The Gods of Atheism

by Vincent P. Miceli

490 pages. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0870000993
• ISBN13: 9780870000997
• Release Date: January 1971
• Publisher: Arlington House
• Length: 490 Pages
• Weight: 1.96 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Best Summary of Atheistic Philosophy I Have Found

"The Gods of Atheism" is an excellent book. I have not seen a more organized and honest assesment of the various philosophical objections to Christianity anywhere. Some may object to Miceli's recurrent theme, that atheisim is merely replacing God with a pagan philosophy, but his summaries of more than a dozen atheist thinkers are very complete and honest. He fully states each thinker's case without interruption before attempting a rebuttal. Many, many people have criticised religion over the years, and few people (myself included) have the time and energy to understand to understand the details of each point of view. Miceli does that nicely and succinctly. This alone makes the book worth reading. His criticisms of each argument are good but grounded in Catholic orthodoxy and so may not appeal to every reader. Still, very much worth reading.

Comprehensive & insightful

This is a thoroughly researched and scholastic compendium of the thought of the major atheistic philosophers of the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the most excellent on the subject that I have read.

Hard to read...

...but worth it if you have an interest. No philosopher can escape from their own dogma, but the author really shows some depth of understanding in the logic of atheist philosophies. True, this book is constantly trying to discount atheist philosophies and cannot refrain from trumpeting the mores of Catholic faith at every opportunity as well. To have put forth so much effort in the study and dissection of something you don't agree with completely...well I admire the author's persistence even if I don't agree with all of his conclusions.

An Opposite Point of View

I have read the "Gods of Atheism" by Vincent Miceli, SJ, and was impressed with the approach that he took; I think my fellow philosophy book reader has overlooked some of the important nuances that Father Miceli authored. Philosophy is not written in a vacuum, nor do philosophers live in white towers; by describing the lives of these men and revealing their attitudes as well as their principles, one can better understand the impetus and force their particular philosophical approach took. Their individual philosophy lends itself to a self jusitification of their living, and, for whatever merit their rationalization has, it can hardly be separated from their everyday concrete experiences. Though brilliant in thought, nevertheless, their psychology and desires are more often served by their philosophys than not. And as a result what can be said is that we can "see" a reason for a Feuerbach, a Nietzsche, a Marx or Comte, but there is no reason to be a Feuerbachian, a Nietzschian, a Marxist or Comtean.