Utopia, The Perennial Heresy

Utopia, The Perennial Heresy
Thomas Molnar (Author)
(3)

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Utopian

The utopian is generally regarded as a harmless visionary, of course, whose system of thought suffers largely from a naivete about things as they really are. In this work, Thomas Molnar disputes this view and shows that the utopian thinker can be (and often has been) extremely dangerous. Thus it may surprise many that Molnar sees Teilhard de Chardin and Karl Marx sharing the same ideological umbrella, despite the theological differences between them. Going further, the author argues strongly that utopianism is a persistent historical phenomenon seriously at odds with that Christian realism which remains as one of the supports of Western civilization. For the utopianóreligious or atheisticóaims, despite all disclaimers, at the deification of man. Further, in Thomas Molnar's cogent thesis, utopian doctrines implicitly deny the central Christian understanding of original sin. The perfection which they seek and the abstract Man of whom they speak alike conflict with the Christian understanding of the free human will and a personal, transcendent God. Co-published with The Intercollegiate Studies Institute.

• Rank: #1552674 in Books
• Published on: 1990-02-16
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .7 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 260 pages

Description #1 by Alibris:

Description #2 by shopoin.info:

"An unimpeachable classic work in political philosophy, intellectual and cultural history, and economics, The Road to Serfdom has inspired and infuriated politicians, scholars, and general readers for half a century. Originally published in 1944when Eleanor Roosevelt supported the efforts of Stalin, and Albert Einstein subscribed lock, stock, and barrel to the socialist programThe Road to Serfdom was seen as heretical for its passionate warning against the dangers of state control over the means of production. For FA Hayek, the collectivist idea of empowering government with increasing economic control would lead not to a utopia but to the horrors of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.First published by the University of Chicago Press on September 18, 1944, The Road to Serfdom garnered immediate, widespread attention. The first printing of 2000 copies was exhausted instantly, and within six months more than 30000 books were sold. In April 1945, Reader's Digest published a condensed version of the book, and soon thereafter the Book-of-the-Month Club distributed this edition to more than 600000 readers. A perennial best seller, the book has sold 400000 copies in the United States alone and has been translated into more than twenty languages, along the way becoming one of the most important and influential books of the century.With this new edition, The Road to Serfdom takes its place in the series The Collected Works of FA Hayek. The volume includes a foreword by series editor and leading Hayek scholar Bruce Caldwell explaining the book's origins and publishing history and assessing common misinterpretations of Hayek's thought. Caldwell has also standardized and corrected Hayek's references and added helpful new explanatory notes. Supplemented with an appendix of related materials ranging from prepublication reports on the initial manuscript to forewords to earlier editions by John Chamberlain, Milton Friedman, and Hayek himself, this new edition of The Road to Serfdom will be the definitive version of Friedrich Hayek's enduring masterwork.File Size: 630 KBPrint Length: 298 pagesPage Numbers Source ISBN: 0226320553 Publisher: University of Chicago Press (October 22, 2010) Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.Language: EnglishASIN: B0048EJXCK"

Description #3 by Alibris: