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Between The Monster And The Saint: Reflections on the Human Condition
Being human isn't easy. We might think that consciousness and free will give us control over our lives but our minds are unpredictable places. We are susceptible to forces we don't understand. We are capable of inflicting immense cruelty on one another and yet we also have the capacity to be tender, to empathise, to feel . In his thought-provoking new book Richard Holloway holds a mirror up to the human condition. By drawing on a colourful and eclectic selection of writings from history, philosophy, science, poetry, theology and literature, Holloway shows us how we can stand up to the seductive power of the monster and draw closer to the fierce challenge of the saint.
240 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2008
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202 people want to read
About the author
Richard Holloway
73 books143 followersRichard Holloway is a Scottish writer, broadcaster and cleric. He was the Bishop of Edinburgh from 1986 to 2000 and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church from 1992 to 2000.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 3, 2012
Richard Holloway presents a compelling personal background as an impetus for reading this book: previously Bishop of Edinburgh for the Scottish Episcopal Church, he resigned that position when his spiritual doubts, and the internal and external questioning prompted by their disquieting existence, brought about the realization that he was no longer in a place where he could hold such an office with integrity. My experience with the author—solely from the writing encountered within the book under review—is that integrity is something he values dearly, along with the heritage from his Christian upbringing and vocation that have instilled themselves deeply: in my opinion, the proper values for a Christian to embrace, even (or perhaps especially) at the end, when other elements of it—the supernatural, authoritarian, and denunciatory aspects, in Holloway's case—have been cast aside or fallen away. To whit, an openness to pity, charity, empathy, and tolerance for one's fellow humanity that was absolutely central to the radical love espoused by Jesus Christ two thousand years ago along the easternmost edge of the Mediterranean.
Holloway is a well-read and thoughtful man, and this thinly-sized but broadly-sourced work abounds in wisdom and intelligence. Composed more in the vein of a work to stimulate one's considerations about a number of avenues within our existence rather than as a how-to guide for those desirous of such direction, the primary concern for the author is how to explain, and thus avoid, the pervasive cruelty that we have shown ourselves so prone to inflicting upon others. Referencing throughout a number of modern works written by women, together with philosophical and theological authors from across the spectrum of the written word, Holloway has determined that the wellspring of our cruelty lies in the capacity we possess to regard other people as things—objects, pure matter, inert both prior to our acts upon them and, literally, afterwards, when they've often been rendered as corpses. The engine that propels such callous objectifying is fueled by powerful, primordial, innate urges—above all, the sexual drive and the desire to wield power. Bringing the argument of nature vs. nurture into the picture, Holloway opts to stake his place upon the middle ground: these urges are hard-wired into our genes, a biological reality whose strength, stemming from a Nature that is nothing but amoral in its omnipresent relentlessness, can, at propitious moments, override all but the strongest of resistances, especially in a group setting; on the other hand, we do possess ourselves of such resistances, and thus the ability to discipline ourselves against submitting to these compulsions. In Holloway's estimation, the most effective method of defense against our biological capacity for cruelty is the cultivation of the means of projecting ourselves into the existence, the bodies, of our fellow beings: a method the requires our ability to empathize with one another, feel pity for our shared suffering, commiserate over our common humanity, love each other for the unique subjectivity that every single one of us possesses.
Holloway sees much in our modern civilization that sets itself as a barricade against our ability to stop objectifying others; amongst his lengthier arguments, the way our justice system has erected itself upon a platform of vengeance and promoting the transgressor over the victim in its judicial hierarchy, rather than concentrating upon forgiveness of the accused by the victim, atonement by the former towards the latter, and the elevation of the victim to paramountcy by making the acknowledgement of their situation, a cathartic admission, a central component of the administration of justice. He furthermore holds that in our treatment of the creatures who share the planet with us—with particular emphasis upon those we breed, in mass quantities, for consumption—we most evince that capacity for regarding other living organisms as objects, cruelly treating them as mere commodities by denying them any matter of actual existence, of having a life to be lived, apart from that of containment within various holding pens until ripe for the slaughter. Then there is the War on Terror, in which Holloway despairs of the Western Government's shown proclivity for implementing torture in the name of expediency, combined with the renewed focus upon denying homosexuals the opportunity of marriage equality, a state of affairs that the author deems akin to fixating upon the denunciatory and punitive aspects of a Christian religion that should, by all means, be embracing the shared tolerance and sympathy that exist, rife with potentiality, within the invocational messaging of Christ.
