Landscapes of the Soul
The Loss of Moral Meaning in American Life
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- $89.99
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- $89.99
Publisher Description
Do you believe in God? Nine out of ten Americans unhesitatingly answer yes. But for Douglas Porpora, the real questions begin where pollsters leave off. What, he asks, does religious belief actually mean in our lives? Does it shape our identities and our actions? Or, despite our professions of faith, are we morally adrift?
Landscapes of the Soul paints a disturbing picture of American spiritual life. In his search for answers to his questions, Porpora interviewed clerks and executives, Jews, evangelical Christians, Buddhists, Taoists, and even followers of Bhagwan Sri Rajneesh. He asked them about God, and about what they saw as their own place in the universe. What he found was a widespread inability to articulate any grand meaning of life. We lack heroes to inspire us. We lack a sense of calling, of transcendent purpose in our existence. Many of us seem incapable of caring deeply about the suffering of others. Our society is permeated with moral indifference. Yes, we are a believing people, but God is often a distant abstraction and rarely an emotional presence in our lives. Only such an emotional connection, Porpora argues, can be the basis of a genuine moral vision.
Our emotional estrangement from God and the sacred keeps us from caring about social justice, keeps us from wanting to change the world, keeps us enclosed in our own private worlds. Landscapes of the Soul is a passionate call to broaden our spiritual and moral horizons, to raise our eyes to the greater reality that unites us all.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Drexel University's Porpora is troubled that Americans have lost "moral purpose." That's happened, he says, not because we are following the lead of an adulterous ex-president or because consumer capitalism cultivates greed rather than charity, but because we no longer have emotional relationships with God. A sociologist, Porpora conducted interviews with dozens of Americans of all religious stripes. Americans believe in God, he concludes, but our belief is a highly theoretical, ratiocinated one; we may check off "theist" on a questionnaire, but we don't feel very much about God. Porpora's research indicates that many people, for example, deny having any personal experience of the divine. (One wonders how many of America's millions of evangelicals or Wiccans, for that matter Porpora interviewed.) If only we would get emotional about our deity, he argues, the nation's moral fabric would be stronger. The book is a tad diffuse. Porpora's digression, for example, into what we can know about the historical Jesus is not quite on point. He also repeatedly asserts that the postmodern claim of the death of the individual self is untenable, but he doesn't adequately connect that argument with his larger thesis. Ultimately, the book fails to convince. Porpora asserts axiomatically that emotional connection to God is the sine qua non of leading a moral life, but he never proves the axiom. Still, the gauntlet has been thrown down, and this volume is sure to be a provocative conversation starter.
