplishments of Einstein the man as well. An easy, and interesting read for sure.

Einstein For The Rest of Us.......2007-04-21

Physicists will already be acquainted with nearly everything in this book. For the rest of us, Professor Kaku provides a comfortably woven account of Einstein's personal and professional life. While nearly everyone is familiar with the famous scientist's reputation, few know much about him as a man or his incredible body of work. Einstien's humanity and self-deprecating humor only add to his charm. Surprising to me was his dogged, single-minded pursuit of the solution to relativity. His determination nearly ruined his health and his relationship to his family.

This is a wonderful book for the general reader. No special knowledge of science or physics is needed to thoroughly enjoy it. Highly recommended.

A crystal-clear window into Einstein's world.......2007-04-16

In this small book Prof. Kaku has created a marvelously entertaining and easy-to-read biography of the scientist whose very name has, somewhat illogically, become synonymous with any and all flavors of genius. As a physicist himself, Kaku enriches the narrative with lucid explanations and personal scientific judgments. He consistently shows a sure hand for striking a nice balance between the extremes of expecting too much, or too little, from the general reader.

The author describes vividly the many fascinating aspects of Einstein's life, including a brief obsession with religion at 11, an uneasy relationship with conventional education, difficulty finding a job, a stint as a patent examiner combined with startlingly original contributions to physics, escape to America from an increasingly Nazified Germany, the triumph of General Relativity, and finally life as a scientific elder statesman at Princeton, doggedly chasing the elusive unified field theory and insisting to the end that the intrinsically probabilistic quantum theory he helped establish could not represent ultimate reality.

Woven into the narrative by Kaku the biographer are many valuable insights from Kaku the physicist. For instance, he counters the popular misconception that relativity brought classical physics crashing down, and that Newton's equations were suddenly revealed as useless or wrong. Relativity did perform the astonishing feat of reducing classical dynamics to a special case, but it is an exceedingly important case which is still used daily by engineers and scientists around the world. In the author's words (p. 65), "...for everyday velocities, Newton's laws are perfectly fine." Kaku contrasts Einstein's accomplishments with today's physics in some interesting ways, including a remark on page 224 proposing that the encyclopedic Standard Model of quantum particle behavior is, despite its predictive success, "...perhaps one of the ugliest theories ever proposed in science." So much for the notion that truth and beauty always go hand in hand.

The author provides an edifying resolution of the famous "twin paradox" by emphasizing that although the relative velocity histories of the moving and stationary twins must be symmetrical and indistiguishable, their histories as recorded by separate accelerometers attached to each twin would be very different. The traveling twin encounters the time stretching effect of large velocity changes with respect to inertial space, hence returns younger than her stay-at-home sibling. The key is to recognize that the required accelerations move the problem out of the limited realm of special relativity.

The book's story line skillfully blends Einstein's professional life with illuminating vignettes of his nonscientific side. For instance, he was not an unqualified pacifist and supported the use of force when challenged by an enemy, such as the German/Japanese alliance in World War II, which pursued destruction of life as an end in itself. Occasionally Einstein could appear shockingly naive, as when he suggested locating the Jewish state in a country such as Peru to avoid replaying the "promised land" conflicts described so vividly in the Old Testament. Odd as it seems, this proposal was consistent with Einstein's way of looking at things, which supported some aspects of Zionism but simply could not countenance any claim to supernatural land grants.

I found only two drawbacks: First, the absence of illustrations was a letdown, especially since Einstein was known for thinking in pictures. Second, lack of an index is frustrating in any non-fiction book, and especially in one as good as this.

Genius is Simplification - this book does that.......2006-08-06

The author loves Einstien. Good simplification of Einstiens' work. I gave this a 4 star because I understand more about einsteins theories now than before I read it.

I have gained even more respect for Einstein. From the book, I am impressed that he seems like a real down to earth decent person. He also suffered from many trials and tribulations (like hating school and almost not passing entrance exams, etc.).

Among the Best Books on Einstein and his Works.......2006-07-19

Michio Kaku, a respected theoretical physicist at City College of New York, has created an outstanding examination of Einstein's life and technical accomplishments, certainly among the best books on Einstein that I have encountered. Einstein's Cosmos targets the layman and as such it avoids mathematics, and yet I am quite certain that it will appeal to technically inclined readers also. Michio Kaku's explanations of Einstein's monumental work, especially the Special Theory of Relativity and his General Theory of Relativity, are remarkably clear and will be readily understood by nearly all readers.

