Grammars of Creation
by Mr. George Steiner
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Book Summary Information
Author: Mr. George SteinerEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-04-01
ISBN: 0300088639
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: Yale University Press
Book Reviews of Grammars of Creation
Book Review: A sea of knowledge, one foot deep
Summary: 2 Stars
I admit that there is a certain degree of unfairness in this review, having read only 25 pages of the book; but that's all I needed to become more than suspicious of Steiner's ingenuity. Four examples: 1) Steiner says that historical evidence shows that "inhumanity is perennial", that there have not been "communities of justice". Not being myself an expert in the subject, a minimal acquaintance with the works of Marija Gimbutas or Humberto Maturana (the latter giving not historical but biological evidence of the primordial man living in sharing and colaboration) is enough to discredit that affirmation; 2) Steiner's account of Hope as something exclusively trascendental and relative to the future is poor and superficial: the person who hopes is not only walking 'towards' Eternal Life, but is already walking 'in' Eternal Life, walking the Kingdom; 3) Negative theology is not concerned with the "vacuum [God] leaves behind", but with the vacuum that God actually is; to that vacuum refers John of the Cross when talking of "un entender no entendiendo", "un no se que que quedamos balbuciendo" (an understanding which does not understands, a something which we can nothing but stammer at). God as Silence; the Father of the christian Trinity as that Silence, as Raimon Panikkar insightfully reminded to us. 4) "No religion lacks a creation-myth". That is simply not true. Check, for instance, not just buddhism (which only a very narrow concept of religion would consider it not one) and jainism, but various traditional religions of Africa.In sum, Steiner's lack of rigour turns out to be unbearable. I could identify some of his misguiding asseverations in certain issues, mainly concerned with religion, as another reviewer did in relation to the field of Mathematics. And that misguidance inevitably leads to distrust and suspicion, feelings that you might expect when reading "Mein Kampf", but not a book with such a beautiful title -reason for the two stars- as "Grammars of Creation".
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