-
Religion as We Know It
- An Origin Story
- Narrated by: David Cochran Heath
- Length: 3 hrs and 23 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Religion as We Know It
Buy for $11.17
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Christ
- A Crisis in the Life of God
- By: Jack Miles
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 64
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 36
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
Jack Miles's book is a provocative and revisionary look at the life of Jesus, in which many of the most well-worn truths about Christ are recontextualized and revisited. It does not look for the historical Jesus, but takes the Gospels as the sole source about his life.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Missed a lot of stuff
- By Wintertao on 01-08-21
By: Jack Miles
-
God
- A Biography
- By: Jack Miles
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 19 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 70
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 65
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 65
What sort of "person" is God? Is it possible to approach him not as an object of religious reverence, but as the protagonist of the world's greatest book--as a character who possesses all the depths, contradictions, and abiguities of a Hamlet? In this "brilliant, audacious book" ( Chicago Tribune), a former Jesuit marshalls a vast array of learning and knowledge of the Hebrew Bible to illuminate God--and man--with a sense of discovery and wonder.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
God of flaws - Less human due to his humanity
- By Jacobus on 01-27-15
By: Jack Miles
-
God in the Qur'an
- God in Three Classic Scriptures
- By: Jack Miles
- Narrated by: Peter Altschuler
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 26
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 26
Who is Allah? What does he ask of those who submit to his teachings? Pulitzer Prize-winner Jack Miles gives us a deeply probing, revelatory portrait of the world’s second largest, fastest-growing, and perhaps most tragically misunderstood religion. In doing so, Miles illuminates what is unique about Allah, his teachings, and his resolutely merciful temperament, and he thereby reveals that which is false, distorted, or simply absent from the popular conception of the heart of Islam.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Comparison between the Holy Bible and Holy Qur'an
- By Recession Proof Holdings. L.L.C. (RPH) on 12-29-18
By: Jack Miles
-
Paradise Lost
- By: John Milton
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,568
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,329
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,326
John Milton's Paradise Lost is one of the greatest epic poems in the English language. It tells the story of the Fall of Man, a tale of immense drama and excitement, of rebellion and treachery, of innocence pitted against corruption, in which God and Satan fight a bitter battle for control of mankind's destiny.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The most accessible reading of Paradise Lost
- By Tony McClung on 02-21-10
By: John Milton
-
Living Buddha, Living Christ
- By: Thich Nhat Hanh
- Narrated by: Ben Kingsley
- Length: 2 hrs and 16 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1,635
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,370
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1,358
World-renowned thinker and scholar Thich Nhat Hanh, considered by many to be a "Living Buddah," explores the spiritual crossroads where the traditions of Christianity and Buddhism meet. Living Buddha, Living Christ reawakens our understanding of both religions and the connections between them.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Beautiful
- By Jennifer Weatherbee on 04-18-15
By: Thich Nhat Hanh
-
A History of the Bible
- The Story of the World's Most Influential Book
- By: John Barton
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 21 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 201
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 174
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 171
In A History of the Bible, John Barton argues that the Bible is not a prescription to a complete, fixed religious system, but rather a product of a long and intriguing process, which has inspired Judaism and Christianity, but still does not describe the whole of either religion. Barton shows how the Bible is indeed an important source of religious insight for Jews and Christians alike, yet argues that it must be listened to in its historical context - from its beginnings in myth and folklore to its many interpretations throughout the centuries....
