In the Valley of the Shadow: On the Foundations of Religious Belief
Language: English
Published by Free Pr, 2011
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: World of Books Inc, Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.World of Books Inc
AbeBooks seller since March 23, 2026
Condition: Used - Good
£ 4.70
Quantity: 5 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Ten years ago, when Harvard professor James Kugel was diagnosed with an aggressive, likely fatal, form of cancer, I 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 that'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. 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 mankind'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 humanity's place in the world and life's greatest mystery.…
Seller Inventory # CIN1439130094G
- Title
- In the Valley of the Shadow: On the Foundations of Religious Belief
- Author
- James L Kugel Phd
- Publisher
- Free Pr
- Publication year
- 2011
- Condition
- Good
- Binding
- Hardback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 1439130094
- ISBN 13
- 9781439130094
Despite his illness, Kugel was intrigued by this new state of mind and especially the uncanny feeling of human smallness that came with it. There seemed to be something overwhelmingly true about it—and its starkness reminded him of certain themes and motifs he had encountered in his years of studying ancient religions. “This, I remember thinking, was something I should really look into further—if ever I got the chance.”
In the Valley of the Shadow is the result of that search. In this wide-ranging exploration of different aspects of religion—interspersed with his personal reflections on the course of his own illness—Kugel seeks to uncover what he calls “the starting point of religious consciousness,” an ancient “sense of self” and a way of fitting into the world that is quite at odds with the usual one. He tracks these down in accounts written long ago of human meetings with gods and angels, anthropologists’ descriptions of the lives of hunter-gatherers, the role of witchcraft in African societies, first-person narratives of religious conversions, as well as the experimental data assembled by contemporary neuroscientists and evolutionary biologists.
Though this different sense of how we fit into the world has largely disappeared from our own societies, it can still come back to us as a fleeting state of mind, “when you are just sitting on some park bench somewhere; or at a wedding, while everyone else is dancing and jumping around; or else one day standing in your backyard, as the sun streams down through the trees . . . ” Experienced in its fullness, this different way of seeing opens onto a stark, new landscape ordinarily hidden from human eyes.
Kugel’s look at the whole phenomenon of religious beliefs is a rigorously honest, sometimes skeptical, but ultimately deeply moving affirmation of faith in God. One of our generation’s leading biblical scholars has created a powerful meditation on humanity’s place in the world and all that matters most in our lives. Believers and doubters alike will be struck by its combination of objective scholarship and poetic insight, which makes for a single, beautifully crafted consideration of life’s greatest mystery.
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Review
"Rich with original, exciting ideas...["In the Valley of theShadow"] is about a man's sense of wonder as he ponders being aself-contained being in a vast universe." "--The Seattle Times"
"Kugel has the great critic's knack for making difficult poetry seem much easier than it is...When he talks openly about his new, chagrined grasp of his all-too-human condition, he adds something raw and beautiful to his exegetical prowess." --"The New York Times Book Review"
"Kugel has used his wide-ranging knowledge to affirm religious faith, doing so richly." --"Publishers Weekly"
"Written with eloquence suitable to a scholar of Biblical poetry, Kugel's memoir-cum-meditation will appealto thoughtful Jewish and non-Jewish readers alike." --"Library Journal"
"Kugel has always worn his great erudition not just lightly but alluringly, anda memoir/polemic frees him as never before." --"America Magazine"
A powerful hybrid of memoir, scholarship, and speculation an unflinching look at that greatest of mysteries, our own death. --Commonweal"
"A powerful hybrid of memoir, scholarship, and speculation...an unflinching look at that greatest of mysteries, our own death." --Commonweal
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World of Books Inc
Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.
AbeBooks seller since March 23, 2026
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