In the Valley of the Shadow: On the Foundations of Religious

In the Valley of the Shadow: On the Foundations of Religious Belief

Ten years ago, when Harvard professor James Kugel was diagnosed with an aggressive, likely fatal, form of cancer, â€œI was, of course, disturbed and worried. But the main change in my state of mind was that . . . the background music had suddenly stopped. . . . the music of daily life thatâ€™s constantly going, the music of infinite time and possibilities. Now suddenly it was gone, replaced by nothing, just silence. There you are, one little person, sitting in the late-summer sun, with only a few things left to do.â€ Despite his illness, Kugel was intrigued by this new state of mind; it seemed to reveal something basic about the religions that he had been studying for years.

In this wide-ranging exploration of religion throughout the ages, interspersed with personal reflection on the course of his illness, Kugel mines a rich store of sources in an attempt to understand mankindâ€™s unending series of encounters with God, from ancient accounts of human meetings with gods and angels, to first-person narratives of religious conversions and the findings of neuroscientists and evolutionary biologists about religious belief. A rigorously honest, sometimes skeptical, but ultimately deeply moving affirmation of religious faith, In the Valley of the Shadow is a powerful meditation on humanityâ€™s place in the world and lifeâ€™s greatest mystery.
Country USA
Brand Free Press
Manufacturer Free Press
Binding Paperback
ReleaseDate 2011-11-01
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781439130100

Country	USA
Brand	Free Press
Manufacturer	Free Press
Binding	Paperback
ReleaseDate	2011-11-01
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781439130100

In the Valley of the Shadow: On the Foundations of Religious Belief

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