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Engaging and comprehensive
- By Tad Davis on 07-29-19
By: John Barton
-
Christ
- A Crisis in the Life of God
- By: Jack Miles
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 64
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 36
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
Jack Miles's book is a provocative and revisionary look at the life of Jesus, in which many of the most well-worn truths about Christ are recontextualized and revisited. It does not look for the historical Jesus, but takes the Gospels as the sole source about his life.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Missed a lot of stuff
- By Wintertao on 01-08-21
By: Jack Miles
-
God
- A Biography
- By: Jack Miles
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 19 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 70
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 65
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 65
What sort of "person" is God? Is it possible to approach him not as an object of religious reverence, but as the protagonist of the world's greatest book--as a character who possesses all the depths, contradictions, and abiguities of a Hamlet? In this "brilliant, audacious book" ( Chicago Tribune), a former Jesuit marshalls a vast array of learning and knowledge of the Hebrew Bible to illuminate God--and man--with a sense of discovery and wonder.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
God of flaws - Less human due to his humanity
- By Jacobus on 01-27-15
By: Jack Miles
-
God in the Qur'an
- God in Three Classic Scriptures
- By: Jack Miles
- Narrated by: Peter Altschuler
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 26
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 26
Who is Allah? What does he ask of those who submit to his teachings? Pulitzer Prize-winner Jack Miles gives us a deeply probing, revelatory portrait of the world’s second largest, fastest-growing, and perhaps most tragically misunderstood religion. In doing so, Miles illuminates what is unique about Allah, his teachings, and his resolutely merciful temperament, and he thereby reveals that which is false, distorted, or simply absent from the popular conception of the heart of Islam.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Comparison between the Holy Bible and Holy Qur'an
- By Recession Proof Holdings. L.L.C. (RPH) on 12-29-18
By: Jack Miles
-
Paradise Lost
- By: John Milton
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,568
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,329
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,326
John Milton's Paradise Lost is one of the greatest epic poems in the English language. It tells the story of the Fall of Man, a tale of immense drama and excitement, of rebellion and treachery, of innocence pitted against corruption, in which God and Satan fight a bitter battle for control of mankind's destiny.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The most accessible reading of Paradise Lost
- By Tony McClung on 02-21-10
By: John Milton
-
Living Buddha, Living Christ
- By: Thich Nhat Hanh
- Narrated by: Ben Kingsley
- Length: 2 hrs and 16 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 1,635
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,370
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1,358
World-renowned thinker and scholar Thich Nhat Hanh, considered by many to be a "Living Buddah," explores the spiritual crossroads where the traditions of Christianity and Buddhism meet. Living Buddha, Living Christ reawakens our understanding of both religions and the connections between them.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Beautiful
- By Jennifer Weatherbee on 04-18-15
By: Thich Nhat Hanh
-
A History of the Bible
- The Story of the World's Most Influential Book
- By: John Barton
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 21 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 201
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 174
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 171
In A History of the Bible, John Barton argues that the Bible is not a prescription to a complete, fixed religious system, but rather a product of a long and intriguing process, which has inspired Judaism and Christianity, but still does not describe the whole of either religion. Barton shows how the Bible is indeed an important source of religious insight for Jews and Christians alike, yet argues that it must be listened to in its historical context - from its beginnings in myth and folklore to its many interpretations throughout the centuries....
