https://www.logos.com/product/45365/logic-in-theology-and-other-essays
Can anyone tell me why this 1859 book is worth $3?
Lot cheaper than a reprint. Would be nice to know that it's worth more than the volume of pages. Anyone read it?
I don't know but the title of the first essay sounded interesting to me.
The copy on the CP webpage isn't helpful? I thought it made this book seem interesting, possibly one to purchase.
A quick search on the web turned up no recent reviews. Isaac Taylor seems to have made an impact on thinking in his time, this may persist. He is credited with coining the term "Patristics".
An obituary for Isaac Taylor: http://freepages.family.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~taylorsofongar/isaacobit.html
The book in question was reviewed in THE CHRISTIAN REFORMER; OR, UNITARIAN MAGAZINE AND REVIEW Issue 174, Volume 15, June 1859 - here's a quote:
"LOGIC IN THEOLOGY AND THEOLOGY VOID OF LOGIC* One man writes a book because he has something to say; another, because he flatters himself it will make him famous ; another, because he is sanguine enough to hope it will pay ; while some favoured few write (or collect what they have already written and partly published) because their booksellers assure them that their established reputation will find a sale for what ever shall next bear their name, especially with the aid of modern- antique type and a sternly classical-looking outside.
We seek in vain for any better explanation than the last- named of the appearance of the book before us. It wants defi nite aim and purpose ; it has no unity or perceivable artistic design, such as may be found in most of Isaac Taylor's writings hitherto ; it is a mere medley, the very title of which gives no idea of its contents. But we, who have read through its pages, have more serious fault still to charge against it than that of idle bookmaking for the market.
"Logic in Theology" is the title of the first essay; and its object is to shew that there ought to be no logic in theology. A startling theme to be taken up by a semi-liberal pen such as Mr. Taylor's has been reputed, whose object has commonly been to make a moderate orthodoxy appear philosophically reasonable! If logic is nothing more or less than sound reasoning reduced to technical rules, there ought to be a logic in all theology that dares to lift up its head at the present day. But it is not this kind of logic that Mr. Taylor deprecates. No doubt he con siders his own theology to be most truly logical. In this essay, he defines the thing by its abuse, and then repudiates it. He reminds us how the old " masters of philosophy (before Bacon's time) believed and taught that the human mind possesses or may attain to a sovereign comprehension of all things, real and pos sible, so that it may work out for itself a scheme of the world material and immaterial, derived from its own conceptions ; a scheme such that it shall furnish a true explication of all the phenomena of the actual world." He reminds his reader howBacon dispelled "this prodigious illusion" from the realms of physical science, by simply insisting upon the method of fact and experiment instead ; and then says, quite truly and sadly, that in the regions of non-material philosophy the antiquated logic still holds its sway ; that in metaphysics and theology men still trust to logical deduction as an instrument for the discovery of truth, instead of applying to these subjects also the Baconian method of induction upon the facts of their own observation and consciousness. The purpose of this first essay, then, is to re pudiate the use of a false logic in theology, though not to illus trate the application of the true ; to remove the chair of Aquinas, and let Bacon set his own there if he can ; for Mr. Taylor leaves the latter work still undone.
This first essay (we are informed in the Preface), or at least a great part of it, " appeared as an introductory essay to Edwards on Free Will" We have never had the fortune to see the edition of Edwards in question; but this essay must have formed a curious kind of introduction. It virtually says, Allow me to introduce Mr. Jonathan Edwards to a wider circle of friends, as a clever man in his way, but one who has been mistaken for a philosopher and a theologian. Allow me to explain that he is neither the one nor the other ; and all because he has tried to be both at once. He has (as he thinks) logically demonstrated the "determining motives" of the human will, and shewn that the notion of its freedom is intirely unfounded. There is no replying to his well-compacted reasonings ; but they seem to the present editor quite erroneous notwithstanding. We commend him to our acquaintance, at the same time warning them that he is a dangerous man ! Such is the tone of Mr. Taylor's "letters of commendation" for Jonathan Edwards."
because it is worth at least as much as a breakfast meal deal at McDonalds or some foofy coffee drink with shots at your local shop. If you bid on this we might get it down to 2. That coffee will still be 3. By the way, how should I spell foofy?
Could you possibly be searching for frou frou?
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/frou-frou
I'm in on this, can't go wrong since I brew my favorite dark roast at home. [8-|]
At three bucks, I'm in, too. The paper editions on Amazon start at $26.99.
Despite the resounding endorsement that Jal found, I'm still in at 3$.
I placed my bid at $3. The 1st Essay is interesting enough to warrant the $3. I'll give up a DD or WaWa visit [:)].
When you look at the font and spelling style of the original, I can't wait to see how many errors are in the Logos version.
I have enough experience to know that typos are just as likely to happen even if there weren't any differences in font and spelling style.
