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placuszekzmango's review against another edition
5.0
Znać tak dobrze Biblię, być takim renegatem swoich czasów i tak umiejętnie zbijać argumenty głupich i niekompetentych, naprawdę niebywały człowiek
robertt's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
3.75
I have already started to read the book in the past. Back then I bought a german Reclamheft version in a Berlin museum. I threw it away because I wrote in it with a pen. I hated my own writings back at that time.
So I bought it again and I was thrilled by the first 30 pages. That was a philosopher who is willing to defend his own opinion. I wrote some sentences on a sheet of paper.
Then I got bored of the Intolerance or Tolerance of the Jews and Romans. I never got into reading the bible. It is a part of world history. But to read it metaphorically is in my opinion the only true way to understand it with its true meaning. Back to Voltaire, those footnotes bored the hell out of me and I didn't feel like reading was a fun freetime activity anymore. It was a chore.
In the end Voltaire came back to the family trail of Calas and got my motivation back, even though I feel tired now. (I nearly slept when reading the last 20 pages.)
My evaluation dropped from 4.5 to 3.75
So I bought it again and I was thrilled by the first 30 pages. That was a philosopher who is willing to defend his own opinion. I wrote some sentences on a sheet of paper.
Then I got bored of the Intolerance or Tolerance of the Jews and Romans. I never got into reading the bible. It is a part of world history. But to read it metaphorically is in my opinion the only true way to understand it with its true meaning. Back to Voltaire, those footnotes bored the hell out of me and I didn't feel like reading was a fun freetime activity anymore. It was a chore.
In the end Voltaire came back to the family trail of Calas and got my motivation back, even though I feel tired now. (I nearly slept when reading the last 20 pages.)
My evaluation dropped from 4.5 to 3.75
aspiringorakle's review against another edition
3.0
While Voltaire is infamous among Christians for absurdity, his points about toleration are to the point and extraordinarily intuitive. This work is primarily historical-exegetical in scope, making philosophical points from that framework. As he surveys history and Scripture, he could make his arguments tighter, but for one primed with a sense of compassion, his appeals to humanity and not punishing others for their beliefs hit home.
enlamparter's review against another edition
5.0
Since I bought this book thinking I was buying Candide, I had low expectations when I found out I’d bought a book about religious tolerance instead. However, I found that this book was surprisingly relevant, as well as relatively easy to read and ended up enjoying it quite a bit!
teodomo's review against another edition
Hoy había quedado en leer un fragmento del Tratado de la tolerancia de Voltaire, que ataca el fanatismo religioso, defiende la libertad de cultos y critica las masacres por motivos religiosos. Qué oportuno teniendo en cuenta lo que pasó hoy en EEUU...
"Los hugonotes, sin duda, se han embriagado de fanatismo y se han manchado de sangre como nosotros; pero la generación presente ¿es tan bárbara como sus padres? El tiempo, la razón que hace tantos progresos, los buenos libros, la dulzura de la sociedad ¿no han penetrado en aquellos que dirigen el espíritu de esos pueblos? ¿Y no nos apercibimos de que casi toda Europa ha cambiado de cara desde hace unos cincuenta años?"
...
"Irlanda, poblada y enriquecida, ya no verá a sus ciudadanos católicos sacrificar a Dios, durante dos meses, a sus ciudadanos protestantes, enterrarlos vivos, colgar a las madres de cadalsos, atar a las hijas al cuello de sus madres para verlas expirar juntas; abrir el vientre a las mujeres encintas, extraerles a los hijos a medio formar para echárselos a comer a los cerdos y los perros; poner un puñal en la mano de sus prisioneros atados y guiar su brazo hacia el seno de sus mujeres, de sus padres, de sus madres, de sus hijos, imaginando convertirlos en mutuos parricidas y hacer que se condenen al mismo tiempo que los exterminan a todos. Esto es lo que cuenta Rapin-Thoiras, oficial en Irlanda, casi nuestro contemporáneo; esto es lo que relatan todos los anales, todas las historias de Inglaterra y que, sin duda, jamás será imitado. La filosofía, la sola filosofía, esa hermana de la religión, ha desarmado manos que la superstición había ensangrentado tanto tiempo; y la mente humana, al despertar de su ebriedad, se ha asombrado de los excesos a que la había arrastrado el fanatismo".
La capacidad de matar y torturar de las peores formas no es exclusiva de ningún grupo humano, sea religioso, político, étnico, etc. Ojalá que en los lugares del mundo donde siguen pasando estas cosas llegue, eventualmente, esa prosperidad y calma que Voltaire dice que llegó a Irlanda.
Hay gente que cree que para lograr esto es necesario que las religiones desaparezcan. También pensé así en algún momento, pero ahora creo que alcanza con que siga ocurriendo lo que ha ocurrido a lo largo de los siglos: las religiones se reforman, se suavizan; las interpretaciones de los textos cambian, se actualizan.
* Figuras recurrentes: Monarca sabio/a.
