The Journey: A Spiritual Roadmap for Modern Pilgrims
This lively and entertaining allegory attempts to introduce readers to the moral dilemmas and philosophical impasses that arise along life's path. In Kreeft's tale, readers are guided largely by Socrates (Moses and C.S. Lewis appear late in the book) in a trek from Plato's cave to the cross of Christ. Socrates introduces the tools of the journeyDsharp questions and sound reasoningDand assists readers as they encounter famous thinkers who present philosophical positions that demand decisions crucial to the direction of their journey: Is there truth? Does meaning exist? Does God exist? The problem, however, with this otherwise delightful book (intended for introductory philosophy courses in Christian colleges) is that it oversimplifies and ridicules the great minds of Western thought, apparently to underscore the futility of anything less than faith in Jesus. For example, here Epicurus appears as Hugh Hefner, and Diogenes, who "looked like a sad spastic frogDrather like Jean-Paul Sartre," chooses to sulk rather than counter a simple argument. Gorgias is an "elitist pessimist" snob; Protagoras and Kant are but two sides of the same slick skeptic; and Nietzsche is merely a raving lunatic who croons Sinatra's "I Did It My Way." Some might find this good fun, others good allegory, but it certainly isn't good philosophy.Copyright 1997 Cahners Business Information, Inc.