Every reader worth his salt would do well to remember the statement of eminent philosopher Francis Bacon about how some books are to be tasted, some are to be swallowed and some others to be chewed and digested. Well, we do all read books that we can put into at least one of those three categories. We all read books to learn something, to be entertained or simply to kill time. We do all have our own favorite genres that satisfy these needs.
Philosophy is one genre which we all love to read, sooner or later, for that is where we find most of the ancient wisdom. But once in a while, you read something very bad that you end up thinking philosophy as wry, boring and rarefied mumbo-jumbo. This book does such a disservice to the cause of philosophy by its very existence.
Abraham, a man whose progeny ended up giving us three major world religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - was a favourite of God and, just as with any favorite of God, he had to undergo some serious tests of his faith and face some darkest nights of his soul. Once God asked Abraham to offer his son Isaac, a son whom he begot at the ripe old age of hundred, as a sacrifice to the Divine. The unflinching faith with which Abraham raised the knife to sacrifice Isaac remains one of the main examples of Faith in all three religions.
While Abraham is revered for having been a man of faith, the human element of that tremendous test has never been analysed much. Imagine reading a book which looks into the human aspect of Abraham's sacrifice, the pain of being asked to sacrifice the apple of his eye, the turmoil that could have whipped his mind over such a demand from God, and the confusion about God's promise of Isaac being the patriarch of hoards of humans. When Amazon recommended this book, I saw a book of great wisdom and learning in the offering. Alas, what a disappointment it turned out to be!
Søren Kierkegaard is touted as an eminent philosopher and theologian. A look at his upbringing and academic pursuits will tell you why. A man whom life tested by taking away all that he loved or could have loved, Søren felt like the right person to write on this topic. But all that eloquence and potential waxes into nothing.
While I was preparing myself for a feast of the clash between obeisance to the Divine and the passions of one’s own, Søren has doled out a pretty unpalatable dish. After beginning with an introduction about Abraham and what sets him apart from others that have faith in God, Søren wanders off to indulge in deep and abstruse rambling. Thrashing out the details of the ethical aspects of God’s demand and Abraham’s submission, the absoluteness of Abraham’s faith in God’s promises which contradict His demand and the propriety of not sharing the details of the demand with Sarah and Isaac himself – till about the last moment – are all topics that could have been the ideal ingredients for a ever-lasting classic, but all that Søren does it to offer a book that is sure to cause intellectual indigestion.
This is a book only for hardcode theologians and philosophers of an intense cast. For the rest of us mere mortals, there are much better offerings out there.
Philosophy is one genre which we all love to read, sooner or later, for that is where we find most of the ancient wisdom. But once in a while, you read something very bad that you end up thinking philosophy as wry, boring and rarefied mumbo-jumbo. This book does such a disservice to the cause of philosophy by its very existence.
Abraham, a man whose progeny ended up giving us three major world religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - was a favourite of God and, just as with any favorite of God, he had to undergo some serious tests of his faith and face some darkest nights of his soul. Once God asked Abraham to offer his son Isaac, a son whom he begot at the ripe old age of hundred, as a sacrifice to the Divine. The unflinching faith with which Abraham raised the knife to sacrifice Isaac remains one of the main examples of Faith in all three religions.
While Abraham is revered for having been a man of faith, the human element of that tremendous test has never been analysed much. Imagine reading a book which looks into the human aspect of Abraham's sacrifice, the pain of being asked to sacrifice the apple of his eye, the turmoil that could have whipped his mind over such a demand from God, and the confusion about God's promise of Isaac being the patriarch of hoards of humans. When Amazon recommended this book, I saw a book of great wisdom and learning in the offering. Alas, what a disappointment it turned out to be!
Søren Kierkegaard is touted as an eminent philosopher and theologian. A look at his upbringing and academic pursuits will tell you why. A man whom life tested by taking away all that he loved or could have loved, Søren felt like the right person to write on this topic. But all that eloquence and potential waxes into nothing.
While I was preparing myself for a feast of the clash between obeisance to the Divine and the passions of one’s own, Søren has doled out a pretty unpalatable dish. After beginning with an introduction about Abraham and what sets him apart from others that have faith in God, Søren wanders off to indulge in deep and abstruse rambling. Thrashing out the details of the ethical aspects of God’s demand and Abraham’s submission, the absoluteness of Abraham’s faith in God’s promises which contradict His demand and the propriety of not sharing the details of the demand with Sarah and Isaac himself – till about the last moment – are all topics that could have been the ideal ingredients for a ever-lasting classic, but all that Søren does it to offer a book that is sure to cause intellectual indigestion.
This is a book only for hardcode theologians and philosophers of an intense cast. For the rest of us mere mortals, there are much better offerings out there.
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