In the posthumously published Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion; the Enlightenment philosopher David Hume attacked many of the traditional arguments for the existence of God; expressing the belief that religion is founded on ignorance and irrational fears. Though calm and courteous in tone - at times even tactfully ambiguous - the conversations between Hume's vividly realized fictional figures form perhaps the most searching case ever mounted against orthodox Christian theological thinking and the 'deism' of the time; which pointed to the wonders of creation as conclusive evidence of God's Design. Hume's characters debate these issues with extraordinary passion; lucidity and humour; in one of the most compelling philosophical works ever written.For more than seventy years; Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1;700 titles; Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors; as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
#81707 in Books Flavius Josephus 1984-02-07 1984-02-07Original language:Ancient GreekPDF # 1 7.80 x .90 x 5.10l; .74 #File Name: 0140444203512 pagesThe Jewish War
Review
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Must-read; and I love this translationBy Dean CoxThe five stars are for the translator. Josephus is what he is: a first century Jew; soldier; historian; and opportunist. Without him we have virtually no record of the first thirty years of the Church; or the lead-up; execution; and clean-up of the Jewish rebellion against Rome; the most horrendous experience any nation; before or since; says the author - the worst possible war. There are stories of those who wanted to placate Rome to save lives and treasure; those who wanted to kill all Romans; horrible Jewish crime bosses who butchered the innocent; women eating their children within the walls of Jotapata while Roman siege-works (broken only by the bald heroism and brilliance of the author; so he says); starved thousands; breaking down Jerusalem's walls and Romans becoming sick at seeing what Jews had done to Jews; with blood running in high rivers down the alleys. After reading this book; you will understand why so many have identified the Beast of Revelation with Nero. You'll read the primary source for the famous mass suicide at the top of Masada. A 7 year war. A great tribulation. Many fulfilled New Testament prophecies within their own generation. If you're a Preterist; it's evidence that the premils could be mistaken. If you're a premil; you may have some explaining to do. Although Josephus exaggerates and clearly sucks up to Rome; The Jewish War is a must-read for any Bible student or church historian. The problem has been that forever; it seems; Whiston was the only translation of the book; and I'm guessing that's why so few people read it. Even if forced to read it for school credit; it made you want to cut your wrists. I discovered Williamson's translation in a bruised book store by accident a few years ago; and suddenly the book was a page-turner; I couldn't put it down. I missed meals. Then I was happy to find it on Kindle. You can get Whiston on Kindle too; but I see no reason to. Now; with Williamson's touch; The Jewish War is readable again; so there should be no excuse for missing this treasure!2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Horrible Proofing of an OCR ConversionBy MW BrownI am giving the Kindle edition of this book only two stars; not for any deficiency in content nor for a lack of historical or literary value; but because there are so many typos that many sentences require reference back to the printed book to understand what the writer actually wrote. It appears that the publisher of this work simply scanned printed pages and then processed the output of the scans through an elementary OCR without benefit of a spelling checker nor any grammar analysis. We shouldn't have to pay good money for inferior products such as this.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. This is a great book; but the Kindle version is awfulBy Kenneth M. NollettThis is a great book; but the Kindle version is awful. It looks like they did an OCR of the print version and then did no quality checking. At one point; it refers to the "great dungs" in the temple. The word "die" comes out as "the" almost every single time. As in "they were prepared to the." It's readable; but it takes some effort.
