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Skeptics and Believers: Religious Debate in the Western Intellectual Tradition
- Narrated by: Tyler Roberts
- Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
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Publisher's Summary
Beginning in the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation and the Scientific Revolution began to erode the position of authority. As a result, new philosophers began constructing a universal rationality independent of faith. This schism fundamentally changed the course of Western civilization, and it has had consequences that remain with us to this day. This 36-lecture journey will help you understand exactly what the debate has been and will continue to be about.
By gaining a richer understanding of the debate's key aspects - including the nature of the conflict, the meaning of the arguments, and what is at stake both philosophically and theologically - you can add significantly to the level of sophistication you already bring to one of today's most far-reaching issues and increase your understanding of both our past and the direction of our future.
These lectures examine more than three centuries of debate in the Western world about the nature of religious faith and its compatibility with reason. Drawing on some of Western civilization's greatest theological and philosophical minds, Professor Roberts even-handedly follows and analyzes the arguments of a broad range of skeptics and believers, including the likes of Thomas Aquinas, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Daniel Dennett, Martin Luther, Immanuel Kant, Soren Kierkegaard, and many others.In addition, these lectures maintain the sense of a true conversation across time, so that you'll never lose the thread of how one idea relates to another as he weaves a vast amount of material into a coherent whole that amounts to far more than the sum of its parts. The result is one of the most intellectually satisfying plunges into philosophical and theological thought you will ever take.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
What listeners say about Skeptics and Believers: Religious Debate in the Western Intellectual Tradition
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Walter
- 12-27-13
Light on skeptics, heavy on believers
If you want a history of the debate between skeptics and believers told essentially from the believers' point of view, this lecture series does a good job. My impression is that Professor Roberts includes just enough of the skeptics to show how they affected the arguments of the believers. But if you're looking for a robust summation of Hume, Nietzsche, Marx, Freud, etc. presented with an emphasis equal to that given the other side, this is not it. In fact, I'd say it's at best 1/3 skeptics and 2/3 believers.
At the very least, the title of the series is misleading. It might have more appropriately been something like: "Religious Debates in the Western Intellectual Tradition: The Response of Believers to their Critics." But then, I would not have purchased it.
42 people found this helpful
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- Aloy Wo
- 09-01-17
Balanced thought-provoking Nuanced
It's not that Prof. Roberts reinforced my own beliefs; he didn't. But he does provide atheists and theists alike fodder for grand cogitation. Fundamentalists, both religious and antitheist, beware.
8 people found this helpful
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- Roberto H. Castro
- 03-29-22
An Engaging and thought-provoking course
This is a thought provoking course for agnostics and believers regarding what is religion and the views espoused in the western world. I will review the course PDF and review the course in the next 4-6 months, the content and delivery are solid. Believers may be challenged, skeptics too a lesser extent may find solace with more recent views that see revelation and presence of God in ancient texts and without choosing one faith over another. Buddhists will better understand the pain, agony and joy if the different proponents of faith and skepticism.
In short, in my opinion, this is one of the better courses, but be prepared to listen to all lectures!
3 people found this helpful
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- Robert M. Shearn
- 11-09-21
Excellent teacher!
Professor Robert’s command of the topic is impressive; his articulation of the vast array of positions, ideas, and their exponents over two millennia is clear and cogent; his presentation style, use of examples, etc., made for an enjoyable, yet challenging learning experience. A wonderful course!
3 people found this helpful
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- Peter
- 04-01-15
Exceptional and challenging course of study.
Pragmstic and yet quite insightful; this study of modernity and religion finally helped me to come to a fuller understanding of the Christian Doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation.
3 people found this helpful
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- ssurguine
- 01-01-22
Skeptics and Believers: Religious Debate in the Western Intellectual Tradition
“Skeptics and Believers: Religious Debate in the Western Intellectual Tradition” has to be one of the BEST series of lectures ever produced by The Great Courses!
That is partly because the instructor seems to be remarkably unbiased* in his teaching style, a remarkable feat when it comes to the subject matter!
Professor Roberts is also a fantastic teacher, especially considering HOW MUCH ground he must cover!
I would recommend this course to anyone interested in this subject!
* I said he SEEMS remarkably unbiased but maybe my own biases are somehow mixed up in my attitude! I would like to read the reviews of others who have been all the way thru this course.
