- Hardcover: 219 pages
- Publisher: Arcade Publishing; First Edition edition (10 Jan 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1559708204
- ISBN-13: 978-1559708203
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 760,698 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
56 of 61 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
*This absolutely excellent work is a very precise deconstruction of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, charting the historic origins and evolution of these three closely related monotheisms.
*The original title in French is "Traite d'Atheologie", which accurately describes the contents. Here in Canada, the English translation's title ("In Defense of Atheism") is unfortunate, the tone of the book being far from defensive (It's rather scathingly critical).
*Onfray is a very popular French philosopher, and I tremendously enjoyed his literary style: it's both flowery and ... meaty.
*The author obviously spent a tremendous amount of time pouring over the so-called "holy" texts of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (and other books). There are no factual errors in his work to my knowledge.
*Critics complain Onfray ignores the good side of religion. Well, he doesn't: he just dismisses it as relatively insignificant compared to its atrocious side.
*Onfray interestingly observes that even though our western societies are now secular, they are still pretty much stuck with judeo-christian values
(See for example the institution of marriage or the bioethics debates).
*I highly recommend this book, that I just finished reading today in its
original language.
*The original title in French is "Traite d'Atheologie", which accurately describes the contents. Here in Canada, the English translation's title ("In Defense of Atheism") is unfortunate, the tone of the book being far from defensive (It's rather scathingly critical).
*Onfray is a very popular French philosopher, and I tremendously enjoyed his literary style: it's both flowery and ... meaty.
*The author obviously spent a tremendous amount of time pouring over the so-called "holy" texts of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (and other books). There are no factual errors in his work to my knowledge.
*Critics complain Onfray ignores the good side of religion. Well, he doesn't: he just dismisses it as relatively insignificant compared to its atrocious side.
*Onfray interestingly observes that even though our western societies are now secular, they are still pretty much stuck with judeo-christian values
(See for example the institution of marriage or the bioethics debates).
*I highly recommend this book, that I just finished reading today in its
original language.
45 of 50 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Michel Onfray's "Atheist Manifesto" is the latest of many recent books about religion, atheism and secularism. This book is not a scientific study or an attempt to disprove the religions, but a philosophical polemic against religions (an "Atheological treatise" as the original French title would translate) and a call for a post-Christian secularism.
Onfray is an atheist but he doesn't seem to be attempting to convert anyone to atheism, and indeed, his writing style is not likely to convert believers. Instead, the book is a polemic reflection about the effects of religion and a call to reason, probably aimed mostly at fellow atheists.
An interesting chapter of the book is spent deconstructing the myth of Jesus and how Christianity came to be the world's biggest religion and how some of it's teachings (especially those of Paul) may have come to be.
Another large portion of the book explains why religion has been the monotheistic teachings have caused so much evil. It's all very true but not exactly news.
The real purpose of the book comes in the last few pages, where he returns to something he wrote about in the beginning of the book. Here he says the choice is not between western Judeo-Christian values and Muslim values, but between religion and secularism. According to Onfray, much of the current secular values have their roots in the Judeo-Christian tradition, and he calls for a post-Christian secularism with post-Christian ethics.
Onfray is obviously a very knowledgeable philosopher and he makes many good points. The book is probably aimed at atheists and philosophers. It's not a book to start with for those new to atheism or those with only a sporadic interest in ahteism or religion, but at the same time, for the already-convinced atheist, such as myself, there's really not much new to be found in this book.
Onfray is an atheist but he doesn't seem to be attempting to convert anyone to atheism, and indeed, his writing style is not likely to convert believers. Instead, the book is a polemic reflection about the effects of religion and a call to reason, probably aimed mostly at fellow atheists.
An interesting chapter of the book is spent deconstructing the myth of Jesus and how Christianity came to be the world's biggest religion and how some of it's teachings (especially those of Paul) may have come to be.
Another large portion of the book explains why religion has been the monotheistic teachings have caused so much evil. It's all very true but not exactly news.
The real purpose of the book comes in the last few pages, where he returns to something he wrote about in the beginning of the book. Here he says the choice is not between western Judeo-Christian values and Muslim values, but between religion and secularism. According to Onfray, much of the current secular values have their roots in the Judeo-Christian tradition, and he calls for a post-Christian secularism with post-Christian ethics.
Onfray is obviously a very knowledgeable philosopher and he makes many good points. The book is probably aimed at atheists and philosophers. It's not a book to start with for those new to atheism or those with only a sporadic interest in ahteism or religion, but at the same time, for the already-convinced atheist, such as myself, there's really not much new to be found in this book.
50 of 57 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Onfray shows through historical and philosophical examples how the myths of monotheism and later Christianity were created and how the whole story was trimmed to suit the people in power.
Constantine was the first roman emperor who converted to Christianity. He saw clearly how this new religion would help him to establish a totalitarian regime. For nearly two millennia others would follow and use a fairytale to gain power over large parts of the world and brutalize everyone who wouldn't comply.
The book puts into easy readable words what I thought for myself since I started to think at around 12 years of age. But I could never really articulate my thought about the subject very well. Onfray does this brilliantly.
Must read for everyone! This way of thinking should be taught in schools.
Constantine was the first roman emperor who converted to Christianity. He saw clearly how this new religion would help him to establish a totalitarian regime. For nearly two millennia others would follow and use a fairytale to gain power over large parts of the world and brutalize everyone who wouldn't comply.
The book puts into easy readable words what I thought for myself since I started to think at around 12 years of age. But I could never really articulate my thought about the subject very well. Onfray does this brilliantly.
Must read for everyone! This way of thinking should be taught in schools.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
