I've only read parts, but there's another Atwill-esque book out there offering a similar position with different and better (?) arguments: https://smile.amazon.com/Creating-Christ-Emperors-Invented-Christianity/dp/1949914615/ Been meaning to read all of it, but you might find it worth checking out!
Thanks Harrison, I’ve skimmed through that book. Sort of moved on (sounds more pompous/arrogant/dismissive than I mean it) from that genre in general. I was interested in destroying my worldview (or at least, destroy is what happened) when I read Atwill/et al. More interested in cultivating a coherent, robust, life affirming worldview now, so reading that informs that end takes up the majority of my (never enough) time!
p.s enjoy your substack as well. Thank you for your work!
Why I find a book/essay/piece of writing coherent, robust and life affirming is often personally contextual.
For example I read a prayer for the blessing of food last week which moved me take up the practice for the first time. There is nothing obviously coherent about blessing food (not in a rational sense), and the food is still life affirming (in a literal, physical way) without the prayer.
Yet the prayer itself, the reflection it induces and the wider, deeper connections it helps me to make to life itself, have the net effect of increasing the coherence and robustness of my life and affirms that I want to live this life and experience as much of it as I can.
That being said, Gordon White’s Ani.Mystic is one book that overtly affirms life and the mutual flourishing of all. I recently re-read Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami and while I found it ultimately life affirming, I can see how some might see it depressing. As I mentioned in another comment, the Barsoom series is unashamedly about living life and the wonderful adventures that life will take you on when you live it.
Substacks such as From The Forests of Arduinna, Torchlight, The Wonderland Rules, Charles Eisenstein, John Carter (obvs!), Paul Kingsnorth, (and so many more!) have provided many moments which provoke deep thought and reflection and ultimately encourage me to keep on living life.
I've only read parts, but there's another Atwill-esque book out there offering a similar position with different and better (?) arguments: https://smile.amazon.com/Creating-Christ-Emperors-Invented-Christianity/dp/1949914615/ Been meaning to read all of it, but you might find it worth checking out!
Thanks Harrison, I’ve skimmed through that book. Sort of moved on (sounds more pompous/arrogant/dismissive than I mean it) from that genre in general. I was interested in destroying my worldview (or at least, destroy is what happened) when I read Atwill/et al. More interested in cultivating a coherent, robust, life affirming worldview now, so reading that informs that end takes up the majority of my (never enough) time!
p.s enjoy your substack as well. Thank you for your work!
Tough question!
Why I find a book/essay/piece of writing coherent, robust and life affirming is often personally contextual.
For example I read a prayer for the blessing of food last week which moved me take up the practice for the first time. There is nothing obviously coherent about blessing food (not in a rational sense), and the food is still life affirming (in a literal, physical way) without the prayer.
Yet the prayer itself, the reflection it induces and the wider, deeper connections it helps me to make to life itself, have the net effect of increasing the coherence and robustness of my life and affirms that I want to live this life and experience as much of it as I can.
That being said, Gordon White’s Ani.Mystic is one book that overtly affirms life and the mutual flourishing of all. I recently re-read Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami and while I found it ultimately life affirming, I can see how some might see it depressing. As I mentioned in another comment, the Barsoom series is unashamedly about living life and the wonderful adventures that life will take you on when you live it.
Substacks such as From The Forests of Arduinna, Torchlight, The Wonderland Rules, Charles Eisenstein, John Carter (obvs!), Paul Kingsnorth, (and so many more!) have provided many moments which provoke deep thought and reflection and ultimately encourage me to keep on living life.
Apologies for the long winded answer.