{"id":13057,"date":"2024-03-13T07:43:40","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T07:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=13057"},"modified":"2024-03-13T07:55:46","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T07:55:46","slug":"book-review-religion-for-atheists-alain-de-botton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=13057","title":{"rendered":"BOOK REVIEW: Religion For Atheists, Alain de Botton"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I\u2019m re-writing this review from memory, for the present. Hopefully I\u2019ll find the review I wrote at the time of reading?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for now, a very simple and slight synopsis: I concur completely, with the author, inasmuch as he contends that whilst a rational contemporary mind may rightly baulk at full on religious belief, or \u2018faith\u2019, we have much to learn from the worlds religions. To simply abandon them wholesale is to throw the baby out with the bath water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what ought we learn from religion, and how might we keep what\u2019s best whilst discarding what\u2019s worst? Like Marx on Capitalism, non-religious folk like de Botton are often surgically exact in dissecting the ills of religion. But when it comes to what to put in its place? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like almost all failed Utopian forms of Socialism, which all too often follow the road to Hell, whether paved with good intent or not, that\u2019s also where I feel this book fails. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have memories that are simultaneously clear and yet woefully dull, of attending Humanist meetings (amongst many other types, from Buddhist to Green, to\u2026 whatever), hoping to find a vibrant compelling alternative to the religion(s) I was brought up in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s not to say that the latter are<\/em> necessarily vibrant or compelling. But, despite (or is that because of?) the vacuum where rational thought might\u2019ve been, these varied forms of Christian faith cohered. Not by dint of truth. More by sleight of mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The author.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And de Botton is quite good here, on that aspect of how religion has proven useful to humanity. The real rub is how to transfer that irrational utility into rational living. And in that area I\u2019m less than convinced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other thing about all of de Botton\u2019s books that I\u2019ve read, is that whilst they\u2019re well enough written, obviously well informed, and bespeak a clear thinking mind – what one hopes for in a professed\/professional philosopher – for me they lack a certain zest. Ultimately that means I find them worthy but a trifle dull. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m prob\u2019 being too harsh here. But having just finished the humungous and epic three volume Shelby Foote series, The Civil War<\/em>, the compelling romantic excitement that reading that was, is a marked contrast to de Botton\u2019s cool, calm, possibly slightly neutered style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just like the subject he\u2019s addressing, there\u2019s something slightly awry at the heart of this dilemma. Anyway, I\u2019m going to leave it there for now. Until I either unearth my original more detailed review, or (this is less likely!) return to re-read the book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To summarise: a good and worthy book, about a subject that needs addressing. But, just like most attempts to do what the title suggests – reap the benefits of faith without actually abandoning reason – it kind of doesn\u2019t quite work. So both book and subject remain an unresolved and slightly dis-satisfying conundrum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s maddening that faith in flawed fairy tales should prove more robust and utilitarian as an \u2018answer\u2019 to life\u2019s riddles than evidence based reasoning. But that\u2019s the rub. The latter, rather than providing pat answers, or even much solace (de Botton attempts to address this in another work The Consolations of Philosophy<\/em>), simply leads to more questions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m re-writing this review from memory, for the present. Hopefully I\u2019ll find the review I wrote at the time of reading? But for now, a very simple and slight synopsis: I concur completely, with the author, inasmuch as he contends that whilst a rational contemporary mind may rightly baulk at full on religious belief, or … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “BOOK REVIEW: Religion For Atheists, Alain de Botton”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paGwUa-3oB","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13057"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13057"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13062,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13057\/revisions\/13062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}