RELIGION AND THE RISE OF SCEPTICISM

by Franklin L. Baumer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 12, 1960

This is an important book on man's conflict between scepticism and the desire to believe, a conflict which can be overcome only by conviction as to the truth of belief. It is in the role of historian who can ""put the problem into a historical context and thereby illuminate it if not solve it"" that the author of this book proposes to fill the gap. For he feels that scepticism has developed into tradition, that though powerful it has been neglected. Until this gap is filled, today's religious problems will remain unintelligible and insoluble. He purposes ""to sketch the course of the sceptical tradition .. from the 17th century to the present; to show how and by whom it was generated, how it grew and gained momentum up to and including the 'crisis' which Jung, Tillich, Joad and others so vividly describe"". From the French Revolution, Baumer retraces his steps to the 18th century enlightenment, and back of that, then on to Darwin, Nietzsche and Freud, finally to the present. Illustrating his study with commentary and extracts from the writings of the intellectuals from the 17th to the mid 20th century, he arrives at four principal phases. He admits that the sceptical tradition derives from cumulative past experience, but holds that it is more like political tradition, specifically the liberal. Finally, he speculates on the methods of contemporary intellectuals, largely laymen, in solving this problem and concludes that the 20th century sceptic, as opposed to the 19th, is a complex combination of scepticism and longing, and optimistically views the outcome in favor of the longing. Scholarly and comprehensive, this book is neither verbose nor obtuse, and should find an extremely interested audience among today's intellectuals, whatever their religious beliefs.

Pub Date: Oct. 12, 1960

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harcourt, Brace

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1960

Categories: NONFICTION