Philosophy and Religion in the West

By: Phillip Cary, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Phillip Cary

Professor Cary explores thousands of years of deep reflection and brilliant debate over the nature of God, the human self, and the world in these 32 lectures. It's a debate that serves as a vivid introduction to the rich and complex history shared by the West's central religious and philosophical traditions.

Whether you're a believer, a seeker, or both, you'll find much to spark your deepest ponderings in these talks on the long and rich interplay between faith and reason. You'll join Professor Cary on the fascinating search for answers about the similar questions philosophy and faith ask: What is the ultimate reality? What can we know, or what should we believe about it? To learn how these crucial issues have been discussed over the past three millennia is to enter the core of our intellectual heritage - to find the origin of some of our deepest perplexities and most cherished aspirations. It is a comprehensive journey - intellectually, philosophically, and spiritually - but one which requires no special background. By the end of these lectures, you'll gain a new or sharpened fluency in issues that include the historical interaction between philosophical traditions (such as Platonism) and religious traditions (such as Judaism and Christianity); the synthesis of philosophy and religion that characterized the "classical theism" of the medieval period; the most prominent philosophical criticisms of religion; and the reasons why many religious thinkers of the 20th century are suspicious of the alliances between philosophy and religion.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©1999 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)1999 The Great Courses

Worth listening twice

I immensely enjoyed this lecture series and didn't want it to end. There's so much information and insight that it is worth listening to at least twice. One gains a deeper level of understanding the second time around.

Amazing and so beautifully structured.

This lecturer has very rare skill to powerfully and simply explain very complex topics. I swallowed this course in several days and I only regret that Phillip Cary doesnt have something not for 16, but for 50 hours.

Worth listening

I learned a lot from this lecture series. His examples are helpful and add value to each philosopher.

best history of western philosophy n religion

this is my 3rd time listening to this and it's a great refresher. always gets to the heart of the matter.

Excellent content and delivery.

The information was present coherently and succinctly without sacrificing core content. I will listen a second time through.

Great Course... literally!

Philip Cary does an impressive job waking through Christian, Jewish, and Islamic history (it seems more could have been covered on Islam). I highly recommend this course to anyone interested in keeping up with religious philosophical conversation today.

Great presentation

I found my self taking notes. looking deeper into sections of philosophy and theology that I never even considered. I loved the ending with an invitation to understand each other's points of view. to considered possibly being wrong and you can always change your mind or opinion.

Well said and well argued

You may want to get the basics on Plato and Kant though. I had to listen to many of the lectures a couple times. I loved it !

Some Corrections Regarding the Jewish Tradition

Any additional comments?

Professor Cary mentions the Oven of Aknai story in his discussion of rabbinic Judaism in which Rabbi Eliezer gets God himself to declare that he is right. It is Rabbi Joshua ben Karha, not Rabbi Judah, who argues that the Torah is not in heaven and that, therefore, the rabbis are able to overrule even God himself. On a more serious note, Professor Cary argues that the rationalistic tradition died out after Maimonides in the 13th century. I understand that for the sake of time it makes sense not to get bogged down into late medieval Jewish philosophy and thinkers like Hasdai Crescas and Isaac Abarbanel, but to claim that such a tradition did not exist is false. Yes, the medieval Jewish philosophical tradition lost out to Kabbalah, but that is a complicated story that played out over several centuries. Kabbalah's victory had far more to do with historical circumstances like the expulsion of 1492 and the fact that its debt to non-Jewish sources was less obvious than to anything intrinsic to Judaism.

Excellent

Interesting info, well structured, great presentation. I really enjoyed this. Especially as someone who grew up in a western religious tradition with little exposure to philosophy.