God's Funeral: The Decline of Faith in Western Civilization

Rating:
Summary: Confusion...denial...and inner turmoil
Review: What was the response of Victorian intelligensa and society to a daunting realization that the axiomatic belief in the absolute truth of "God" and the bible was no longer believable? That the highly touted advances in the Sciences, the Industrial revolution, and Darwinism made "God" both irrelevant and unnecessary. The very concept of "God" so tied to the the civilization around it (think about the Romans and Greeks)that being 'Agnostic', the word was invented then, was perceived as both a threat to the established churches as well as to the very fabric of society itself. Faith and Knowledge were in direct conflict, each attempting to deny the other. What was a thinking person to do? This book recounts the struggles of noted men (Thomas Hardy, John Ruskin to name a few)to accept, reject or reconcile themselves to the very notion of 'godlessness' - some did, some didn't. I found this book very readable although a bit 'British' in both tone and viewpoint. Social histories of any religion tend to be criticized by true believers and this book is no exception. But this sober recounting of the debate(What is God, exactly?)is a crucial point and pivotal to the understanding of the social upheavals that followed.

Rating:
Summary: Confusion...denial...and inner turmoil
Review: What was the response of Victorian intelligensa and society to a daunting realization that the axiomatic belief in the absolute truth of "God" and the bible was no longer believable? That the highly touted advances in the Sciences, the Industrial revolution, and Darwinism made "God" both irrelevant and unnecessary. The very concept of "God" so tied to the the civilization around it (think about the Romans and Greeks)that being 'Agnostic', the word was invented then, was perceived as both a threat to the established churches as well as to the very fabric of society itself. Faith and Knowledge were in direct conflict, each attempting to deny the other. What was a thinking person to do? This book recounts the struggles of noted men (Thomas Hardy, John Ruskin to name a few)to accept, reject or reconcile themselves to the very notion of 'godlessness' - some did, some didn't. I found this book very readable although a bit 'British' in both tone and viewpoint. Social histories of any religion tend to be criticized by true believers and this book is no exception. But this sober recounting of the debate(What is God, exactly?)is a crucial point and pivotal to the understanding of the social upheavals that followed.

Rating:
Summary: Stunning Overview of Victorian Lit and Religious Thought
Review: Wilson tackles the Crisis of Faith that beset mid 19th century England in the wake of Enlightenment reasoning, devastating scientific advances, and German theology. This book will be hard going for readers without a grounding in, or a profound curiosity about, the notable thinkers (Newman, Carlyle, Spencer, Ruskin, et al) of the era, but Wilson's portraits are appropriately economical, lively, and wonderfully referenced to the great literature of the period. One comes away with an appreciation of the moral and intellectual struggles that engaged many Victorians as they re-examined the idea of a relationship to a personal God. Not much here for fundamentalists, but if you consider yourself a deist, an agnostic, an atheist, or a "sweetness and light' Christian a la Matthew Arnold (not a Wilson hero), this is a particularly rewarding book. As historian Gertrude Himmelfarb has pointed out, we still have much to learn from the Victorians and Wilson demonstrates vivedly yet another reason why this is so.