I was especially fascinated by Kaku's analysis of Einstein's later efforts to unify gravity and electromagnetics. He argues persuasively that much of Einstein's unification efforts, almost always dismissed by writers and biographers as irrelevant and misdirected, has in recent decades pointed a new generation of physicists toward new breakthroughs and discoveries. Einstein's vision was decades ahead of most of his contemporaries. His final quest may have been unsuccessful, but his legacy remains vibrant and highly influential.

Einstein's Cosmos : How Albert Einstein's Vision Transformed Our Understanding of Space and Time was published 2004 in the Great Discoveries Series. I also highly recommend another title in this series, Incompleteness: The Proof and Paradox of Kurt Godel by Rebecca Goldstein. Godel was Einstein's closest intellectual companion during Einstein's later years at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton.

The American Vision Modern Times California Teacher Wraparound Edition

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The American Vision Modern Times California Teacher Wraparound Edition
Ph.D Joyce Appleby
Manufacturer: Glencoe/Mcgraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The American Vision: Modern Times, California Edition
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ASIN: 0078678528

Visions of Awakening Space and Time: Dogen and the Lotus Sutra

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Invaluable for those interested in the Lotus Sutra, Dogen, or even Nichiren Buddhism

Visions of Awakening Space and Time: Dogen and the Lotus Sutra
Taigen Dan Leighton
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Zen | Buddhism | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 019532093X

Book Description

As a religion concerned with universal liberation, Zen grew out of a Buddhist worldview very different from the currently prevalent scientific materialism. Indeed, says Taigen Dan Leighton, Zen cannot be fully understood outside of a worldview that sees reality itself as a vital, dynamic agent of awareness and healing. In this book, Leighton explicates that worldview through the writings of the Zen master Eihei Dogen (1200-1253), considered the founder of the Japanese Soto Zen tradition, which currently enjoys increasing popularity in the West. The Lotus Sutra, arguably the most important Buddhist scripture in East Asia, contains a famous story about bodhisattvas (enlightening beings) who emerge from under the earth to preserve and expound the Lotus teaching in the distant future. The story reveals that the Buddha only appears to pass away, but actually has been practicing, and will continue to do so, over an inconceivably long life span. Leighton traces commentaries on the Lotus Sutra from a range of key East Asian Buddhist thinkers, including Daosheng, Zhiyi, Zhanran, Saigyo, Myoe, Nichiren, Hakuin, and Ryokan. But his main focus is Eihei Dogen, the 13th century Japanese Soto Zen founder who imported Zen from China, and whose profuse, provocative, and poetic writings are important to the modern expansion of Buddhism to the West. Dogen's use of this sutra expresses the critical role of Mahayana vision and imagination as the context of Zen teaching, and his interpretations of this story furthermore reveal his dynamic worldview of the earth, space, and time themselves as vital agents of spiritual awakening. Leighton argues that Dogen uses the images and metaphors in this story to express his own religious worldview, in which earth, space, and time are lively agents in the bodhisattva project. Broader awareness of Dogen's worldview and its implications, says Leighton, can illuminate the possibilities for contemporary approaches to primary Mahayana concepts and practices.

Customer Reviews:

Invaluable for those interested in the Lotus Sutra, Dogen, or even Nichiren Buddhism.......2007-06-13

For anyone interested in Dogen and/or the Lotus Sutra Visions of Awakening Space and Time: Dogen and the Lotus Sutra by Taigen Dan Leighton is a must have. Too many people think that Zen eschews the sutras, but this actually not the case. In this book Taigen Dan Leighton (a Zen Master and translator of Dogen's Eihei Koroku and other writings) shows that Dogen not only valued the Lotus Sutra but modeled his rhetorical style on it and, as the name of this book indicates, found in chapters 15 and 16 of the sutra inspiration for his visions of time and space (and earth) as intrinsically involved in our own awakening experience. It is not that we awaken at a certain time and in a certain place on this earth. Rather, earth, time, and space are all dynamically expressive of awakening and our own awakening is a part of this universal awakening. The nodualistic vision of Dogen and the Lotus Sutra has many deep implications for ethics and ecology that Taigen brings out by the end of the book. Though this is a very scholarly book (this is not by any means Zen Lite) it is also a book written by a practitioner with an eye towards how Dogen and the Lotus Sutra can inspire the actualization of awakening in our own lives.

