Review by Booklist Review
Harvard's humanist chaplain believes one can find purpose, compassion, and community without the existence of God. To suggest otherwise, he insists, is a form of prejudice. Yet half of all Americans, according to various polls, say they would never vote for a well-qualified atheist presidential candidate. No other minority group in this country, he writes, is rejected by such large numbers (approximately 15 percent of Americans nearly 40 million are atheists). Defining humanism as, simply, goodness without God, Epstein discusses why and how to attain it. Such humanism has, he says, roots in the ancient world and in regions as different as Asia and the Middle East. He traces it from the Epicureans to Spinoza to the Enlightenment and Jefferson's pursuit-of-happiness doctrine. Humanists don't deny the significance of God, but rather consider God to be the most influential literary character ever created. Throughout, he persuasively claims that the humanist approach to life can provide the nonreligious with purpose and dignity. A thoughtful account of an often contentious topic.--Sawyers, June Copyright 2009 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The humanist chaplain at Harvard University offers an updated defense of humanism in response to the belligerent attacks on religion put forward by such new atheists as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens. Epstein's approach to religion is respectful, and for the most part, friendly. He sees liberal Christians, Unitarian Universalists, Jews and spiritual self-help gurus, such as Oprah Winfrey, as natural allies of humanists though at times he seems impatient for them to admit they no longer believe in a transcendent God. A student of Sherwin Wine, the late rabbi and founder of Humanistic Judaism, Epstein's humanism is rooted in his mentor's essentially Jewish formulations. His most impassioned argument is with megachurch pastor Rick Warren and other evangelicals who believe secularism is the enemy and a moral society impossible without a belief in God. While such an argument may be needed, Epstein's book is marred by redundancies and a lack of organization that suggests it was hastily put together. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
In his first book, Epstein (humanist chaplain, Harvard Univ.) ambitiously attempts to present humanism as a positive life stance that consists of much more than just the absence of belief in a deity by combining history, philosophy, inspiration, and personal confession and generously sprinkling literary, philosophical, and pop cultural illustrations throughout. Opposing the two extremes of the new atheism and religious fundamentalism, he carves a middle path alongside religious moderates. By focusing on ethics and action rather than theology and belief, Epstein's vision is highly inclusive and emphasizes the vast common ground between the religious and nonreligious without diminishing or compromising the obvious differences. In this passionate collection of thoughts and ideas, he endeavors to educate the religious about the true nature of humanism and to inspire the nonreligious to consider constructively what they do believe rather than what they do not. Verdict Positioned by the publisher as a response to Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Richard Dawkins, this is recommended for anyone interested in a positive and more tolerant contribution to the current God debate.-Brian T. Sullivan, Alfred Univ. Lib., NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A passionate introduction to the philosophy of humanism. We are living in a time when nearly one billion people worldwide claim to be nonreligious, writes Harvard University humanist chaplain Epstein. Even in the United States, one of the most religious of industrialized nations, some 40 million say no to belief in supernatural causality. So now is the time, writes the author, for a rallying cry in the name of humanism, a philosophy built on the idea of being good without a god. In his first book, Epstein recalls the long history of doubt, going back to Epicurus and Socrates, re-emerging in the Enlightenment and then again during the age of Freud, Marx and Nietzsche. Epstein successfully dispels the case that God is required if one is to be good. "This is not a book about whether one can be good without God because that question does not need to be answeredit needs to be rejected outright," writes the author. "To suggest that that one can't be good without belief in a god is not just an opinion, a mere curious musing. It is prejudice. It may even be discrimination." Socrates was the first to ask whether something is good because God loves it or if God loves it because it's good? If it's the latter, then logically speaking there's no need for God. More important, Epstein's convivial argument gets beyond the hairsplitting, condescension and animosity of so-called New Atheists like Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris to arrive at a constructive ideology that explains why it's important to be good even without the presence of the Almighty, and how to do it. Though the author's prose isn't as clear as his thinking, he offers an effective primer on humanism, especially for young seekers. A timely manifesto for a misunderstood and maligned school of thought. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
