Looking In the Distance
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Review
"(A) profound meditation on spiritual tolerance... A truly wonderful book by a man who has the courage to doubt." Observer "This is exhilarating and inspiring stuff, but it is in his last section, 'Leaving', that Holloway hits the sweetest, highest, saddest notes on his trumpet." Bel Mooney, The Times "Lucid and exhilarating." Independent on Sunday "Passionate, exciting and interesting... [a] theological roller-coaster." Herald"
Product Description
In the twenty first century, organised religion would seem to have lost its grip on humanity, and yet people seek spiritual guidance as much as, if not even more than, ever before.. In Looking in the Distance, Richard Holloway explores and celebrates the possibilities afforded to us throughout our lives, whilst examining the fears and doubts that so often paralyse people. Meditative and highly personal, Holloway has a scholarly, well-argued thesis that both challenges and empowers. His gift is to inspire us to better understand the differing ways in which the human search for wholeness and healing can be approached.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
44 of 44 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A marvellous, wise and tolerant book. If I say that it is astonishing that it should have been written by a bishop, it is only because he examines and then discards so many teachings of the churches, from the idea that God has laid down the moral rules according to which we should live to the notion of life after death.
It has four chapters. The first deals with the questions that must torment every believer in the divine ordering of a world that is so full of impersonal and personal cruelty. If the universe is indifferent to us, that is no reason why we should not find a worthy purpose in our own lives. If we cannot believe that God is Love, we should continue to live as though He were present in love.
The fine second chapter deals with religious myths. A myth is not literally true, and it is stultifying and damaging if we believe that it is. But many myths tells us something about ourselves and often convey a wisdom about the human condition.
The third chapter addresses some of the dilemmas when we are faced by conflicting moral principles.
The most powerful and moving chapter is the fourth, which deals with the challenges of ageing and of death.
This bare summing up does not do justice to the book. The things he says are not, I think, particularly original, and I do not think he would claim that it is: one of the charms of the book is that he calls in aid philosophers, novelists and above all poets who have expressed in their own beautiful way what he is now telling us. As he says in his introduction, it is a very personal book, the book of a man who has thought deeply about what he has read and about what he has experienced himself in his own journey through life.
71 of 73 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I heard this book being reviewed on the radio.
Moral philosophy is not a subject I would normally rush to amazon with an order. However, I would have no hesitation with this small, beautifully written book. His is the wide angle lens of an academic who seems to have left the church but was obviously a gifted preacher. He champions the millions of us who have profound doubts but still want a framework. If you are the sort of person who hears those who are certain that God Exists or Does Not Exist and you shudder but remain silent then this book is for you. He quotes poetry and holds this in prose that captures your attention because his writing is as fine as the poetry. He uses examples of modern dilemmas that are hot off the 2004 press. His last chapter on Leaving made me laugh out loud. This is a rare book that I now want to read again.
Moral philosophy is not a subject I would normally rush to amazon with an order. However, I would have no hesitation with this small, beautifully written book. His is the wide angle lens of an academic who seems to have left the church but was obviously a gifted preacher. He champions the millions of us who have profound doubts but still want a framework. If you are the sort of person who hears those who are certain that God Exists or Does Not Exist and you shudder but remain silent then this book is for you. He quotes poetry and holds this in prose that captures your attention because his writing is as fine as the poetry. He uses examples of modern dilemmas that are hot off the 2004 press. His last chapter on Leaving made me laugh out loud. This is a rare book that I now want to read again.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Richard Holloway's exploration of spirituality within an increasingly secular society is a book I would highly recommend to almost anyone with a philosophical bent. Holloway's style of writing is constantly engaging, and at no point becomes as pretentious or convoluted as so many similar texts on the subject. I would perhaps recommend this book most highly to agnostic readers as opposed to atheistic, as Holloway wisely avoids much debate as to the existence of God and instead focuses on how religion and spirituality can be a part of people's lives without the dogmatism of organised religion.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Parallels with Bishop Spong
Bishop Richard Holloway, now resigned and a common man, has a superb command of the English language and a, sometimes corruscating, commitment to the personal truth of his life and... Read more
Published 2 months ago by R. Iain F. Brown
Great book but...
I do not recommend the Kindle version of this book.
The publishers have released an appalling product. This has not been properly formatted for the Kindle. Read more
The publishers have released an appalling product. This has not been properly formatted for the Kindle. Read more
Published 3 months ago by DGBro
Morality without God
Looking in the Distance: The human search for meaning by Richard Holloway, Canongate, Edinburgh, 2004, 228 ff. Read more
Published on 30 July 2009 by Dr. H. A. Jones
All relative
It's hard to rate this book - the first half is a 5 star read, both sensible and transcendent. Relative to this, the second half disappoints, being merely sensible. Read more
Published on 7 Nov 2008 by Alba
Thoughtful but ultimately unfulfilling
For the most part, elegantly written and filled with telling quotations that lead you in search of their sources. Read more
Published on 14 Nov 2005 by S. Gray
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