Taigen does not restrict the book to Dogen, however, but also discusses the greater Mahayana context for the view of time, space, and earth shared by Dogen and the Lotus Sutra. He also provides a review of how several seminal East Asian Buddhist teachers have been inspired by the Lotus Sutra - notably Daosheng, Zhiyi (Great Master T'ien-t'ai), Zhanran (aka Great Master Miao-lo), Saigyo, Myoe, Ippen, Nichiren, Hakuin, Ryokan, and Shunryu Suzuki. Also, many of the points made in this book about the interpretation and meaning of chapters 15 and 16 of the Lotus Sutra that describe the emergence of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth and Shakyamuni Buddha's attainment of awakening in the unquantifiably remote past would be of great interest to anyone studying or, better yet, practicing East Asian Mahayana Buddhism. Though the focus is on Dogen, this book addresses issues that would be relevant to a wide range of Buddhist scholars and practitioners.

I would also like to note that for those Nichiren Buddhists who have found Jackie Stone's Original Enlightenment or Gen Reeve's anthology A Buddhist Kaleidoscope: Essays on the Lotus Sutra to be helpful will get a lot out of this book as well. There are not a lot of Buddhist books (whether popular or academic) published that address issues important to Nichiren Buddhism, but this is one of the few that does. It gets right to the heart of things with its focus on chapters 15 and 16 and how different Buddhists have understood those chapters. The sections on Zhiyi and Zhanran and the extensive section on Nichiren's reading of those chapters would of course be particularly helpful. There are also other positive and illuminating evaluations of Nichiren Buddhism throughout the text, connecting it to important themes and forms of practice that emerged in East Asian Buddhism. It is rare to find a non-Nichiren Buddhist scholar/practitioner who gives Nichiren the importance that he deserves in the study of East Asian Buddhism, and even rarer to find someone who writes about Nichiren accurately and sympathetically as Taigen does. Taigen has done a great service to American Buddhism in showing the similarities and differences between Dogen and Nichiren in their respective appropriations of the core story of the Lotus Sutra.

Finding Faith in Difficult Times (Inner Vision Series)

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Intentions Good But Missing Substance

Finding Faith in Difficult Times (Inner Vision Series)
Iyanla Vanzant
Manufacturer: Sounds True
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1591792037
Release Date: 2005-04-12

Book Description

Finding Faith in Difficult Times shares Vanzant's most cherished collection of insights, prayers, and meditations she developed to work through years of personal struggles. Here, listeners will learn how to cultivate faith and determination, build inner strength, and find lasting peace in even the darkest moments of life.

Customer Reviews:

Intentions Good But Missing Substance.......2006-12-24

I've heard and listen to Iyanla for years either on the Oprah Winfrey Show or that obnoxious show on woman changing their lives ect. I decided to purchase this audio as another supplement to life and while she does offer up definitions of faith, consciousness (awareness), and integrity, there were no meditions or prayers as was advertised. When I purchase something I expect it to live up to promises.

Time, Space, and Knowledge: A New Vision of Reality (Nyingma Psychology Series)

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Experiments in applied phenomenology
Fascinating.
A truly radical exploration of reality
Discard everything you thought you knew about reality.

Time, Space, and Knowledge: A New Vision of Reality (Nyingma Psychology Series)
Tarthang Tulku
Manufacturer: Dharma Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Epistemology | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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Dynamics of Time and Space: Transcending Limits of Knowledge (Time, Space, and Knowledge Series)
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Skillful Means: Patterns for Success (Nyingma Psychology Series, 5)
Hidden Mind of Freedom: Meditation for Compassion and Self-Healing (Nyingma Psychology Series)

ASIN: 0913546089

Customer Reviews:

Experiments in applied phenomenology.......2004-04-30

This book guides the reader to an understanding of time and space by an unusual means. The author states a proposition, discusses it in the context of other views, and gives the reader a chance to find out on his/her own through a series of experiments or exercises. Heidegger would be proud.

This is a book to be taken as seriously as any other major contribution to twentieth-century philosophy, but I don't think its intended audience has responded as it ought to. I'm afraid that the poor design of the text may have limited its readership; the abrasive 1970's cover art is now badly dated, and the new-agey look undercuts the book's credibility among the more narrow-minded of intellectuals. It just doesn't look like the book it is. Further, the fact of the author's background as a Tibetan lama may keep those uninterested in "Eastern" spirituality away. While the author is in fact a Buddhist teacher, this is NOT a book about Buddhism. Check your Orientalism at the door. (Funny that Heidegger's nasty Nazi history doesn't deter a serious and rigorous approach to his philosophy in the way that a Buddhist background might have.)