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Engaging and comprehensive
- By Tad Davis on 07-29-19
By: John Barton
-
How to Be Perfect
- The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question
- By: Michael Schur
- Narrated by: Michael Schur, Kristen Bell, D'Arcy Carden, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,286
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 2,033
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,023
Most people think of themselves as “good", but it’s not always easy to determine what’s “good” or “bad” - especially in a world filled with complicated choices and pitfalls and booby traps and bad advice. Fortunately, many smart philosophers have been pondering this conundrum for millennia, and they have guidance for us. With bright wit and deep insight, How to Be Perfect explains concepts like deontology, utilitarianism, existentialism, ubuntu, and more, so we can sound cool at parties and become better people.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Some philosophy, lots of politics
- By NJDad on 02-02-22
By: Michael Schur
-
From Jesus to Christ
- The Origins of the New Testament Images of Christ, Second Edition
- By: Paula Fredriksen
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 32
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 27
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 27
In this exciting book, Paula Fredriksen explains the variety of New Testament images of Jesus by exploring the ways that the new Christian communities interpreted his mission and message in light of the delay of the Kingdom he had preached. A new introduction reviews the most recent scholarship on Jesus and its implications for both history and theology.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Dry and very complex though somewhat informative
- By Anonymous User on 01-10-24
By: Paula Fredriksen
-
The Bible with and Without Jesus
- How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently
- By: Amy-Jill Levine, Marc Zvi Brettler
- Narrated by: Marni Penning
- Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 80
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 67
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 68
Esteemed Bible scholars and teachers Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Z. Brettler take readers on a guided tour of the most popular Hebrew Bible passages quoted in the New Testament to show what the texts meant in their original contexts and then how Jews and Christians, over time, understood those same texts. By understanding the depth and variety by which these passages have been, and can be, understood, The Bible With and Without Jesus does more than enhance our religious understandings, it helps us to see the Bible as a source of inspiration for any and all listeners.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Scholarly
- By Michael on 01-31-21
By: Amy-Jill Levine, and others
-
Orientalism
- By: Edward Said
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 19 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 578
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 465
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 466
This landmark book, first published in 1978, remains one of the most influential books in the Social Sciences, particularly Ethnic Studies and Postcolonialism. Said is best known for describing and critiquing "Orientalism", which he perceived as a constellation of false assumptions underlying Western attitudes toward the East. In Orientalism Said claimed a "subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture."
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
We're lucky to have this on audio
- By Delano on 02-27-13
By: Edward Said
-
A Brief History of Western Philosophy
- Unraveling the Secrets of Time, the Mind, and Existence
- By: Dominic Haynes
- Narrated by: Jeff Bower
- Length: 3 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 28
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 28
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 28
The impact of the Western culture and way of life can be observed in almost every corner of the planet, but where does it come from? Within this audiobook, you’ll meet the thinkers of the West, from the Greek giants and early theologists to the German idealists of the early 19th century–and beyond.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
So much knowledge
- By sanchezmacott on 04-25-23
By: Dominic Haynes
-
Anaximander
- And the Birth of Science
- By: Carlo Rovelli
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 42
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 42
Over two millennia ago, the prescient insights of Anaximander paved the way for cosmology, physics, geography, meteorology, and biology, setting in motion a new way of seeing the world. His legacy includes the revolutionary ideas that the Earth floats in a void, that animals evolved, that the world can be understood in natural rather than supernatural terms, and that universal laws govern all phenomena. In this elegant work, the renowned theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli brings to light the importance of Anaximander’s overlooked influence on modern science
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Wide ranging case for a Critical Figure in the Evolution of Science
- By Tom on 03-20-23
By: Carlo Rovelli
-
How Should We Then Live
- The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture
- By: Francis A. Schaeffer
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 766
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 637
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 627
As one of the foremost evangelical thinkers of the 20th century, Francis Schaeffer long pondered the fate of declining Western culture. In this brilliant book, he analyzed the reasons for modern society's state of affairs and presented the only viable alternative: living by the Christian ethic, acceptance of God's revelation, and total affirmation of the Bible's morals, values, and meaning.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Want To Be Left Alone? Better Read Schaeffer
- By Doug D. Eigsti on 12-09-15
-
The Long War Against God
- The History & Impact of the Creation/Evolution Conflict
- By: Henry M. Morris
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 247
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 214
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 210
Has Satan successfully led most Christians to give more credibility to the institution of science than the Bible? Today many Christians regard evolution as nothing more than God's method of creation. In this Christian apologetic resource, Morris boldly challenges this anti-biblical and even anti-theistic philosophy; an imagination or high thing exalting itself against the true knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:5). Dr. Henry Morris presents the theory of evolution as one of Satan's most devastating attacks against the Church.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Incredible analysis and arguments
- By John Maddox on 09-15-19
By: Henry M. Morris
-
Foolishness to the Greeks
- The Gospel and Western Culture
- By: Lesslie Newbigin
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 97
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 84
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 80
How can biblical authority be a reality for those shaped by the modern world? This work treats the First World as a mission field, offering a unique perspective on the relationship between the gospel and current society by presenting an outsider's view of contemporary Western culture.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Not a light listen
- By WT on 11-23-19
By: Lesslie Newbigin
-
Being Different
- An Indian Challenge to Western Universalism
- By: Rajiv Malhotra
- Narrated by: Kanchan Bhattacharyya
- Length: 17 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 31
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 24
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 23
In Being Different: An Indian Challenge to Western Universalism, thinker and philosopher Rajiv Malhotra addresses the challenge of a direct and honest engagement on differences by reversing the gaze, repositioning India from being the observed to the observer and looking at the West from the dharmic point of view. In doing so, he challenges many hitherto unexamined beliefs that both sides hold about themselves and each other.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A very profound read!
