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THE BARBARIAN CONVERSION

FROM PAGANISM TO CHRISTIANITY, A.D. 371-1386

An elegant history of the Christianization of northwestern Europe. Not many historians would be willing to tackle a subject that encompasses more than 1,000 years of history, several discrete cultures, and numerous religious systems, or that requires a mastery of sparse resources written in several languages no longer extant. Then again, Fletcher (whose 1990 The Quest for El Cid won the Los Angeles Times history prize) is no ordinary historian. He bucks the trend of postwar historical specialization by writing a ``grand'' narrative tracing the rise of Latin Christianity not just in his native England (though this is the most normative case study in the book, to which he constantly refers), but also Spain, France, Germany, and Ireland, among many others. Scandinavia (including Greenland and Iceland) is also included, offering a much needed contribution to the history of western Christendom. The author concludes by recounting Western Christianity's push into eastern Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries, and the increasing emphasis on war (``crusade'') as a justified means to convert the heathen abroad. Fletcher's comprehensive, comparative technique is fruitful; he is mindful that the introduction of Christianity into these various regions necessitated not just a transformation of belief, but also an adoption of foreign cultural practices such as Roman government, dress, and food, as well as an emphasis on literacy. Throughout, Fletcher raises provocative questions about the motives for Christian evangelism, as well as the nature of conversion itself: At what point can historians claim that an entire culture was ``converted'' to a particular religion? Fletcher is an even-handed, creative historian. Well written and engaging, his book stands as a uniquely ambitious metahistory. His suggestions for further reading provide direction for more focused inquiry. (36 b&w photos, 10 maps, not seen)

Pub Date: March 1, 1998

ISBN: 0-8050-2763-7

Page Count: 576

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1997

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THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS

AND OTHER ESSAYS

This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.

Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955

ISBN: 0679733736

Page Count: 228

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955

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THE ART OF SOLITUDE

A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.

A teacher and scholar of Buddhism offers a formally varied account of the available rewards of solitude.

“As Mother Ayahuasca takes me in her arms, I realize that last night I vomited up my attachment to Buddhism. In passing out, I died. In coming to, I was, so to speak, reborn. I no longer have to fight these battles, I repeat to myself. I am no longer a combatant in the dharma wars. It feels as if the course of my life has shifted onto another vector, like a train shunted off its familiar track onto a new trajectory.” Readers of Batchelor’s previous books (Secular Buddhism: Imagining the Dharma in an Uncertain World, 2017, etc.) will recognize in this passage the culmination of his decadeslong shift away from the religious commitments of Buddhism toward an ecumenical and homegrown philosophy of life. Writing in a variety of modes—memoir, history, collage, essay, biography, and meditation instruction—the author doesn’t argue for his approach to solitude as much as offer it for contemplation. Essentially, Batchelor implies that if you read what Buddha said here and what Montaigne said there, and if you consider something the author has noticed, and if you reflect on your own experience, you have the possibility to improve the quality of your life. For introspective readers, it’s easy to hear in this approach a direct response to Pascal’s claim that “all of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” Batchelor wants to relieve us of this inability by offering his example of how to do just that. “Solitude is an art. Mental training is needed to refine and stabilize it,” he writes. “When you practice solitude, you dedicate yourself to the care of the soul.” Whatever a soul is, the author goes a long way toward soothing it.

A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.

Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-300-25093-0

Page Count: 200

Publisher: Yale Univ.

Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019

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