Looking for a dissertation topic in philosophy, psychology, or even physics? Poke around in Time, Space, and Knowledge. There are plenty of leads here to investigate. Have fun and enjoy the field!

Fascinating........2002-02-01

Time, Space, and Knowledge delves questions of personal identity and of time and space like few other books.

Practical, extensive exercises are included to demonstrate the concepts. One of these includes the visualisation of an immense human body and its detailed exploration until one becomes familiar with it. Then the form is superimposed on one's own body, which is then similarly explored down to the microscopic, even to the quantum effect, where we can see: where does your
body 'end' and the 'outside' world begin? In effect, parts of the 'world' are enclosed by you, and the world encloses you. The exercise results in a liberation of ideas from previously-rigid concepts and a reassessment of one's self as an identity.

I rate this 5 out of 5 for fascinating and 1 out of 5 for bedtime reading.

A truly radical exploration of reality.......2000-07-26

I read this book several years ago, and have never forgotten its impact upon me. The book delves very profoundly into these three aspects of reality: time, space, and knowledge, and opens them up to a radical degree that is hard to convey in this short space. I was especially blown away by his analysis of time, which discusses the way the sequential nature of moments (past - present - future) is only a phenomenon of our vastly limited perspective, which is itself given by 'time.' How our confusion, our misperceptions, and ultimately our suffering in life are given by 'time'. This probably makes little sense, but if you're interested in time, you will love this book. The book is not easy to read, but it is extremely clearly written. It's difficult because the concepts are so radical, and challenge pretty much everything you 'know'. It comes with lots of experiential exercises that are designed to help you truly 'see' the vision that is being discussed. The exercises are very challenging, and I found myself not doing them but feeling guilty about it. (Many demand a high degree of visualization ability, which I've never had much talent for). If you want to read a superb, but much more accessible book by this author, try "Gesture of Balance," which is probably the best book on meditation I've ever read.

Discard everything you thought you knew about reality........2000-04-28

If you are already a student of Tarthang Tulku and you haven't read this or it's successor "Knowledge of Time and Space", you need to go ahead and take the plunge. If you've studied Einstein's Special and General Relativity and consider yourself broadminded and astute, throw that idea out the window. Religion and philosophy do not fit in here either. If you haven't studied Tarthang Tulku's other books and begun to peal away the layers of belief that lock you into this world, you're not ready for this. If you will study "Time, Space, and Knowledge : A New Vision of Reality", really study it and practice the exercises, you will go a long way toward beginning to break apart the fixed ideas of reality you've built up in your life.

Visions of Order: The Cultural Crisis of Our Times

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Perhaps The Only Sane Way Forward
Know Thyself
Still about ideas
Weaver's clearest argumentation on conservatism

Visions of Order: The Cultural Crisis of Our Times
Richard Weaver
Manufacturer: Intercollegiate Studies Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Civilization & Culture | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

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Ideas Have Consequences
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ASIN: 1882926072

Customer Reviews:

Perhaps The Only Sane Way Forward.......2007-07-16

There is a prophetic element in Weaver's writings which prove uncannily accurate. As the sub-title explicitly states - this book is about THE cultural crisis of our time and yet it was written 50 years ago. What Weaver does very well is distill the multitudes and complexities of impressions about "what's wrong out there" into a cohesive, thoughtful, but by no means simplistic analysis. In essence he states that man has lost sight of culture as a field of endeavor, a forum for the pursuit of personal nobility, and has given up on himself in the process. He opposes the modern idea that culture is a byproduct of man's existence not the expression of his ideals.

Weaver does not have a problem with science, as mistakenly stated in a previous comment. He has a problem with scientism. He understands man in terms of potential and mystery, both of which are necessary and both of which may be abused as well as improved. He understands that only through a conscious return to cultural aspiration can mankind hope to withstand the assault of barbarianism. In his closing chapter he sums it up concisely and eloquently.

"...culture is a protection against fanaticism both of the political and the religious kinds." These are words we need to hear in our immediate context. The book develops the background and analysis on which this conclusion is reached.

It is well worth the effort needed to read and understand this book.

