The Soul of Christianity: Restoring the Great Tradition
by Huston Smith
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"I have tried to describe a Christianity which is fully compatible with everything we now know, and to indicate why Christians feel privileged to give their lives to it." --Huston Smith In his most personal and passionate book on the spiritual life, renowned author, scholar, and teacher of world religions Huston Smith turns to his own life-long religion, Christianity. With stories and personal anecdotes, Smith not only presents the basic beliefs and essential teachings of Christianity, but show more argues why religious belief matters in today's secular world. Though there is a wide variety of contemporary interpretations of Christianity--some of them conflicting--Smith cuts through these to describe Christianity's "Great Tradition," the common faith of the first millennium of believers, which is the trunk of the tree from which Christianity's many branches, twigs, and leaves have grown. This is not the exclusivist Christianity of strict fundamentalists, nor the liberal, watered-down Christianity practiced by many contemporary churchgoers. In exposing biblical literalism as unworkable as well as enumerating the mistakes of modern secularists, Smith presents the very soul of a real and substantive faith, one still relevant and worth believing in. Smith rails against the hijacked Christianity of politicians who exploit it for their own needs. He decries the exercise of business that widens the gap between rich and poor, and fears education has lost its sense of direction. For Smith, the media has become a business that sensationalizes news rather than broadening our understanding, and art and music have become commercial and shocking rather than enlightening. Smith reserves his harshest condemnation, however, for secular modernity, which has stemmed from the misreading of science--the mistake of assuming that "absence of evidence" of a scientific nature is "evidence of absence." These mistakes have all but banished faith in transcendence and the Divine from mainstream culture and pushed it to the margins. Though the situation is grave, these modern misapprehensions can be corrected, says Smith, by reexamining the great tradition of Christianity's first millennium and reaping the lessons it holds for us today. This fresh examination of the Christian worldview, its history, and its major branches provides the deepest, most authentic vision of Christianity--one that is both tolerant and substantial, traditional and relevant. show lessTags
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In his most personal and passionate book on the spiritual life, renowned author, scholar, and teacher of world religions Huston Smith turns to his own life-long religion, Christianity. With stories and personal anecdotes, Smith not only presents the basic beliefs and essential teachings of Christianity, but argues why religious belief matters in today's secular world.
This is a great overview of Christianity by a scholar who is known widely for his writings on all world religions. Smith is a part of the school of traditionalism which sought to see underlying unity, hope, and cooperation among the various faiths of the world. Many traditionalists have found their greatest refuge in the Sufi and mystical version of Islam, but this book shows that Smith's heart is with Christianity. I would say this is a very good introduction to Christianity, and being under 200 pages, is quite readable. He acknowledges the division between the historical Jesus and the Christ of Faith, but then takes throughout the ritual year of Christian understanding, and infuses this with its mystical underpinnings.
Besieged by a modernity high on its own hubris, Huston Smith felt compelled to come to the defence of the christian world view in this readable polemic underscoring the relevance of the christian philosophy for modern times.
Great overview of Christianity - Huston Smith is a national treasure.
EL ALMA DEL CRISTIANISMO
Examinando el cristianismo, esta tésis explica que la sociedad está pasando por la segunda de dos grandes revoluciones. La primera, el resultado del método científico en los siglos 16 y 17, fue desastrosa para el espíritu humano. La revolución actual, al contrario, es edificante ya que le permite a la sociedad reconocer lo malo de la secularidad—lo que hizo del siglo 20 una era de violencia, inestabilidad y falta de progreso.
Examinando el cristianismo, esta tésis explica que la sociedad está pasando por la segunda de dos grandes revoluciones. La primera, el resultado del método científico en los siglos 16 y 17, fue desastrosa para el espíritu humano. La revolución actual, al contrario, es edificante ya que le permite a la sociedad reconocer lo malo de la secularidad—lo que hizo del siglo 20 una era de violencia, inestabilidad y falta de progreso.
Jul 16, 2024Spanish
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Huston Cummings Smith was born in Suzhou, China on May 31, 1919 to Methodist missionaries. He attended Central Methodist University and was ordained a Methodist minister. He soon realized that he would rather teach than preach. He received a Ph.D. in 1945 from the University of Chicago. He taught at several universities including the University of show more Denver, the Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Chicago Divinity School, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of California, Berkeley. He wrote numerous books during his lifetime including The Religions of Man (the textbook title was later changed to The World's Religions), Cleansing the Doors of Perception: The Religious Significance of Entheogenic Plants and Chemicals, and Tales of Wonder: Adventures Chasing the Divine. In 1955, he turned his popular college lectures into a series of programs on world religions for the National Educational Television network. In 1996, he was the focus of a five-part PBS series entitled The Wisdom of Faith with Huston Smith. He died on December 30, 2016 at the age of 97. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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