For what Holloway also seeks, through and beyond negating, as far as possible, our tendency to reduce other beings to objects, is that we might, by means of that experience, rediscover our connexion with nature, the pure and amazed joy of existence that can spring upon us, unawares, at the most unlikely of moments, often at a period when we have been severely tested. This deeply inherent attuning to life can be captured and enhanced, in the author's opinion, by means of such cultural means as art and religion. And while the ability of art to harness important truths—especially at the mythological, primordial level that can, and has, proven itself resistant to full delineation via reason—has been generally acknowledged and accepted, religion has, through its own shortcomings, proven far more contentious a matter. Holloway spends a considerable amount of time staking out the four positions, vis-a-vis religion, that he believes we are at in the modern world:
Strong Religionists —whose adherents proclaim a revelational and final possession of knowledge about the world, how we are to live within it, and what transpires upon our death. These views, by their very nature, are unarguable and unchangeable.
Weak Religionists —whose adherents, while perhaps believing in a divine power or order in the universe, yet hold that humans are fallible receivers of such understanding, and thus any declarations of having possession of complete or absolute knowledge must be met with skepticism.
After-Religionists —those who eschew belief in any divinity at work in the cosmos, and who regard all religions as purely human constructs, drawn forth from the human imagination. In spite of this, its members do not believe that religion should be abandoned, as its imaginative creations contain much that is valuable of meaning and worth preserving as a means towards living a more complete life.
Anti-Religionists —those who range from disliking and disbelieving in religion to outright loathing of the institution. Seeing little to no benefit in the questions raised and answers sought by the religious-minded, this group, concerned entirely with living in the now, and proclaiming no ability to garner knowledge about the other or the beyond, would either discourage religion or seek to discard it altogether.
Obviously, such bare-bone outlines don't do justice to the consideration the author has endowed them with, but in either case they make for an interesting and, in many ways, pertinent compartmentalization of what is otherwise a fairly broadly spread and eclectic mixture of human configurations as regards the unknowable and the unknown, how we've organized in order to address them, and how they might be utilized to enhance our ability to live a life in which we promote and acknowledge the subjectivity, and the status of living a life, of those animate beings and creatures with which we share this world. In opposition to the Monsters, those charismatic figures replete with the ability to harness groups of humanity within the reins of power and use them to work mass objectifying upon determined enemies in the world, Holloway promotes the Saints, those comparatively few in number who have proven highly resistant to the drives towards reducing life to mere matter to be worked over and/or rendered inert, and whom, by way of their words, actions, even deaths, provide an impetus and/or example to resistance towards those who would use their position of power to work evil upon others.
Throughout, Holloway buttresses and expounds upon his themes by means of personal anecdotes, quotations from other thinkers and writers, and excerpts from standout works in literature, theatre, and cinema. It admittedly makes for an occasionally cluttered, somewhat jumbled progression, but that is more than made up for by the heartfelt and truly thoughtful attempts to address these problems that have plagued us for as long as history relates with an honesty and humaneness that are moving. But, with that said, it remains the kind of work that, while admirable and educational, can really achieve not much more than the transmission of a slice of wisdom regarding our shared humanity. Its core decency and attempts at delineating life's centrality are yet easily remaindered. John Gray, in his review of the book, concluded by stating
Holloway is a well-read and thoughtful man, and this thinly-sized but broadly-sourced work abounds in wisdom and intelligence. Composed more in the vein of a work to stimulate one's considerations about a number of avenues within our existence rather than as a how-to guide for those desirous of such direction, the primary concern for the author is how to explain, and thus avoid, the pervasive cruelty that we have shown ourselves so prone to inflicting upon others. Referencing throughout a number of modern works written by women, together with philosophical and theological authors from across the spectrum of the written word, Holloway has determined that the wellspring of our cruelty lies in the capacity we possess to regard other people as things—objects, pure matter, inert both prior to our acts upon them and, literally, afterwards, when they've often been rendered as corpses. The engine that propels such callous objectifying is fueled by powerful, primordial, innate urges—above all, the sexual drive and the desire to wield power. Bringing the argument of nature vs. nurture into the picture, Holloway opts to stake his place upon the middle ground: these urges are hard-wired into our genes, a biological reality whose strength, stemming from a Nature that is nothing but amoral in its omnipresent relentlessness, can, at propitious moments, override all but the strongest of resistances, especially in a group setting; on the other hand, we do possess ourselves of such resistances, and thus the ability to discipline ourselves against submitting to these compulsions. In Holloway's estimation, the most effective method of defense against our biological capacity for cruelty is the cultivation of the means of projecting ourselves into the existence, the bodies, of our fellow beings: a method the requires our ability to empathize with one another, feel pity for our shared suffering, commiserate over our common humanity, love each other for the unique subjectivity that every single one of us possesses.
