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GREAT RELIGIONS GREAT THINKERS
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GOUTAMA BUDDHA:
The historic Buddha was an Indian. He started out as a warrior prince who never imagined that he would become a religious mystic. But deeply influenced by the troubled times in which he lived and by the new monkish orders that were emerging along the Ganges, he changed the whole course of his life. Defying priests and caste he created a new world of religious experiment and racial equality that won the
hearts of thousands. His story is unique and inspiring.
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JOHN CALVIN:
The reformation split into two main branches. John Calvin was the leader of the more radical reformers who deplored
The ‘idolatry’ of the Church and who found an alternative authority in the Bible. In France, the Netherlands, England and Scotland the Calvinists established a puritanical religion which ironically provided the impetus for modern capitalism.
Puritan ideology and lifestyle crossed the Atlantic to North America and helped to lay the foundation of the United States. Calvinism found its greatest admirers among the middle class.
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SAYINGS OF CONFUCIUS:
Confucius is one of the great figures in the history of human thought, a pioneering educator, social critic and political scientist. As a philosopher and teacher, he addressed core human issues with such precision and clarity that his sayings
have been preserved and studied over thousands of years. The Analects of Confucius are a basic source for a wide range of advice on human affairs - from governing nations and managing enterprises, to dealing with society and getting along with others. The counsel of Confucius is pragmatic, community centered and worldly.
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THE HISTORICAL JESUS:
In the middle of the encounter between Jew and Greek, and between ancestral and salvation religion, emerged the figure of Jesus. A child of the Jewish, the Greek and the Roman worlds, his life and words became the foundation of a new salvation religion. The first followers of this
religion's message were Jews. But the second followers were Greek. The Greek followers combined Jewish and Greek themes to produce the defining ideology of Christianity. In time, Christianity became the official religion of the Greco-Roman world.
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MARTIN LUTHER:
Almost five hundred years ago an Augustinian monk rose up to challenge the authority of the Pope and of Roman Catholic Church. As a protester against the power and corruption of this institution Luther led a movement which transformed Christianity. Both the causes and consequences of his protest have been debated for a long time. Was the Reformation primarily a religious movement - or was it an expression of German nationalism and resentment? How was it possible to mobilize so many so passionately against an institution
that had aroused such reverence for so many
centuries?
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THE PROPHET MOHAMMED:
So many stories circulate about the origins and biography of the prophet of Islam. His setting was a divided Arabia filled with nomadic tribes and impassable caravan routes. The Arab people were a Semitic nation with an austere discipline distorted by its barren desert homeland. This austerity was alleviated by an attachment to lyrical poetry and a sense of honor and chivalry. In the midst of this harsh setting emerged a visionary who was able to unite the Arab people and to inspire them to go forth to conquer the world.
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ALBERT CAMUS:
Charming and passionate, Albert Camus died in a tragic accident at the age of 47. Born in Algeria, he established himself as a writer and playwright there before he moved to France. Emerging from the German resistance fighter, he became one of the champions of the new existentialism. Together with Sartre he found the meaning of life in the human courage to confront a meaningless and indifferent universe. In his book, The Rebel, there is an ultimate expression of his guide to living. Only by affirming life in the face of relentless death do we discover the freedom that gives us dignity and rescues us from the prison of resignation to fate. We can be nothing more than what our courage
provides.
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DENIS DIDEROT:
The son of a cutter, Denis Diderot rose to become one of the most dazzling and attractive figures of the French Enlightenment. A close friend of all the new philosophers of reason, and a familiar figure in the literary salons of Paris, he became the chief editor of the first encyclopedia of knowledge. At the age of sixty he traveled to St. Petersburg and, in debate with the great Empress Catherine the Great, drew up plans for the conversion of Russia into an ideal republic. He is one of the most important voices of the Age of Reason.
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JOHN STUART MILL:
No philosopher ever sang the praises of personal freedom more beautifully than John Stuart Mill. In nineteenth century England he was the defender of individual liberty and of a rational approach to ethical decision making. He believed that free speech was essential to a rational society, because open discussion forced people to confront the challenge of evidence.
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THOMAS PAINE:
More than any other public figure of the eighteenth century, Tom Paine strikes our times like a trumpet blast from a distant world. Among friends and enemies alike he earned a reputation as the greatest political figure of his day. He became the key pamphleteer in the American Revolution and author of Common Sense, an intellectual cornerstone of American democracy. In Britain, his Rights of Man frightened the establishment. Paine was twice invited to France where he helped to write the constitution of the Revolution and narrowly escaped the guillotine.
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WILLIAM JAMES:
If America produced a great philosopher with passion, it was William James. A teacher at Harvard, he explored the human psyche in his search for meaning and truth. The outlook of pragmatism, which he championed, saw truth as an instrument of meaning. In the end, true wisdom had to serve our basic needs and had to guide us to survival and happiness.
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