Tag Archives: matthew arnold

Are the New Atheists Insufficiently Serious?

R. Joseph Hoffmann, an atheist himself and the author or editor of numerous academic books—including Jesus in History and Myth (Prometheus Books 1986)—thinks so, writing at his blog recently the following: The mode of critique [by New Atheists] is lodged somewhere … Continue reading

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Matthew Arnold, in 1883, on the Bible’s Hold upon the Public Imagination

In what sounds as if it could have been written yesterday, here is the 19th century literary critic and poet, Matthew Arnold, from the preface of his book Literature and Dogma, on the cultural state of play of Bible-based religion in … Continue reading

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Fight or Flight? Two Ways to Read Matthew Arnold’s Poem, “Requiescat” (1849)

If you’re a temperamentally anxious and emotionally tumultuous person, as I have been all of my life, the Matthew Arnold poem below might give you a bit of life perspective. But it also depends on how you read it. One of … Continue reading

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Matthew Arnold on the Bible as Literature

How did Matthew Arnold, in the light of the nineteenth century discoveries in science and the Higher Criticism, read the Bible? Answer: As literature and poetry. This from the excellent 1967 The Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Volume 1, 168): [I]n Literature and Dogma (London, … Continue reading

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