Holloway sees much in our modern civilization that sets itself as a barricade against our ability to stop objectifying others; amongst his lengthier arguments, the way our justice system has erected itself upon a platform of vengeance and promoting the transgressor over the victim in its judicial hierarchy, rather than concentrating upon forgiveness of the accused by the victim, atonement by the former towards the latter, and the elevation of the victim to paramountcy by making the acknowledgement of their situation, a cathartic admission, a central component of the administration of justice. He furthermore holds that in our treatment of the creatures who share the planet with us—with particular emphasis upon those we breed, in mass quantities, for consumption—we most evince that capacity for regarding other living organisms as objects, cruelly treating them as mere commodities by denying them any matter of actual existence, of having a life to be lived, apart from that of containment within various holding pens until ripe for the slaughter. Then there is the War on Terror, in which Holloway despairs of the Western Government's shown proclivity for implementing torture in the name of expediency, combined with the renewed focus upon denying homosexuals the opportunity of marriage equality, a state of affairs that the author deems akin to fixating upon the denunciatory and punitive aspects of a Christian religion that should, by all means, be embracing the shared tolerance and sympathy that exist, rife with potentiality, within the invocational messaging of Christ.
For what Holloway also seeks, through and beyond negating, as far as possible, our tendency to reduce other beings to objects, is that we might, by means of that experience, rediscover our connexion with nature, the pure and amazed joy of existence that can spring upon us, unawares, at the most unlikely of moments, often at a period when we have been severely tested. This deeply inherent attuning to life can be captured and enhanced, in the author's opinion, by means of such cultural means as art and religion. And while the ability of art to harness important truths—especially at the mythological, primordial level that can, and has, proven itself resistant to full delineation via reason—has been generally acknowledged and accepted, religion has, through its own shortcomings, proven far more contentious a matter. Holloway spends a considerable amount of time staking out the four positions, vis-a-vis religion, that he believes we are at in the modern world:
Strong Religionists —whose adherents proclaim a revelational and final possession of knowledge about the world, how we are to live within it, and what transpires upon our death. These views, by their very nature, are unarguable and unchangeable.
Weak Religionists —whose adherents, while perhaps believing in a divine power or order in the universe, yet hold that humans are fallible receivers of such understanding, and thus any declarations of having possession of complete or absolute knowledge must be met with skepticism.
After-Religionists —those who eschew belief in any divinity at work in the cosmos, and who regard all religions as purely human constructs, drawn forth from the human imagination. In spite of this, its members do not believe that religion should be abandoned, as its imaginative creations contain much that is valuable of meaning and worth preserving as a means towards living a more complete life.
Anti-Religionists —those who range from disliking and disbelieving in religion to outright loathing of the institution. Seeing little to no benefit in the questions raised and answers sought by the religious-minded, this group, concerned entirely with living in the now, and proclaiming no ability to garner knowledge about the other or the beyond, would either discourage religion or seek to discard it altogether.
Obviously, such bare-bone outlines don't do justice to the consideration the author has endowed them with, but in either case they make for an interesting and, in many ways, pertinent compartmentalization of what is otherwise a fairly broadly spread and eclectic mixture of human configurations as regards the unknowable and the unknown, how we've organized in order to address them, and how they might be utilized to enhance our ability to live a life in which we promote and acknowledge the subjectivity, and the status of living a life, of those animate beings and creatures with which we share this world. In opposition to the Monsters, those charismatic figures replete with the ability to harness groups of humanity within the reins of power and use them to work mass objectifying upon determined enemies in the world, Holloway promotes the Saints, those comparatively few in number who have proven highly resistant to the drives towards reducing life to mere matter to be worked over and/or rendered inert, and whom, by way of their words, actions, even deaths, provide an impetus and/or example to resistance towards those who would use their position of power to work evil upon others.
Throughout, Holloway buttresses and expounds upon his themes by means of personal anecdotes, quotations from other thinkers and writers, and excerpts from standout works in literature, theatre, and cinema. It admittedly makes for an occasionally cluttered, somewhat jumbled progression, but that is more than made up for by the heartfelt and truly thoughtful attempts to address these problems that have plagued us for as long as history relates with an honesty and humaneness that are moving. But, with that said, it remains the kind of work that, while admirable and educational, can really achieve not much more than the transmission of a slice of wisdom regarding our shared humanity. Its core decency and attempts at delineating life's centrality are yet easily remaindered. John Gray, in his review of the book, concluded by stating
That is why Holloway's approach to questions of faith is so admirable. It is also, I fear, why it will not catch on. Weak religion can never be popular, for it requires strong human beings. And there are never very many of them.He might very well be right in that regard. Still, why dwell upon such angles of conclusion? I enjoyed the book very much, touching as it did upon subjects that I am trying to personally understand better, in the hopes of perhaps being able to effect some changes upon. It provided yet further food for thought as regards how one should approach one's life upon a world shared by coeval lives numbering in the billions. Furthermore, I find it hard not to be in agreement with Holloway's final encouragement regarding the various matters he has addressed within:
One cannot quite live without pity. However, great as that word is, I do not want it to be my last word. My last word has to be gratitude, gratitude for being. [It] shows ingratitude and a lack of imagination to spend the life we've been given stamping, literally or metaphorically, on the lives of others, or sneering contemptuously at how they have chosen to make sense of theirs. It is a harsh world, indescribably cruel. It is a gentle world, unbelievably beautiful. It is a world that can make us bitter, hateful, rabid, destroyers of joy. It is a world that can draw forth tenderness from us, as we lean towards one another over broken gates. It is a world of monsters and saints, a mutilated world, but it is the only one we have been given. We should let it shock us not into hatred or anxiety, but into unconditional love.