2 people found this helpful
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- bk
- 10-04-20
Diversity Through Religious Thought
The great expansive way in which the complexity of religious diversity and tolerance is explored makes these lectures exceptional. The lecturer's knowledge base is endless as pursuit of religion and modernity are presented.
2 people found this helpful
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- John
- 08-03-19
excellent
Very stimulating series of lectures. covers a great deal of religious thought in a balanced way
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- Daniel A.
- 09-20-17
Huge range of information presented unbiased
This was a really great course to have gone through. Such a wide range of coverage and no biase by the author. highly recommended for anyone looking at understanding different perspectives on religion. Well worth it!
1 person found this helpful
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Reason & Faith: Philosophy in the Middle Ages
- By: Thomas Williams, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Thomas Williams
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
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Today we tend to separate questions of logic from questions of belief, philosophy from religion, reason from faith. But for 1,000 years during a pivotal era of Western thought, reason and faith went hand-in-hand in the search for answers to the most profound issues investigated by Christianity's most committed scholars.
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Professor Williams Blends Reason with History
- By Mike on 12-21-14
By: Thomas Williams, and others
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Mystical Tradition: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
- By: Luke Timothy Johnson, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Luke Timothy Johnson
- Length: 18 hrs and 12 mins
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Each of the great three Abrahamic religious traditions holds the seeds for deep mystical contemplation. But what do most of us know about these mystics and the tradition they sustained? Explore this spiritual, literary, and intellectual heritage in these great faiths of the West as it unfolds over three millennia with these 36 enlightening, thought-provoking lectures that offer nearly
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Powerful perspective
- By Ben on 03-06-17
By: Luke Timothy Johnson, and others
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Quest for Meaning: Values, Ethics, and the Modern Experience
- By: The Great Courses, Robert H. Kane
- Narrated by: Robert H. Kane
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
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Is there an ethics that we can all agree on without stifling pluralism and freedom? What would such an ethics look like? Most important, how should you, as a thoughtful person, find your way among the moral puzzles of the modern world and its cacophony of voices and opinions? These are just some of the engaging and perplexing questions you'll tackle as you join Professor Kane for this thought-provoking, 24-lecture examination of the problems surrounding ethics in the modern world.
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Yes, Virginia, there is an objective truth.
- By Trial and Error on 07-17-14
By: The Great Courses, and others
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The Enlightenment Invention of the Modern Self
- By: Leo Damrosch, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Leo Damrosch
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
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In 24 lectures that let you see the world through the eyes of the Enlightenment's greatest writers, follow the origin of new ways of thinking-ideas we today take for granted but are startlingly recent-about the individual and society. You'll discover how these notions emerged in an era of transition from a world dominated by classical thought, institutional religion, and the aristocracy to one that was increasingly secular, scientific, skeptical, and middle class.
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Shows how we became authentic and sincere
- By Gary on 03-08-17
By: Leo Damrosch, and others
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Introduction to the Study of Religion
- By: Charles B. Jones, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Charles B. Jones
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
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The religious experience is an extraordinarily powerful force that can define and shape the communities it creates. Over the course of 24 lectures, Professor Jones takes a vibrant first look at the discipline known as religious studies and shows how other fields-sociology, psychology, anthropology, and phenomenology-have tried to explain the complex relationship between individuals, cultures, and faith.
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Not at all what i was looking for
- By SisterLucia on 12-10-13
By: Charles B. Jones, and others
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Biblical Wisdom Literature
- By: The Great Courses, Father Joseph Koterski S.J.
- Narrated by: Father Joseph Koterski S.J.
- Length: 18 hrs and 38 mins
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In 36 thought-provoking lectures, you'll explore enlightening teachings that have inspired the world and that continue to speak to life's most important questions. Throughout, you'll benefit from Father Koterski's ecumenical perspective, as he presents these teachings within the Jewish and Christian traditions and compares the varying versions of these texts. What do these writings have to say about the great philosophical problems people seek to understand? You'll find out as you contend with the literal and figurative meanings behind some of the Bible's most essential books and parts (as well as some that many of us overlook).
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Excellent Work!
