Tag: history

A New Take on Skepticism in Early American History

By Paul Heffron

A new book by Christopher Grasso, Skepticism and American Faith: From the Revolution to the Civil War (Oxford University Press, 2018), presents a new take on early U.S. history, which might lead to a revision in the historiography of that era. The conventional view of this history is that the Revolution, and the founding of the United States through the Constitution, were influenced by Enlightenment thought, but that the secularism and rationalism of the founders faded in the Early Republic and were succeeded by what Grasso calls an “Evangelical Tsunami.” 

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Think Humanity Is Making Progress? This Book Could Disillusion You

By Nathan Curland

“Contemporary atheism is a flight from a godless world.” ”The progress of humanity has replaced belief in divine providence.” “The idea that the human species realizes common goals throughout history is a secular avatar of a religious idea of redemption.” These provocative statements open John Gray’s newest book, Seven Types of Atheism. The title of his tome is a nod to literary critic and poet William Empson, whose Seven Types of Ambiguity (1930), he says, “showed how language can be open-ended without being misleading.”

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A Book to Soothe the Soul in These Turbulent Times

By Michael Anderson

I have always been fascinated by the American presidency. In college and adulthood I began to read about all the presidents and their leadership styles. One of my favorite historian/authors is Doris Kearns Goodwin.This review is about her latest book, Leadership in Turbulent Times,  which focuses on four of my favorite presidents: Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Lyndon Baines Johnson.

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Homo Sapiens Have Conquered the World; Now What?

By Nathan Curland

Homo sapiens have, in the last few millennia, filled every corner of the planet and—in less than 100 years—have for all practical purposes conquered plague, famine, and war. How did this happen? 

What sets Homo sapiens apart from other species? What is the mind? Or consciousness? Do we have free will or are we just algorithms? 

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