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Spirituality without God: A Global History of Thought and Practice

Spirituality without God: A Global History of Thought and Practice

by PeterHeehs (Author)

  • New

    Paperback 2018

    $34.01
Synopsis

Spirituality without God is the first global survey of godless spirituality. Long before spiritual but not religious became the catchphrase of the day, there were religious and spiritual traditions in India, China, and the West that denied the existence of God. Peter Heehs begins by looking at godless traditions in the ancient world. Indian religions such as Jainism and Buddhism showed the way to liberation through individual effort. In China, Confucians and Daoists taught how to live in harmony with nature and society. Philosophies of the Greco-Roman world, such as Epicureanism, Stoicism, and Skepticism, focused on enhancing the quality of life rather than buying the favor of the gods through sacrifice or worship. Heehs shows how these traditions, rediscovered during the Renaissance, helped jump-start the European Enlightenment and opened the way to the atheism and agnosticism of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The personal, inner, approach to religion became known as spirituality. Spirituality without God is a counterbalance to theistic narratives that have dominated the field, as well as an introduction to modes of spiritual thought and practice that may appeal to people who have no interest in God.

$34.01

Quantity

10 in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
 Pages: 288
 Edition: Reprint
 Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Published: 01 Nov 2018
ISBN 10: 1350056197
ISBN 13: 9781350056190
Book Overview: An accessible survey of spirituality and belief without God from the ancient world to the present day, providing a new history of atheistic religion.

Media Reviews
Spirituality without God: A Global History of Thought and Practice traces the history of nontheistic spiritual thought and practice from the ancient world to our days. In this comprehensive, thought provoking work Peter Heehs traces a variety of spiritual approaches to life which were combined with disbelief in the supernatural. Peter Heehs shows in this impressive and well researched book that the search for spiritual wisdom unfettered by God(s), flourished for thousands of years, alongside religions based on worship of Divine beings. * Boaz Huss, Professor of Jewish Thought, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel *
Spirituality without God is an ambitious exploration of the rich history and pervasive influence of godless spirituality in many regions of the world, and the shifting meanings attached to the word spirituality. With its autobiographical reflections, Peter Heehs' engaging study is particularly timely in a period when many in Europe and North America, the `none of the aboves', choose to identify themselves as spiritual rather than religious. For anyone wishing to understand how `spiritual' has come to mean, according to Peter Heehs, virtually the opposite of `religion', Spirituality without God will be a rewarding read. * Gwilym Beckerlegge, Professor of Modern Religions, The Open University, UK *
A fascinating and creative non-Eurocentric approach to the history of religion that is relevant to understanding contemporary religious ideas and practices. This is a very interesting book with a broad audience by a fine historian with a creative and synthetic approach. * Jay L. Garfield, Doris Silbert Professor in the Humanities, Smith College and Harvard Divinity School, USA *
Author Bio
Peter Heehs is an independent scholar based in India. His publications include Writing the Self (Bloomsbury, 2013) and The Lives of Sri Aurobindo (2008). His books have been translated into Russian, Dutch, French and Japanese.