Engaging and thought-provoking pathway for cultivating an ethical life and helping bring about a better world.
A provocative case for exploring an increasingly urgent question: how to live a good life responsibly.
Batchelor, an author and scholar of Buddhism, argues that the state of our world requires new thinking and a reexamination of scholars from antiquity, notably Socrates and the Buddha (Gotama). In the process, he turns up novel insights, bridging these teachers’ respective philosophies and applying them to the uncertainty and reactivity of the modern world. In his latest book, Batchelor explores the roots of both Socrates’ and Gotama’s teachings, which developed contemporaneously. He finds many similarities in their lives and approaches, each having pursued a life of questioning and self-examination, emphasizing ethics, and using reasoning to train others to think for themselves. Neither offered definitive answers. Batchelor suggests both may have suffered from being misinterpreted by well-meaning followers. He writes, “Over time Buddhist traditions have tended to emphasize contemplative skills…over the practical skills of creativity, work, and survival.” This moved the study of Buddhism toward mindfulness and away from the eightfold path, which resulted in the “fatal turn in Buddhism from ethics to epistemology, from care to transcendence.” Alternating chapters focus on Western philosophy, and Batchelor explores ethical thinking from ancient Greeks to the present day. Interestingly, he finds the most alignment with the work of Hannah Arendt, who wrote extensively about the importance of both thinking and acting. Batchelor identifies 32 virtues that must be cultivated for a broader, ethical understanding. He writes: “The cartography that emerges from this archaeological excavation of scattered texts also provides a dynamic template for Gotama’s vision of a restored civic space.” The second half of the book details these virtues through the lens of both of these thinkers, offering a broad, interdisciplinary approach.
Engaging and thought-provoking pathway for cultivating an ethical life and helping bring about a better world.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9780300275490
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
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 “How 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
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