- By Sambeet M. on 09-13-18
By: Rajiv Malhotra
-
The DIM Hypothesis
- Why the Lights of the West Are Going Out
- By: Leonard Peikoff
- Narrated by: Robin Field
- Length: 17 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 142
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 130
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 125
In his groundbreaking and controversial book The DIM Hypothesis, Dr. Leonard Peikoff casts a penetrating new light on the process of human thought and thereby on Western culture and history. In this far-reaching study, Peikoff identifies the three methods people use to integrate concrete data into a whole, as when connecting diverse experiments by a scientific theory, separate laws into a constitution, or single events into a story.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
If you were frustrated by Ayn Rand's narrow focus
- By Steve L. on 11-30-18
By: Leonard Peikoff
-
A Secular Age
- By: Charles Taylor
- Narrated by: Dennis Holland
- Length: 42 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 256
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 216
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 212
What does it mean to say that we live in a secular age? Almost everyone would agree that we - in the West, at least - largely do. And clearly the place of religion in our societies has changed profoundly in the last few centuries. In what will be a defining book for our time, Charles Taylor takes up the question of what these changes mean - of what, precisely, happens when a society in which it is virtually impossible not to believe in God becomes one in which faith, even for the staunchest believer, is only one human possibility among others.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Needs Guest Narrators for French and German
- By Norman on 06-13-15
By: Charles Taylor
Publisher's summary
A brief, beautiful invitation to the study of religion from a Pulitzer Prize winner
How did our forebears begin to think about religion as a distinct domain, separate from other activities that were once inseparable from it? Starting at the birth of Christianity - a religion inextricably bound to Western thought - Jack Miles reveals how the West's "common sense" understanding of religion emerged and then changed as insular Europe discovered the rest of the world. Finally, in a moving postscript, he shows how this very story continues today in the minds and hearts of individual religious or irreligious men and women.
Related to this topic
-
Orientalism
- By: Edward Said
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 19 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 578
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 465
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 466
This landmark book, first published in 1978, remains one of the most influential books in the Social Sciences, particularly Ethnic Studies and Postcolonialism. Said is best known for describing and critiquing "Orientalism", which he perceived as a constellation of false assumptions underlying Western attitudes toward the East. In Orientalism Said claimed a "subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture."
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
We're lucky to have this on audio
- By Delano on 02-27-13
By: Edward Said
-
Reason, Faith, and the Struggle for Western Civilization
- By: Samuel Gregg
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 6 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 158
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 142
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 140
This sharp commentary on the rise and current decline of Western Civilization touches on historical moments - including the building of early universities in the Middle Ages and the American Revolution - and figures - including Augustine, Acquinas, Edmund Burke, and Adam Smith - that exemplify the faith-reason synthesis at the heart of Western Civilization, as well as the modern villains that threaten to destroy it.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent description of the current state of the West
- By Terryn on 10-24-19
By: Samuel Gregg
-
Forbidden Faith
- The Secret History of Gnosticism
- By: Richard Smoley
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 135
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 114
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 113
The success of books such as Elaine Pagels's Gnostic Gospels and Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code proves beyond a doubt that there is a tremendous thirst today for finding the hidden truths of Christianity - truths that may have been lost or buried by institutional religion over the last two millennia. In Forbidden Faith, Richard Smoley narrates a popular history of one such truth, the ancient esoteric religion of gnosticism, which flourished between the first and fourth centuries AD, but whose legacy remains even today, having survived secretly throughout the ages.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An absolute must for understanding Gnosticism.
