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In the Beginning God: A Fresh Look at the Case for Original MonotheismChristians believe that religion began when God created human beings and revealed himself to them. But is there scholarly evidence for this belief? In the nineteenth century academic world a stormy debate took shape over the origin of religion. Scholars explored the ancient languages of mythology and then considered evolutionary anthropology. A dominant view emerged that religion began with animism the reverent honoring of spirits and from there
Christians believe that religion began when God created human beings and revealed himself to them. But is there scholarly evidence for this belief? In the nineteenth century academic world a stormy debate took shape over the origin of religion. Scholars explored the ancient languages of mythology and then considered evolutionary anthropology. A dominant view emerged that religion began with animism -- the reverent honoring of spirits -- and from there evolved into higher forms, from polytheism on to monotheism. However, scholars Andrew Lang and Wilhem Schmidt contended there were cultures throughout the world -- pygmy people in Africa and Asia, certain Australian Aboriginal groups and Native American tribes -- that originated as monotheistic, acknowledging the existence of one supreme God who created the world and holds people accountable for living morally upright lives. The debate wore on, and Schmidt, a member of the Catholic order and a priest, was accused (without evidence) of letting his faith interpret the facts. By the mid-twentieth century a silent consensus formed among scholars not to discuss the origin and evolution of religion any further. The discoveries of Lang and Schmidt have since been largely ignored. However, the evidence on which these scholars based their conclusion of monotheism is still out there. In the Beginning God attempts to educate Christians about the debate on this topic, the facts that were accepted and those that were ignored, and the use to which Christians can put all of this material in making a case for the truth of Christianity.Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
Published: 09/15/2013
ISBN: 9780805447781
Pages: 368
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.90d
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4.6 ★★★★★
Based on 751 reviews
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Product Reviews
★★★★★ 5
Guided tour through a difficult work
Format: Paperback
For the non-expert reader of Plato, this is a very good text for working through Timaeus. Actually, it may be useful to expert readers as well, but I wouldn't know about that, being firmly situated in the non-expert camp. Though some scholars may take exception to certain parts of Cornford's translation and interpretation, for those of us trying to get through it for the first time and on our own, this is still an exceptional guide. By the way, for an alternative translation and interpretation, the reader may want to check out Kalkavage's translation (Focus Philosophical Library), it is very good (I would rate it 5 stars also) and has some extremely helpful appendices for understanding references to music, astronomy, and geometry.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2013
★★★★★ 5
Cornford's Plato Cosmology/Timaeus
Format: Paperback
This is an excellent and invaluable reference book for Plato's Timaeus. If you are reading Timaeus you MUST have this book. It contains line-by-line commentary, and also, most valuable, some very helpful illustrations (example: illustration of the human body as Timaeus explained it). I would, however, balance this book with other books that attempt to place Timaeus within the rest of Plato's works. I recommend, for example, Peter Kalkavage's Timaeus. There, he attempts to link Timaeus and Republic.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2011
★★★★★ 5
An Excellent Choice
Format: Paperback
Excellent introduction, notes and translation.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2017
★★★★★ 5
Five Stars
Format: Paperback
Professor Cornford's translation with running commentary is definitive.
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Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2015
★★★★★ 5
Plato's dialogue about the physical world
Format: Paperback
The two biggest topics in the Timaeus are astronomy and the elements of bodies, which are constructed using triangles and the tetrahedron, octahedron, icosahedron, and cube. I would like to see a translation of the Timaeus that uses it as a way to introduce all the astronomy that appears in the dialogue. Introducing the astronomy does not mean just talking in words about spheres or the zodiac or the ecliptic, but actually explaining how these were used by astronomers. Cornford has much to say, but to someone who has not learned any Greek astronomy his commentary will be opaque and hard to use. I didn't know the astronomy well enough to readily understand Cornford's explanations. I plan to learn more classical Greek astronomy, perhaps using Evans'
, and then read Waterfield's translation of the Timaeus
.
Before reading this you should have read the Republic and know some classical Greek natural philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy. Although Cornford's commentary makes the dialogue staccato, I am glad for it because I wouldn't otherwise have understood much of what Plato says. The Timaeus and the Parmenides are the two dialogues of Plato that one needs commentary to understand; the Parmenides demands the commentary because so much of what is happening depends on the original language, and the Timaeus demands the commentary because of all the things the reader is supposed to be familiar with.
The following is a list of topics I kept while reading the dialogue: theory of Forms 27d-28a, 51a-52a; harmonics 35b-36b; time 37c-38e, 39b-e; vision 45b-46c, 67c-68d; space 52b; surfaces 53c; weight 62d-63e; sound 67a-67c; physiology 70c-79e, 80d-86a; antiperistasis 79e-80c.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2015