The Tenacity of Unreasonable Beliefs: Fundamentalism and the Fear of Truth - ISBN:0195188268

The Tenacity of Unreasonable Beliefs: Fundamentalism and the Fear of Truth

Date: 15 April 2011, 13:17

Free register and download UseNet downloader, then you can FREE Download from UseNet.

Download without Limit " The Tenacity of Unreasonable Beliefs: Fundamentalism and the Fear of Truth " from UseNet for FREE!

In recent years a number of popular books have been written on the anti-scientific foundations of fundamentalist religious belief. What distinguishes this book from many of the others is that its author, a professor at Hebrew College in Boston, is a recognized Judaic scholar thoroughly versed in classical rabbinic texts such as the Talmud and was into early adulthood, a devotee of one such belief system, that of a doctrinaire version of Orthodox Judaism. His well argued critique of the foundational tenets of fundamentalist religion are written from the perspective of an insider who has spent many years of study in the leading yeshivas (religious seminaries) of America and Israel. He movingly describes the evolution of his own belief system from that of a fervent advocate to that of a profound skeptic. Indeed, his personal struggle with these issues is evident in the many arguments and counter-arguments he advances for and against fundamentalist religion.
While Schimmel's emphasis is on a fundamentalist strain of Orthodox Judaism this book also has illuminating chapters providing a critical analysis of other fundamentalist belief systems including those of Islam and the more fervent branches of Evangelical Protestant Christianity. A common thread of the book is his critique of the insistence of the more extreme adherents of all three Abrahamic religions in the absolute authenticity of every word of their sacred texts as the direct word of God, despite strong historical and scientific evidence to the contrary. Both amusing and enlightening are his detailed discussions of the scriptural basis for the Christian belief in the divinity and resurrection of Jesus, the beliefs and practices of serpent handling Evangelical Protestants in rural America, and the claims of Muslim Koranic fundamentalists. To drive home his points he also provides a biting comparison with the animist religious culture of the primitive Azande tribe of the Sudan who firmly believe in the efficacy of magic, witches, and oracles.
A theme throughout this book is its attempt to understand the tenacity of doctrinal ideology in terms of underlying social and psychological factors. Schimmel, who has a PhD in psychology, devotes one chapter (Chapter 6) to a discussion of these powerful social-psychological motivators.
I regard this book as an important and pertinent critique of fundamentalist religious ideology in the first decade of the 21st century - a period when we are enigmatically experiencing the frequently tragic consequences of the dramatic rise, both domestically and worldwide, in the popularity of religious extremism, particularly in its toxic political manifestations.

Download Links:

Download Link (High Speed Download)

Download Link (http://www.filesonic.com/...T)

DISCLAIMER:

This site does not store The Tenacity of Unreasonable Beliefs: Fundamentalism and the Fear of Truth on its server. We only index and link to The Tenacity of Unreasonable Beliefs: Fundamentalism and the Fear of Truth provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete The Tenacity of Unreasonable Beliefs: Fundamentalism and the Fear of Truth if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.