- By Patriot RN - Doc on 05-12-21
By: Richard Smoley
-
Zakhor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory (The Samuel and Althea Stroum Lectures in Jewish Studies)
- By: Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi
- Narrated by: Aze Fellner
- Length: 4 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 35
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 28
Winner of the National Jewish Book Award for History. This book discusses the troubling and possibly irreconcilable split between Jewish memory and Jewish historiography.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Best book of history of Judaism written in centuries
- By Bicigodo on 07-19-15
-
How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind
- Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity
- By: Dr. Thomas C. Oden PhD
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 92
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 71
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 72
Africa has played a decisive role in the formation of Christian culture from its infancy. Some of the most decisive intellectual achievements of Christianity were explored and understood in Africa before they were in Europe. If this is so, why is Christianity so often perceived in Africa as a Western colonial import? How can Christians in Northern and sub-Saharan Africa, indeed, how can Christians throughout the world, rediscover and learn from this ancient heritage?
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Worth reading even if not perfect
- By Adam Shields on 02-26-20
-
The Case for God
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Karen Armstrong
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 436
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 322
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 325
Moving from the Paleolithic age to the present, Karen Armstrong details the great lengths to which humankind has gone in order to experience a sacred reality that it called by many names, such as God, Brahman, Nirvana, Allah, or Dao. Focusing especially on Christianity but including Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Chinese spiritualities, Armstrong examines the diminished impulse toward religion in our own time, when a significant number of people either want nothing to do with God or question the efficacy of faith. Why has God become unbelievable?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great recasting of how God should be interpreted
- By John Doyle on 02-18-11
By: Karen Armstrong
-
Orientalism
- By: Edward Said
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 19 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 578
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 465
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 466
This landmark book, first published in 1978, remains one of the most influential books in the Social Sciences, particularly Ethnic Studies and Postcolonialism. Said is best known for describing and critiquing "Orientalism", which he perceived as a constellation of false assumptions underlying Western attitudes toward the East. In Orientalism Said claimed a "subtle and persistent Eurocentric prejudice against Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture."
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
We're lucky to have this on audio
- By Delano on 02-27-13
By: Edward Said
-
Reason, Faith, and the Struggle for Western Civilization
- By: Samuel Gregg
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 6 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 158
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 142
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 140
This sharp commentary on the rise and current decline of Western Civilization touches on historical moments - including the building of early universities in the Middle Ages and the American Revolution - and figures - including Augustine, Acquinas, Edmund Burke, and Adam Smith - that exemplify the faith-reason synthesis at the heart of Western Civilization, as well as the modern villains that threaten to destroy it.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent description of the current state of the West
- By Terryn on 10-24-19
By: Samuel Gregg
-
Forbidden Faith
- The Secret History of Gnosticism
- By: Richard Smoley
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 135
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 114
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 113
The success of books such as Elaine Pagels's Gnostic Gospels and Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code proves beyond a doubt that there is a tremendous thirst today for finding the hidden truths of Christianity - truths that may have been lost or buried by institutional religion over the last two millennia. In Forbidden Faith, Richard Smoley narrates a popular history of one such truth, the ancient esoteric religion of gnosticism, which flourished between the first and fourth centuries AD, but whose legacy remains even today, having survived secretly throughout the ages.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An absolute must for understanding Gnosticism.