January 1, 2017
A beautifully written series of meditations on the human condition useful not only for the liberal Christian but also for anyone concerned with coming to peaceable terms with oneself and the world. There is great honesty and humility here, tempered with a clear intellect. Holloway does not shy away from the monstrous that seems to easily coexist with the saintly within us; but he does seem to suggest that the extremes of both should be avoided. This duality is shown to exist in the 'outer' world as well as in the 'inner'.
Truly wise people should realise that this dualist way of thinking is an error. Holloway uses the dichotomy to argue for an empathy for both, hopefully resulting in a sense of gratitude, of acceptance and appreciation, of who and what we are, and of the world we inhabit.
Truly wise people should realise that this dualist way of thinking is an error. Holloway uses the dichotomy to argue for an empathy for both, hopefully resulting in a sense of gratitude, of acceptance and appreciation, of who and what we are, and of the world we inhabit.
July 10, 2025
Unflinching and straight to the point, Richard Holloway always challenges me and makes me want to be a better man.
June 21, 2011
Holloway provides a beautiful middle ground between atheism and Christianity. And his idea of religion is art is profoundly convincing. Very good read.
December 25, 2025
In making his argument for the need for humans, most of whom are neither monsters nor saints, to love others unconditionally he goes in quite a circuitous route. In many ways, I was left feeling that this is less a book, than a collection of essays, of which 2/3rds relate to the premise of the book.
Chapter 5’s conclusion ends up being quite similar to that made by Erasmus in ‘The Praise of Folly’, but Holloway seems unaware of this.
His point on the need for introspection, and that one should not judge oneself by the standards of heroes and folk devils, but instead by what one know one ought to have done is reasonably well made, but is done better by others, Kirkegaard (from a radically different starting point) and Shoemaker to name two.
Chapter 5’s conclusion ends up being quite similar to that made by Erasmus in ‘The Praise of Folly’, but Holloway seems unaware of this.
His point on the need for introspection, and that one should not judge oneself by the standards of heroes and folk devils, but instead by what one know one ought to have done is reasonably well made, but is done better by others, Kirkegaard (from a radically different starting point) and Shoemaker to name two.
August 16, 2021
Very thought provoking, found myself pausing many times while reading. Lots of interesting ideas, a few to many quotes for my liking. Interesting insights into religion, not sure the title fully reflects the book.
November 10, 2014
Fabulous book. Holloway always makes you really think, and consider life in its minutest detail. I need to re-read this book, as there is so much in it, I feel I need to go over it again. He talks about the human condition from one end of the spectrum to the other - from monsters to saints - and how despite the horrors that are faced, empathy can win through. A must read for anyone interested in life!
Read
August 12, 2011Found this rather dull and pointless really. Most of the chapters didn't cover the subject of the chapter title and he seemed to waffle on a bit. I was quite surprised that he didn't believe in Heaven or that we should aim to live like Jesus, as he used to be Bishop of Edinburgh. Some interesting musings in places though.
Read
July 27, 2011Really worthwhile read, so much more balanced than Dawkins, even having read his biography he is so balanced in his approach to the dilemma of evil it is hard to know where he stands on the place of organised religion. Highly recommended.
September 22, 2015
What is good? What is evil? Do we have to be both? I chose to read this having read two other books by this challenging Episcopalian Bishop. He's a rebel not afraid to say what he thinks/feels, including well-expressed, daring ideas on god or God or not-even-calling-it-god, which I welcome.
January 10, 2009
Read for my book group and found most interesting.
Currently reading
September 15, 2010I'm only into the first chapter but already holding high hopes for this book. Don't know anything about it other than I though the title sounded compelling.
Currently reading
January 18, 2011Great Read.
December 15, 2013
Very thought provoking and makes a significant contribution to the complexities of our sometime contradictory human condition(s)
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews