Reviews for Spirituality and Chemical Dependency

The average rating for Spirituality and Chemical Dependency based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-12-14 00:00:00 Paul Hoare An introduction to Voegelin's thought. The biggest problem with this book is Heilke does not really explain Voegelin in an accessible way. Very often, he just compiles Voegelin's own texts and some commentators' discussion together, and does not really explain Voegelin's notoriously bizarre/idiosyncratic terms to students. This means that you may feel quite confused in reading and hard to finish this book if you are without any prior knowledge about Voegelin's thought. However, some gems are still noticeable. For instance, Heilke starts with Voegelin's theory of consciousness. This is a correct move, for one cannot understand what things like 'Gnosticism' means without the knowledge about the consciousness of 'reality' or 'truth'. Another interesting thing is that Heilke makes it clear that Voegelin's thought has two origins: Christianity and Platonic & Aristotelian philosophy, which is an absolutely right summary. This being said, I personally do not recommend this book to any first-time reader of Voegelin. This book is more suitable for those who already know a little about Voeglin and hope to further their understanding.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-01-21 00:00:00 Michel Cyr This book may seem like an argument for creationism, but it isn't. In truth, this book is about why science cannot reach the ultimate answers that mankind has been searching for since we've first separated ourselves from the rest of the animal kingdom. By breaking down the limits of science, what happened with Human Genome Project that created more mysteries and questions than we had before the project started, and how the brain is more of an enigma than we originally thought, Le Fanu shows that humans are a very very unusual species and worthy of being on the pedestal of the world. He also shows us what we've learned was right from Darwin's theory (i.e. microevolution and speciation), but brings up glaring questions regarding scientism adopting the theory as a "theory of everything." Le Fanu then continues to show that there is very likely a separation between the mind and the brain, but doesn't go so far as to say that this, indeed, is proof in the supernatural. The best part, though, is Le Fanu's argument as to why the science community remains silent on these questions and does not appear to acknowledge the limitations science possesses (and no, it's not a conspiracy). This isn't a book that everyone will put down and say "yes, he is absolutely right," but it definitely is one that will leave the reader asking more questions.