- By Justin Sproles on 02-14-16
By: The Great Courses, and others
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The Birth of the Modern Mind: The Intellectual History of the 17th and 18th Centuries
- By: Alan Charles Kors, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Alan Charles Kors
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
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Revolutions in thought (as opposed to those in politics or science) are in many ways the most far-reaching of all. They affect how we grant legitimacy to authority, define what is possible, create standards of right and wrong, and even view the potential of human life. Between 1600 and 1800, such a revolution of the intellect seized Europe, shaking the minds of the continent as few things before or since. What we now know as the Enlightenment challenged previously accepted ways of understanding reality, bringing about modern science, representative democracy, and a wave of wars, sparking what Professor Kors calls "perhaps the most profound transformation of European, if not human, life." In this series of 24 insightful lectures, you'll explore the astonishing conceptual and cultural revolution of the Enlightenment. You'll witness in its tumultuous history the birth of modern thought in the dilemmas, debates, and extraordinary works of the 17th- and 18th-century mind, as wielded by the likes of thinkers like Bacon, Descartes, Hobbes, Pascal, Newton, Locke, Hume, Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau.And you'll understand why educated Europeans came to believe that they had a new understanding-of thought and the human mind, of method, of nature, and of the uses of knowledge-with which they could come to know the world correctly for the first time in human history, and with which they could rewrite the possibilities of human life.
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Good material, annoying voice
- By Don on 08-29-13
By: Alan Charles Kors, and others
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Moral Decision Making
- How to Approach Everyday Ethics
- By: Clancy Martin, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Clancy Martin
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
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Whether or not we're aware of them, we make important ethical decisions all the time - as professionals, consumers, citizens, parents, sons and daughters, and friends. These 24 thought-provoking lectures offer you the chance to reflect on some of the most powerful moral issues we face in our daily lives: Is it ever OK to lie? What are our moral obligations to others? What is the key to living the good life? From Plato to Kant to Bonhoeffer, you'll see how some of the world's greatest thinkers from across the ages have approached similar problems.
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This is college level material?
- By Trial and Error on 07-09-14
By: Clancy Martin, and others
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Great Minds of the Eastern Intellectual Tradition
- By: Grant Hardy, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Grant Hardy
- Length: 18 hrs and 36 mins
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Western philosophy is a vast intellectual tradition, the product of thousands of years of revolutionary thought built up by a rich collection of brilliant minds. But to understand the Western intellectual tradition is to get only half the story. The Eastern intellectual tradition has made just as important a contribution-and is also the product of thousands of years of cumulative thought by a distinct group of brilliant thinkers. Their ideas demonstrate wholly different ways of approaching and solving the same fundamental issues that concerned the West's greatest thinkers, such as . the existence of God; . the meaning of life; and. the nature of truth and reality.This epic and comprehensive 36-lecture examination of the East's most influential philosophers and thinkers-from a much-honored teacher and scholar-offers a thought-provoking look at the surprising connections and differences between East and West. By introducing you to the people-including The Buddha, Ashoka, Prince Shotoku, Confucius, and Gandhi-responsible for molding Asian philosophy and for giving birth to a wide variety of spiritual and ideological systems, it will strengthen your knowledge of cultures that play increasingly important roles in our globalized 21st-century world.
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Not what I expected
- By John on 11-06-14
By: Grant Hardy, and others
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Why Evil Exists
- By: Charles Mathewes, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Charles Mathewes
- Length: 19 hrs and 6 mins
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Whether we view it in theological, philosophical, or psychological terms, evil remains both a deeply intriguing question and a crucially relevant global issue. Now, Professor Mathewes offers you a richly provocative and revealing encounter with the question of human evil - a dynamic inquiry into Western civilization's greatest thinking and insight on this critical subject.
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But What's Puzzling You is the Nature of My Game
- By W Perry Hall on 09-28-15
By: Charles Mathewes, and others
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From Jesus to Constantine: A History of Early Christianity
- By: Bart D. Ehrman, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Bart D. Ehrman
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
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Step back to Christianity's first three centuries to see how it transitioned from the religion of Jesus to a religion about Jesus. How did a single group from among many win the struggle for dominance to establish the beliefs central to the faith, rewrite the history of Christianity's internal conflicts, and produce a canon of sacred texts – the New Testament – that supported its own views?
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An Objective History of Early Christianity
- By Wurm on 09-18-13
By: Bart D. Ehrman, and others