Know Thyself.......2003-03-11

Weaver began Ideas Have Consequences with "This is another book about the dissolution of the west," but the line could just as easily have introduced Visions of Order, his take on cultural crisis. For Weaver, what was at stake in civilization was intellect, specifically an idea system called a world view. Because he saw intellect as the driving force, he directed his efforts at defining what ideas sustained a civilization and what ideas set it on decline.

In this book, Weaver set up polar opposites that often resulted in oversimplification and false dichotomy. He preferred "either-or" to "both-and" thinking. Thus he divided the world into two competing world views -- spiritual versus material -- and as he approached a topic, he placed it under the appropriate column. That kind of thinking may work for the accountant or lawyer but for the "doctor of culture" that he imagined himself to be it meant all kinds of omissions.

After defining culture, Weaver outlined some of its enemies: overemphasis of function over status, immanentizing of social forms, total war, public education, and evolution. The real enemy, though, appears to be science, which Weaver believed diminished man and his sense of himself as a spiritual being. A proponent of mind over matter, he feared science put limits on man's free will, and on his spreadsheet of values free will was a purely spiritual attribute. This sounds like the libertarian fallacy that freedom is absolute and ought never to be circumscribed. Perhaps there exists a utopia where one can do and say whatever one pleases, but I have not seen such a place.

Weaver the English professor was wrong to oppose literature to science because science is as much a part of the classical quest "to know thyself" as Pope's statement that the proper study of mankind is man. While genetics determines that there will be only one Michael Jordan, it still leaves one free to become a decent basketball player. While astronomy has judged that man is no longer the center of the universe, it has left untouched the notion that life on Earth is unique and mysterious. While neurobiology has uncovered the influence of brain chemistry on behavior, it has by no means relegated man to the status of pawn; man remains free to seek treatment and to live according to the knowledge of his limitations. Science (but not only science) could have proved to Weaver the narrowness of his entire approach: Man is not merely the sum of his ideas. Even rarer is that person who holds a rational and coherent world view.

Anyone who thinks that mystery and complexity have been diminished by science needs to take a look at the discoveries made during the past several decades in both the micro- and macro scale. Astronomy, quantum physics, and neurobiology have re-affirmed a pluralistic, mysterious universe. Rather than signal decline, these affirmations of variety could just as easily encourage prudence and humility -- and cultural invigoration. Yet Weaver remained pessimistic, convinced that every gain in science meant a corresponding loss in religion.

Weaver's dread of "machine culture" overlooked environmentalism, which existed since the turn of the century as a measured response to industrialization. Theodore Roosevelt created the national park system, Eisenhower created ANWR, Nixon created the EPA, Russell Kirk praised Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and lamented the loss of countryside ("what an age without veneration does to itself"). These were acts by conservative Republicans, but Weaver missed them too.

There is much to admire in this book: the need for equilibrium between rhetoric and dialectic; his dislike of war without limitation; and his description of the role that memory and sense of place play in identity and culture. He would have benefitted from applying the conservative's sense of proportion to his superficial critique of science.

Still about ideas.......2002-10-15

The previous reviewer writes that Weaver overlooks the fact that there are other factors besides ideas that influence culture. However, when the reviewer goes on the list these other things, it appears that they are just aspects or even synonyms of what "ideas" mean. His review, therefore, overlooks the fact that ideas have various aspects, but they are still ideas, and thus although his review betrays a lack of understanding in this area, it does not challenge Weaver's book at all.

Weaver's clearest argumentation on conservatism.......2001-02-10

This book marks the third in Weaver's series, following Ideas Have Consequences and The Ethics of Rhetoric. Some of his arguments here are similar, but he communicates them much more clearly in this volume. Visions of Order also contains some of his best writing. His essays The Cultural Role of Rhetoric and Gnostics of Education both eloquently expound an orginal insight that complements his work very well. Weaver writes about the problem of modern liberalism. He sites areas where liberal thought rejects the notions of culture and form, and he defends the order in conservative communities which he feels best provide a home for man.

Signorelli and Fra Angelico at Orvieto: Liturgy, Poetry, and a Vision of the End of Time (Histories of Visions) (Histories of Visions) (Histories of Visions)

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Signorelli and Fra Angelico at Orvieto: Liturgy, Poetry, and a Vision of the End of Time (Histories of Visions) (Histories of Visions) (Histories of Visions)
Sara Nair James
Manufacturer: Ashgate Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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