The Crisis Of The Age Inheres In This, That Notwithstanding The Century S Mind-Boggling Disasters, It Persists In Subscribing To Propositions Which Have Logically Led To The Atomization Of The Whole Cloth Of Human Experiencing, And Being. Great Indeed Is The Value, Which Is Placed On The Procedure Of Analytic Dismemberment. While The Method Has Certainly Been Result Producing, Materially, In Its Wake It Has Brought Immense Suffering- Both Physical And Spiritual. The Price Paid For A Lopsided Advance Is Thirty Major Wars With Their Toll Of One Hundred And Thirty Million Lives, And The Irreparable Destruction Of The Natural Environment. The Time Cries For A Reappraisal Of The Basic Paradigms Of Human Existence, But The Hegemony Of Well-Entrenched Vested Interests Material Or Intellectual Would Seem To Preclude This. The Advanced Among The Mankind Of The Day Become Suicidally Specialized. For, If The Mechanical Model Of Thought Has Been Of Advantage In Man S Preceding Unfolding, The Same, What May Be Called The Survival Paradigm,, Now Creates Dangerous Dualities, Binary Oppositions (You-Me, Body-Mind, East-West, Etc.) . The Model Has Outlived Its Usefulness Merely Enforcing Dormancy On A Major Part Of The Human Brain. It Behoves Mankind To Choose Wisely Right Now Since Parallel To The Socio-Economic, Scientific And Technological Revolutions There Has Got To Be The Overdue Radical Psychic Transformation. The First Step Towards Clearing The Fateful Crisis Would Therefore Be To Be Aware, And End The Hold Of The Linear, Causal, Mechanical Thought Orientation Over The Intellectual Culture Of The Times. Delving Deep Into The Epistemological-Cum-Ontological Causation Of The Emergency Confronting The Being And Becoming Of Man, The Author Of This Important Work Provokes The Thoughtful Lay Reader To A Serious Engagement With His Or Her Self.

The philosophy of Albert Schweitzer has proved widely influential in modern thinking, especially in the field of ethics. His leading ethical idea can be summarized in the phrase "reverence for life" - namely, that good consists in maintaining and perfecting life, and evil consists in destroying and obstructing life. For Schweitzer, all life is sacred. Ethics thus deals with human attitudes and behavior toward all living beings. Unlike many moral philosophers, Schweitzer argues that knowledge of human nature does not provide a sufficient foundation for any adequate moral theory. That is why he bases his ethics on much broader foundations, articulated in his philosophy of civilization and the philosophy of religion. Schweitzer argues that the material aspect of our civilization has become far more important than its spiritual counterpart. Even organized religion has put itself in the service of politics and economy, thereby losing its vitality and moral authority. Schweitzer's ethics of reverence for life, argues Predrag Cicovacki, offers a viable alternative at a time when traditional ethical theories are found inadequate. Schweitzer's robust and un-dogmatic idealism may offer the best antidote to the prevailing relativism and nihilism of the postmodern epoch. His ethical vision directs us toward a new way of building a more just and more peaceful world. Collecting sixteen of Schweitzer's most effective essays, this volume serves as a compelling introduction to this remarkable thinker and humanist.

"In the extensiveness of the resources consulted and in the depth of insight into Luther's own thought which is here revealed, Dr. Forell's work compares very favorably with anything that has been produced on the subject by European scholarship. It is the most solid and genuine piece of Luther research that has come out in this country to my knowledge." - Edgar M. Carlson, Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minn. "The book is especially notable for its balanced judgment and objectivity. Prof. Forell attempts no whitewash, but notes Luther's personal and historical limitations at the same time as he indicates the enduringly valid principles of his ethical thought." - Warren A. Quanbeck, Luther Theological Seminary. St. Paul, Minn. "This is a significant contribution toward a classification of Luther's social ethics. It convincingly refutes both of the divergent tendencies which assert 'that Luther had no social ethics at all, since he placed society outside of the Christian Gospel, or that his social ethics was purely pragmatic, accepting the social order of his day and thus helping to bring about the growth of capitalism and nationalism.'" - Martin Heinecken, The Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, PA "This is a book which should be in every Lutheran pastor's personal library and in every Lutheran parish library. As a matter of public relations, parochial, circuit , and district public relations committees should ensure that it finds a place on the shelves of public libraries and college and university libraries as a salutary corrective to the conventional misrepresentations of Luther's ethical principles." - Arthur Carl Piepkorn, Concordia Theological Seminary, St. Louis, MO.