- By Patriot RN - Doc on 05-12-21
By: Richard Smoley
-
Zakhor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory (The Samuel and Althea Stroum Lectures in Jewish Studies)
- By: Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi
- Narrated by: Aze Fellner
- Length: 4 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 35
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 28
Winner of the National Jewish Book Award for History. This book discusses the troubling and possibly irreconcilable split between Jewish memory and Jewish historiography.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Best book of history of Judaism written in centuries
- By Bicigodo on 07-19-15
-
How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind
- Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity
- By: Dr. Thomas C. Oden PhD
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 92
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 71
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 72
Africa has played a decisive role in the formation of Christian culture from its infancy. Some of the most decisive intellectual achievements of Christianity were explored and understood in Africa before they were in Europe. If this is so, why is Christianity so often perceived in Africa as a Western colonial import? How can Christians in Northern and sub-Saharan Africa, indeed, how can Christians throughout the world, rediscover and learn from this ancient heritage?
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Worth reading even if not perfect
- By Adam Shields on 02-26-20
-
The Case for God
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Karen Armstrong
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 436
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 322
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 325
Moving from the Paleolithic age to the present, Karen Armstrong details the great lengths to which humankind has gone in order to experience a sacred reality that it called by many names, such as God, Brahman, Nirvana, Allah, or Dao. Focusing especially on Christianity but including Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Chinese spiritualities, Armstrong examines the diminished impulse toward religion in our own time, when a significant number of people either want nothing to do with God or question the efficacy of faith. Why has God become unbelievable?
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great recasting of how God should be interpreted
- By John Doyle on 02-18-11
By: Karen Armstrong
-
What Are We Doing Here?
- By: Marilynne Robinson
- Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 36
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 27
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 25
Marilynne Robinson has plumbed the human spirit in her renowned novels, including Lila and Gilead, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. In this new essay collection she trains her incisive mind on our modern political climate and the mysteries of faith. Whether she is investigating how the work of great thinkers about America, like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Alexis de Tocqueville, inform our political consciousness or discussing how beauty informs and disciplines daily life, Robinson's peerless prose and boundless humanity are on full display.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Unpersuasive and a bit repetitive
- By Adam Shields on 03-07-18
-
In Defense of History
- By: Richard J. Evans
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 40
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 32
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 31
Richard J. Evans shows us how historians manage to extract meaning from the recalcitrant past. To materials that are frustratingly meager, or overwhelmingly profuse, they bring an array of tools that range from agreed-upon rules of documentation to the critical application of social and economic theory, all employed with the aim of reconstructing a verifiable, usable past. Evans defends this commitment to historical knowledge from the attacks of postmodernist critics who deny the possibility of achieving any kind of certain knowledge about the past.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Enlightening
- By David A on 07-03-18
By: Richard J. Evans
-
The Hedgehog and the Fox (Second Edition)
- An Essay on Tolstoy's View of History
- By: Isaiah Berlin, Henry Hardy - editor, Michael Ignatieff - foreword
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 2 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 25
"The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing." This ancient Greek aphorism, preserved in a fragment from the poet Archilochus, describes the central thesis of Isaiah Berlin's masterly essay on Leo Tolstoy and the philosophy of history, the subject of the epilogue to War and Peace. Although there have been many interpretations of the adage, Berlin uses it to mark a fundamental distinction between human beings who are fascinated by the infinite variety of things and those who relate everything to a central, all-embracing system.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Fox Who Tried To Be A Hedgehog
- By Rich S. on 12-14-21
By: Isaiah Berlin, and others
-
The History of Philosophy
- By: A. C. Grayling
- Narrated by: Neil Gardner
- Length: 28 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 116
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 96
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 95
The story of philosophy is an epic tale, spanning civilizations and continents. It explores some of the most creative minds in history. But not since the long-popular classic by Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy, published in 1945, has there been a comprehensive and entertaining single-volume history of this great, intellectual, world-shaping journey.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A much needed update to Bertrand Russell's classic
- By Michael on 06-27-20
By: A. C. Grayling
-
Seven Types of Atheism
- By: John Gray
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 70
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 60
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 57
For a generation now, public debate has been corroded by a shrill, narrow derision of religion in the name of an often vaguely understood “science.” John Gray’s stimulating and enjoyable new book, Seven Types of Atheism, describes the complex, dynamic world of older atheisms, a tradition that is, he writes, in many ways intertwined with and as rich as religion itself.