"Los hugonotes, sin duda, se han embriagado de fanatismo y se han manchado de sangre como nosotros; pero la generación presente ¿es tan bárbara como sus padres? El tiempo, la razón que hace tantos progresos, los buenos libros, la dulzura de la sociedad ¿no han penetrado en aquellos que dirigen el espíritu de esos pueblos? ¿Y no nos apercibimos de que casi toda Europa ha cambiado de cara desde hace unos cincuenta años?"
...
"Irlanda, poblada y enriquecida, ya no verá a sus ciudadanos católicos sacrificar a Dios, durante dos meses, a sus ciudadanos protestantes, enterrarlos vivos, colgar a las madres de cadalsos, atar a las hijas al cuello de sus madres para verlas expirar juntas; abrir el vientre a las mujeres encintas, extraerles a los hijos a medio formar para echárselos a comer a los cerdos y los perros; poner un puñal en la mano de sus prisioneros atados y guiar su brazo hacia el seno de sus mujeres, de sus padres, de sus madres, de sus hijos, imaginando convertirlos en mutuos parricidas y hacer que se condenen al mismo tiempo que los exterminan a todos. Esto es lo que cuenta Rapin-Thoiras, oficial en Irlanda, casi nuestro contemporáneo; esto es lo que relatan todos los anales, todas las historias de Inglaterra y que, sin duda, jamás será imitado. La filosofía, la sola filosofía, esa hermana de la religión, ha desarmado manos que la superstición había ensangrentado tanto tiempo; y la mente humana, al despertar de su ebriedad, se ha asombrado de los excesos a que la había arrastrado el fanatismo".
La capacidad de matar y torturar de las peores formas no es exclusiva de ningún grupo humano, sea religioso, político, étnico, etc. Ojalá que en los lugares del mundo donde siguen pasando estas cosas llegue, eventualmente, esa prosperidad y calma que Voltaire dice que llegó a Irlanda.
Hay gente que cree que para lograr esto es necesario que las religiones desaparezcan. También pensé así en algún momento, pero ahora creo que alcanza con que siga ocurriendo lo que ha ocurrido a lo largo de los siglos: las religiones se reforman, se suavizan; las interpretaciones de los textos cambian, se actualizan.
* Figuras recurrentes: Monarca sabio/a.
santino1215's review against another edition
5.0
Book 70 out of 200 books
"Treatise of Toleration and other Essays" by Voltaire
Voltaire's timeless essay/s on Religious tolerance and authority openness has a place in the shelves of the most important essays regarding religion. Voltaire was risking his own safety just to publish these essays in order to open the minds of those who are still judgmental regarding the topic of one's religion.
This essays were written during and after the death of the local Toulouse worker Jean Calas, who was wrongly executed for killing his father. A defeat for Calas, but a victory for Voltaire to expose the wrongness of the Church's meddling to national affairs.
MY THOUGHTS:
So I read an expanded edition of Voltaire's essays on religious tolerance, which can be found here on goodreads too. But I chose this Penguin Classics book edition because of its more improvised text.
Voltaire is a genius, I could tell you. The problems of religion that he was facing still continues on to the modern day. While I can't blame that most Islamic nations follow Islamic laws through the Sharia law, It still is a bother to religious and ethnic minorities, but not just Islamic minorities but most nations who have similar problems, just not the law.
The Philippines, my home nation, does have similarities. Except that most Filipinos hail religion without fully understanding it thoroughly. And Divorce, Abortion, Same-sex marriage still are all illegal. I'll understand if Muslim provinces refuse these said laws, but most Filipinos honestly don't have positive views on these said potential laws. I still don't get it myself on why fellow Filipinos don't want progressivism and prefer populism instead, while most populist leaders of nations are a threat to their democracies.
This book is a great read, I learned a lot. Jean Calas didn't deserve execution and Voltaire deserves a lot of Praise!
"Treatise of Toleration and other Essays" by Voltaire
Voltaire's timeless essay/s on Religious tolerance and authority openness has a place in the shelves of the most important essays regarding religion. Voltaire was risking his own safety just to publish these essays in order to open the minds of those who are still judgmental regarding the topic of one's religion.
This essays were written during and after the death of the local Toulouse worker Jean Calas, who was wrongly executed for killing his father. A defeat for Calas, but a victory for Voltaire to expose the wrongness of the Church's meddling to national affairs.
MY THOUGHTS:
So I read an expanded edition of Voltaire's essays on religious tolerance, which can be found here on goodreads too. But I chose this Penguin Classics book edition because of its more improvised text.
Voltaire is a genius, I could tell you. The problems of religion that he was facing still continues on to the modern day. While I can't blame that most Islamic nations follow Islamic laws through the Sharia law, It still is a bother to religious and ethnic minorities, but not just Islamic minorities but most nations who have similar problems, just not the law.
The Philippines, my home nation, does have similarities. Except that most Filipinos hail religion without fully understanding it thoroughly. And Divorce, Abortion, Same-sex marriage still are all illegal. I'll understand if Muslim provinces refuse these said laws, but most Filipinos honestly don't have positive views on these said potential laws. I still don't get it myself on why fellow Filipinos don't want progressivism and prefer populism instead, while most populist leaders of nations are a threat to their democracies.
This book is a great read, I learned a lot. Jean Calas didn't deserve execution and Voltaire deserves a lot of Praise!