The Human Instinct

From the publisher: "A radical, optimistic exploration of how humans evolved to develop reason, consciousness, and free will.

Lately, the most passionate advocates of the theory of evolution seem to present it as bad news. Scientists such as Richard Dawkins, Lawrence Krauss, and Sam Harris tell us that our most intimate actions, thoughts, and values are mere byproducts of thousands of generations of mindless adaptation. We are just one species among multitudes, and therefore no more significant than any other living creature.

Now comes Brown University biologist Kenneth R. Miller to make the case that this view betrays a gross misunderstanding of evolution. Natural selection surely explains how our bodies and brains were shaped, but Miller argues that it’s not a social or cultural theory of everything. In The Human Instinct, he rejects the idea that our biological heritage means that human thought, action, and imagination are pre-determined, describing instead the trajectory that ultimately gave us reason, consciousness, and free will. A proper understanding of evolution, he says, reveals humankind in its glorious uniqueness—one foot planted firmly among all of the creatures we’ve evolved alongside, and the other in the special place of self-awareness and understanding that we alone occupy in the universe.

Equal parts natural science and philosophy, The Human Instinct is a moving and powerful celebration of what it means to be human."

I wished I had made notes while reading this book.  The book is well written in that it was a pleasant read.  I enjoyed it.  The book is not well written in that the writer makes numerous philosophical errors and uses logical fallacies.  He both rejects the "ghost in the machine" and defends the "ghost in the machine" by claiming the complexity of the neurological complexity of the brain creates the mind.  The human is either completely controlled by only chemical and physical processes (not allowing "free will"), or one must allow for the "ghost in the machine some way.  One can not both claim there is no "ghost" and free will.  The two arguments are mutually exclusive.

Given very recent publication, the text needs updating before publication.  Homo sapien jaw bone has been discovered in Israel predating other fossils outside of Africa.  Since the author writes extensively about this in a portion of the text; updating this section is important.

Demanding Liberty

Religious liberty is one of the most contentious political issues of our time. How should people of faith engage with the public square in a pluralist era? Some citizens hope to reclaim a more Christian vision of national identity, while others resist any religious presence at all. This dispute is not new, and it goes back to the founding era of American history. As the country was being formed, some envisioned a Christian nation where laws would require worship attendance and Sabbath observance. Others advocated for a thoroughly secular society where faith would have no place in public life. But neither extreme won the day, thanks to the unsung efforts of a Connecticut pastor who forged a middle way. Historian Brandon O'Brien unveils an untold story of how religious liberty came to be. Between the Scylla and Charybdis of theocracy and secularism, Baptist pastor Isaac Backus contended for a third way. He worked to secure religious liberty and freedom of conscience for all Americans, not just for one particular denomination or religious tradition. Backus's theological ideas had social consequences, giving us insights into how people of faith navigate political debates and work for the common good. Backus lived in an age of both religious revival and growing secularism, competing forces much like those at work today. Then and now, people fiercely argue about the role of government and the limits of liberty. The past speaks into the present as we continue to demand liberty and justice for all.

Mr. Brandon J. O'Brien investigates the spiritual life of Isaac Backus in an engaging and capturing manner.  The influence of the first Great Awakening in Mr. Backus's life and his drawn out separation from the Congregationalist church of his youth was shown to have a large influence in Mr. Backus's drive for religious freedom in the newly formed country.  Backus's study, letters, speeches, and passion for the freedom of religion is laid out clearly.  Mr. O'Brien has written a book about a man that I believe should be a vital portion of every Americans education.  I highly recommend this book to every American.  Isaac Backus was a central figure in the freedom's that Americans currently enjoy.

Our Country

Description

On March 4, 1865, the day Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address, Reverend Doctor George Peck put the finishing touches on a collection of his sermons that he intended to send to the president. Although the politically moderate Peck had long opposed slavery, he, along with many other northern evangelicals, was not an abolitionist. During the Civil War he had come to support emancipation, but, like Lincoln, the conflict remained first and foremost about preserving the Union. Believing their devotion to the Union was an act of faithfulness to God first and the Founding Fathers second, Our Country explores how many northern white evangelical Protestants sacrificed racial justice on behalf of four million African-American slaves (and then ex-slaves) for the Union’s persistence and continued flourishing as a Christian nation.

By examining Civil War-era Protestantism in terms of the Union, author Grant Brodrecht adds to the understanding of northern motivation and the eventual "failure" of Reconstruction to provide a secure basis for African American's equal place in society. Complementing recent scholarship that gives primacy to the Union, Our Country contends that non-radical Protestants consistently subordinated concern for racial justice for what they perceived to be the greater good. Mainstream evangelicals did not enter Reconstruction with the primary aim of achieving racial justice. Rather they expected to see the emergence of a speedily restored, prosperous, and culturally homogenous Union, a Union strengthened by God through the defeat of secession and the removal of slavery as secession’s cause.

Brodrecht eloquently addresses this so-called “proprietary” regard for Christian America, considered within the context of crises surrounding the Union’s existence and its nature from the Civil War to the 1880s. Including sources from major Protestant denominations, the book rests on a selection of sermons, denominational newspapers and journals, autobiographies, archival personal papers of several individuals, and the published and unpublished papers of Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and Ulysses S. Grant. The author examines these sources as they address the period’s evangelical sense of responsibility for America, while keyed to issues of national and presidential politics.

Northern evangelicals’ love of the Union arguably contributed to its preservation and the slaves’ emancipation, but in subsuming the ex-slaves to their vision for Christian America, northern evangelicals contributed to a Reconstruction that failed to ensure the ex-slaves’ full freedom and equality as Americans.

I really enjoyed this book.  As a student of southern history, I was troubled that I had never been given an opportunity to study this aspect of the Civil War.  The protestants played such an important part of the Union's war effort and populations encouragement.  The war was lasting far longer than anyone thought and was costing so much in terms of lives and money that many were losing their will to fight.  The protestant's understanding and support for the fighting of the war played such a vital role.  This book does a wonderful job of revealing the actions taken by several pastors in letters and sermons.