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9 verk 436 medlemmar 5 recensioner

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James Turner is professor of history at the University of Michigan

Inkluderar även: James Turner (12)

Verk av James C. Turner

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Andra namn
Turner, James
Födelsedag
1946
Kön
male

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I initially rated this as a five-star book, when I read it, which was more than 15 years ago. I recently read a very thoughtful review by Michael D. Reynolds (December 6, 2013), that has made me rethink my position.

I have read a couple of histories of atheism recently, that begin by dismissing popular atheist works, especially by the so-called "Four Horsemen" of the New Atheists (Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens), and proceeding to tell a very narrow history of the subject. One focused on a highly selective number of philosophers A Short History of Atheism by Gavin Hyman); another complained about the lack of a discussion of theology (Website" rel="nofollow" target="_new">Is God a Moral Monster?, by Paul Copan. These two may be accurate as far as their chosen slice of the subject goes, but they ignore a vast number of issues, writings, and events outside of scope that I believe also influenced the development of unbelief. It is unclear to me that they understand much about atheism as it is experienced by atheists themselves; I am an atheist. I think that this may be another of those that are not so much inaccurate as too focused on small parts of the subject.

I will add this to my copious To Be Read list, and perhaps come back to rewrite this review.

I shall reread this
… (mer)
 
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PuddinTame | 1 annan recension | Apr 22, 2023 |
What to say about this sprawling history of everything? Most precisely this is an examination of why there was even an endeavor of philology, as at various times and places thoughtful people saw fit to try and put received texts (be they actual texts or artifacts) into some contextual understanding that made sense to them, with Philology in its prime being the main tool in the effort to retrieve the learning of the Classical World. The real interest for Turner is then institutional, as how such distinct disciplines as History, Literature, Linguistics, Anthropology and the like coalesced and then professionalized, in a process one can compare to crystals materializing out of a super-saturated solution. Much of this would seem to boil down to the stresses between institutional empire-building on one hand and the failure of the center to hold in terms of revealed religion being the center of culture, as the fears of the pious came to pass that better understanding would undermine simple faith, once the Bible became just more grist for the analytic mill.

Turner essentially takes his story up into the mid 19th-century before stopping, but he does have some thoughts on what the future might hold for the Humanities in academia, assaulted on all sides by issues of relevance, resources and mission. One suggestion that Turner makes is that the practitioners of these disciplines could take a note from the physical sciences and spend less time in self-imposed definitions of their missions and work at building links between their various endeavors; united by love of the word. Turner sees cross-disciplinary efforts such as gender and environmental studies as being a positive boon in this regard.

If nothing else the investment of time in this book made me appreciate quite a bit more what the rise of the German cultural studies post-1792 meant to world intellectual development as a whole.
… (mer)
 
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Shrike58 | 2 andra recensioner | May 23, 2019 |
In Philology, James Turner makes a fun and rather interesting assertion: all studies in the humanities lead back to philology, the study of languages and their history. In order to engage in the studia humanitatis, you need history. In order to read history in its proper context, you have to read it in its original language. For that you need an understanding of languages, their structure and their history, hence philology. To understand art and architecture requires context, and the urge to understand it as its contemporaries did. This requires chronicles, journals, letters, and yes, philology. Turner traces the grand study of philology through history to show its roots and how it can be again reborn as a proper tool for understanding both our current circumstances and our collective history.

Starting with ancient Chinese and Sanskrit manuals on language organization and construction, he guides the reader through eras in philological study. Early in its day, it was the go-to field for those writing about history, philosophy, or theology. All through Western history and even into 19th century America, philology is found to form the basis for any “complete” education. He moves the narrative between poets, educators, philosophers, artists, and even mathematicians to show how the field of philology both informs and is informed by everything else. Language forms in many ways the common bond between human beings, and so philology seeks to understand those bonds from the inside out.

Turner’s research on this topic is immense and rich. Even though he hedges in his introduction that this book comes up short and his understanding of ancient languages is paltry at best, he still gets across a ton of information and history. The writing is a little stuffy, but so is the subject matter. Philology is by necessity a very minutiae-driven field, so some of the sections tend to feel a bit pedantic. Trust me, if you stick it out, you get a better understanding of what we call the humanities. He laments the fact that a generalist in the humanities could not exist in today’s educational atmosphere of specialization, and in many ways I feel much the same way. Reading this will awaken the polymath in all of us, and hopefully a brave few will make a go of it as a career. All in all, a very interesting read.
… (mer)
 
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NielsenGW | 2 andra recensioner | Aug 13, 2014 |
It's unfortunate that the history of modern atheism and naturalism and its developments over time have been so understudied by historians. This book, however, is a great start to what I hope is a bright future for that area of historical study. Turner masterfully discusses the cultural, religious, philosophical, and economic factors that developed in America after (and often as a result of) the Enlightenment and which led directly to the "coming of age" of unbelief as a viable option in modern America. He also, importantly, reports on the reactions of Christians to these changing socioeconomic factors and how these reactions often led to further unbelief. Very importantly, for a topic like this, which is still developing historically even as historians begin to examine its roots, I put down this book unable, in spite of my best attempts, to decipher whether the author was a "believer" or an "unbeliever" -- a true testimony to good, impartial, unbiased, and thorough historical research.… (mer)
 
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davidpwithun | 1 annan recension | Sep 16, 2011 |

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Verk
9
Medlemmar
436
Popularitet
#56,114
Betyg
½ 4.4
Recensioner
5
ISBN
20
Språk
1

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