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The Riddle of the Sphinx Jay G. Williams

The Riddle of the Sphinx By Jay G. Williams

The Riddle of the Sphinx by Jay G. Williams

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Summary

Through a series of 144 short texts on twelve key subjects, this text introduces the reader to some of the central perplexities of human life.

The Riddle of the Sphinx Summary

The Riddle of the Sphinx: Thoughts About the Human Enigma by Jay G. Williams

Through a series of 144 short texts on twelve key subjects, this text introduces the reader to some of the central perplexities of human life. Along with those texts written by the author himself are selections from such sources as Genesis and Lao Tzu, Plato and the Upanishads, Hume and Wittgenstein, Augustine and Ecclesiastes, to name but a few. Topics range from the nature of language to pleasure and pain to life after death. Most of the classical questions of the philosophy of religion are introduced. Contents: The Sphinx; Words; Good and Evil; Time; The Self; Pleasure and Pain; That None Greater Than Which can be Conceived; Knowing and Not Knowing; Prescription; Transformation; The Good Life; and Life After Death.

The Riddle of the Sphinx Reviews

...a colourful platter of savoury hors d'oeuvres. The author's own writings are combined with carefully selected texts...and they invite the reader to explore the human enigma. -- Nikky Singh, Colby College
This is, as one would expect from Jay Williams, a book as profound as it is unusual. It does not merely tell the reader about the metaphorical nature of religious language; it forces him or her to experience it, to be caught in verbal mazes from whichthere is no way out save by recognizing that, like carriages turning into pumpkins and horses into mice, words can turn into other things: wordless experiences, black holes and escape hatches. Read it (if you dare) and you won't think about words or religion in quite the same way again. -- Robert Ellwood, University of Southern California
This is, as one would expect from Jay Williams, a book as profound as it is unusual. It does not merely tell the reader about the metaphorical nature of religious language; it forces him or her to experience it, to be caught in verbal mazes from which there is no way out save by recognizing that, like carriages turning into pumpkins and horses into mice, words can turn into other things: wordless experiences, black holes and escape hatches. Read it (if you dare) and you won't think about words or religion in quite the same way again. -- Robert Ellwood, University of Southern California
...a colourful platter of savoury hors d'oeuvres. The author's own writings are combined with carefully selected texts...and they invite the reader to explore the human enigma. -- Nikky Singh, Colby College

About Jay G. Williams

Jay G. Williams is Walcott-Bartlett Professor of Religion at Hamilton College, Clinton, New York.

Table of Contents

The Sphinx; words; good and evil; time; the self; pleasure and pain; that none greater than which can be conceived; knowing and not knowing; prescription; transformation; the good life; and life after death.

Additional information

NLS9780819178879
9780819178879
081917887X
The Riddle of the Sphinx: Thoughts About the Human Enigma by Jay G. Williams
Jay G. Williams
New
Paperback
University Press of America
1990-11-20
228
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
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