The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life | 
|  | | | Title: | The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life | | Author: | Armand M. Nicholi Jr. | | Publisher: | Free Press | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 29 July, 2003 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 074324785X / 9780743247856 | | List Price: | $15.00 | | You Save: | $4.05 | | Amazon Price: | $10.95 | |
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Product Description
Throughout the ages, many of the world's greatest thinkers have wrestled with the concept of -- and belief in -- God. It may seem unlikely that any new arguments or insights could be raised, but the twentieth century managed to produce two brilliant men with two diametrically opposed views about the question of God: Sigmund Freud and C. S. Lewis. They never had an actual meeting, but in The Question of God, their arguments are placed side by side for the very first time. For more than twenty-five years, Armand Nicholi has taught a course at Harvard that compares the philosophical arguments of both men. In The Question of God, Dr. Nicholi presents the writings and letters of Lewis and Freud, allowing them to "speak" for themselves on the subject of belief and disbelief. Both men considered the problem of pain and suffering, the nature of love and sex, and the ultimate meaning of life and death -- and each of them thought carefully about the alternatives to their positions. The inspiration for the PBS series of the same name, The Question of God does not presuppose which man -- Freud the devout atheist or Lewis the atheist-turned-believer -- is correct in his views. Rather, readers are urged to join Nicholi and his students and decide for themselves which path to follow.
Amazon.com Review
Of course we can never really answer the question of whether God exists. And of course it would have been highly unlikely for Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis to discuss this question in person, considering that they were born in different countries and a generation apart. Nonetheless, The Question of God allows readers to listen in on one of the most articulate debates possible by creating a virtual meeting of Freud and Lewis. For the past 25 years, Armand M. Nicholi has taught a similar course at Harvard, where he compares Freud’s atheist-based reasoning against the atheist-turned-believer C.S. Lewis. Both men were considered brilliant, highly educated thinkers who profoundly influenced 20th-century thought. And both men presented compelling arguments for and against the existence of God. At the core is Freud’s assertion that God is a figment of the imagination (more accurately, God is an outcome of our deep-seated need for protection, stemming from the helplessness of early childhood). Lewis, on the other hand, did not see the belief in a higher power as a childish need for comfort. In fact, he wrote, "rendering back one's will which we have so long claimed for our own, is, in itself, extremely painful. To surrender a self-will inflamed and swollen with years of usurpation is a kind of death." Nicholi never take sides. Instead he gives both men a chance to eloquently answer the big questions of humanity: why is there suffering? What should be our guiding belief? How do we form a moral compass? Surprisingly, this debate turns out to be a fascinating page-turner, with most of the credit going to Nicholi. Because he understands these men's arguments so well and respects their beliefs so thoroughly, believers could begin to have doubts and atheists could start to wonder. Regardless of where you ultimately land on the question of God, this stellar book will deeply enrich your understanding of humanity. --Gail Hudson
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Customer Reviews:
• Critical Analysis 07 April, 2008
I like this book.This book is a comparison between thoughts of C.S lewis and Sigmund freud.If we view how psychology of two was different and have completely opposite views on subject of love, sex, life. It is interesting how people can fall into categories of haveing optimistic ,positive view of life and on the other hand developing dark,pessimistic view of life emerging from belief and unbelief.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1XBZD0C8S0NCB
• Nicholi Is An Apologist For Lewis 17 September, 2008
This book is hugely disappointing. I had to stop at page 105 when it became clear that it was hopeless to expect the author to give Freud's position a legitimate airing. This is not a debate - this is a very biased presentation in favor of Lewis's view, with little or no presentation of the arguments against it from Freud's view. The arguments lack any foundation in logic and little if any in philosophy. It is also disappointing that someone trained as a psychiatrist would deliberately deceive the readers into thinking this was an honest presentation of the two perspectives, or, alternatively and more plausibly, that he would be so blind to his own bias. I favor the latter explanation. Nicholi is trained to recognize illogical, unreasonable, and neurosis-inducing efforts by others to eliminate congnitive dissonance; too bad he cannot recognize such efforts in himself.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A15GQC3ZMSV3D
• No Dry Read Here 09 May, 2008
a really interesting book - a lot of insight into why people have the beliefs that they have.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3FU81LZ0OMFE1
• Nicholi Hides Personal Bias: He Co-founded A Christian Lobbyist Group 06 June, 2008
In both the book and DVD version, Nicholi presents himself as neutral on the question of the existence or nonexistence of God. In fact, Nicholi is a founding board member of powerful conservative Christian lobbyist group the Family Research Council, which actively attempts to outlaw homosexual and abortion rights while advocating abstinence-only sex education and the theory of Intelligent Design. While I assume Nicholi has the best intentions, his strong bias comes through in every aspect of the work, and in the end this feels like an unfairly hidden conflict of interest.
By pitting unhappy and mean-spirited Freud against joyous Lewis, Nicholi seems to imply that all Christians are happy and all atheists are grumpy. Obviously, it would be just as easy to focus on a happy atheist and grumpy Christian, so this argument is groundless. However, because the argument is forwarded consistently yet implicitly, it is difficult to easily identify and refute. Just listen to the typically disjointed and melancholic music used in the Freud scenes compared to the happy or profound music selected for Lewis.
Nicholi frames the God question as: "We make one of two basic assumptions: we view the universe as an accident, or we assume an intelligence beyond the universe who gives the universe order, and for some of us, meaning to life." This framing of the question is unambiguously borrowed from the Intelligent Design movement Nicholi is part of, and rests on an implicit assumption not 1 atheist in 1,000 would agree with: that the only alternative to God is Accident. In fact, as soon as Nicholi finishes framing the question, skeptic Louis Massiah gently corrects him: "To me there is an order to the way things are, and the central question is whether you want to say that the 'orderer' is God."
The above is not an isolated example; throughout the work, Nicholi's method, particularly in his framing of questions and frequent use of specious but masked assumptions, is heavily weighted in favor of his hidden bias. Nicholi's course addresses one of the most fascinating of all questions, and was engaging to read and watch. However, I feel he has some moral obligation to be forthcoming about having co-founded a group actively pushing Intelligent Design in Washington, and to resist his frequent reliance on rhetorical sleight-of-hand.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1ZUL48XKNLOJ0
• Actually Interesting 07 December, 2008
I learned things about Lewis' and Freud's religious beliefs I didn't know I wanted to learn, like that JRR Tolkien is actually a Christian (a little less obvious than with Lewis' Narnia series).
The downside is that the book at least seems to be very biased. It's difficult to tell if the author is biased or if the book just makes it so blatantly obvious how absurd it can be to be an atheist.
Nevertheless, enthralling with such interesting trivia!
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2H60TMAQWV1JC
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