By: John Gray
-
The Givenness of Things
- Essays
- By: Marilynne Robinson
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 46
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 48
The spirit of our times can appear to be one of joyless urgency. As a culture we have become less interested in the exploration of the glorious mind, and more interested in creating and mastering technologies that will yield material well-being. But while cultural pessimism is always fashionable, there is still much to give us hope.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Mostly thoughts on religious things
- By Adam Shields on 01-26-16
-
Battling the Gods
- Atheism in the Ancient World
- By: Tim Whitmarsh
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 97
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 90
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 88
Long before the European Enlightenment and the Darwinian revolution, which we often take to mark the birth of the modern revolt against religious explanations of the world, brave people doubted the power of the gods. Religion provoked skepticism in ancient Greece, and heretics argued that history must be understood as a result of human action rather than divine intervention. They devised theories of the cosmos based on matter and notions of matter based on atoms.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
We have a history as long and as rich as any relig
- By Glencannnon on 08-13-19
By: Tim Whitmarsh
-
How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization
- By: Thomas E. Woods Jr.
- Narrated by: Barrett Whitener
- Length: 7 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,260
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,007
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,004
Western civilization has given us modern science, the wealth of free-market economics, the security of law, a sense of human rights and freedom, charity as a virtue, splendid art and music, philosophy grounded in reason, and innumerable other gifts we take for granted.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating and informative
- By Michael Kellogg on 09-29-05
-
The Twilight of the American Enlightenment
- The 1950s and the Crisis of Liberal Belief
- By: George M. Marsden
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 114
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 91
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 91
In the aftermath of World War II, the United States stood at a precipice. The forces of modernity unleashed by the war had led to astonishing advances in daily life, but technology and mass culture also threatened to erode the country's traditional moral character. As award-winning historian George M. Marsden explains in The Twilight of the American Enlightenment, postwar Americans looked to the country's secular liberalelites for guidance in this precarious time, but these intellectuals proved unable to articulate a coherent common cause by which America could chart its course.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Such a relevant book to our current world
- By Adam Shields on 09-14-16
-
The Closing of the Western Mind
- The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason
- By: Charles Freeman
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 43
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 35
When the Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in 368 AD, he changed the course of European history in ways that continue to have repercussions to the present day. Adopting those aspects of the religion that suited his purposes, he turned Rome on a course from the relatively open, tolerant, and pluralistic civilization of the Hellenistic world, towards a culture that was based on the rule of fixed authority, whether that of the Bible, or the writings of Ptolemy in astronomy and of Galen and Hippocrates in medicine.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Not proven
- By Jeffrey D on 04-30-21
By: Charles Freeman
-
Irrationality
- A History of the Dark Side of Reason
- By: Justin E. H. Smith
- Narrated by: Jeff Harding
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 36
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 32
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 32
Discovering that reason is the defining feature of our species, we named ourselves the “rational animal”. But is this flattering story itself rational? In this sweeping account of irrationality from antiquity to today - from the fifth-century BC murder of Hippasus for revealing the existence of irrational numbers to the rise of Twitter mobs and the election of Donald Trump - Justin Smith says the evidence suggests the opposite.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A good brain workout
- By ThomasC on 04-09-19
-
The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali
- A Biography
- By: David Gordon White
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 101
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 88
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 87
Consisting of fewer than 200 verses written in an obscure if not impenetrable language and style, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra is today extolled by the yoga establishment as a perennial classic and guide to yoga practice. As David Gordon White demonstrates in this groundbreaking study, both of these assumptions are incorrect. Virtually forgotten in India for hundreds of years and maligned when it was first discovered in the West, the Yoga Sutra has been elevated to its present iconic status.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Academic Hubris
- By John on 10-31-14