The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought

by Marilynne Robinson
The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought  
published 2005 by Picador
binding Paperback
isbn 0312425325   (isbn13: 9780312425326)
pages 280
description In this award-winning collection, the bestselling author of Gilead offers us other ways of thinking about history, religion, and society. Whether resc...more
date added
02-16-07



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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 135)



Adam
Adam rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
10/10/07

A dissenter's point of view of the modern world, and the uncriticized assumptions and biases that it possesses. Robinson's flawless prose doesn't hurt either. Plus, her basic methodology is this:

1) I am a relatively intelligent person,
2) I consider myself capable of reading and understanding those thinkers and authors who have shaped the world
3) rather than reading the partisans who either deify or malign those thinkers, why don't I read them myself, and decide for myself what to think a...more
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Jessica
Jessica marked it as to-read
11/11/07

bookshelves: to-read
I found this today at the thrift store, and instantly started weeping into a slightly chipped Flushing Fairgrounds commemorative mug. Reading this will be my reward if I somehow manage to produce two papers by Wednesday.

I looooooove you Marilynne Robinson! I can't wait to find out what it is that you have to say.

Booksters will have to wait breathlessly and see if I emerge at the other end a confirmed Calvinist.
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Jacob
Jacob rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
07/23/07

Marilynne Robinson is SERIOUS about ideas and Christianity and primary texts and the prevailing emptiness of American culture at present and the lightweightness of most semi-intellectuals. I love all this rigor.

And yet...
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Phil
Phil rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
11/10/07

Read in August, 2001
My desert island book. Robinson taught me that I don't have to genuflect before "modern thought" and its great "disenchanters," Freud, Nietzsche and Darwin. She also taught me to honor my own best intuitions rather than discounting them in the name of a "critical rigor" that looks a lot like rigor mortis.
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Mary
Mary rated it: 3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars
08/21/07

Read in February, 2007
recommends it for: Anyone who gets a kick out of opinionated and well argued essays with a theological bent.
The best defense--the only defense of Calvinist thought I've ever read. Robinson's lovely long sentences wind you around a thought and drop you easily on the other side. I'd love to talk with someone about her faith-based arguments.
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Joseph
Joseph rated it: 4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars
04/26/07

bookshelves: essays
Read in January, 2006
A defense of John Calvin from the halls of the UIowa Creative Writing Department? The sky is falling.
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Joseph
Joseph rated it: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
05/08/08

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times -- nobody reads good essays about contemporary Calvinism anymore!
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Katie
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10/01/07

 

Peter
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11/21/07

Read in September, 2005
 

Derek
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11/30/07

 

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03/05/08

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11/10/07

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book data (includes all editions)

avg rating (all editions): 4.13 (69 ratings)
avg rating (this edition): 4.13 (69 ratings)
number of reviews: 7






other editions

The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought (Paperback)
The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought (Hardcover)