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Gazing Into The Eyes of God

Name: Gazing Into The Eyes of God
Author: Leonard Antal
ISBN: 978-1-5061-6611-7

INFANT SPIRITUALITY AND THE BIRTH OF THE WORSHIPER

by Leonard Antal ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 15, 2015

A thought-provoking assertion that humans are hard-wired for worship.

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A detailed work that looks at the possible biological basis of spiritual faith.

In his intriguing nonfiction debut, Antal locates what he considers to be a genetic predisposition to spirituality in the “gazing” phenomenon, observed in infants during the first 24 months after birth. During this period, infants start paying unfocused attention to their surroundings, but they’re not yet limited by understanding or categorization. From these cognitive processes, Antal extrapolates that spirituality has a neurobiological foundation. He’s aware of how odd that idea may seem to readers: “For some it might seem insufferably counter-intuitive—even preposterous,” he writes. But this doesn’t distract him from his goal to demonstrate that the “pleasurable arousal” that infants feel toward their principal caregiver is in fact the physiological basis for the human tendency toward spirituality: “worship, a behavior, might be prompted electrobiochemically,” he says, “before feelings of the sacred or conceptualizations of Divinity come to mind.” His case rests on an analysis of how the brain chemical dopamine shapes one’s cognitive categories. Through gazing, he says, infants eventually learn to associate pleasure with an all-powerful caregiver, and this process hardens into a religious reflex that lasts long after the memory of infancy fades. Although the author’s linkage of spirituality and morality is fuzzy at best, he does offer an engaging explanation of the universality of the impulse to worship. His analysis gets increasingly complicated: “The simulated dyadic object is actualized, made real, i.e., becomes bodily felt, by the fact of the neurochemical, ‘supercharged’ infusion of dopamine.” However, he breaks down the complexities of his subject matter with enough skill and clarity to keep the attention of lay readers. In the end, the book’s argument—connecting the urge to worship to dopamine habituation—lends new meaning to the idea that religion is the opiate of the masses.

A thought-provoking assertion that humans are hard-wired for worship.

Pub Date: Feb. 15, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-5061-6611-7

Page Count: 338

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2015

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION

ROSE BOOK OF BIBLE CHARTS, MAPS AND TIME LINES

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ROSE BOOK OF BIBLE CHARTS, MAPS AND TIME LINES

by Timothy Paul Jones ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2005

Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.

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A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.

This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is â€œHow We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.

Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005

ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8

Page Count: -

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

PHILOSOPHY & RELIGION

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THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS

AND OTHER ESSAYS

by Albert Camus ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 26, 1955

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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.