Midway reprint

An examination of the stories of Anderson, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Faulkner, and Katherine Anne Porter.

Philosophers Speak of God brings together concepts of Deity from a rich variety of minds, and from all periods of history. The selections range from Plato to Berdyaev, from 1375 B.C. Pantheism to the psychological skepticism of Freud, and include the views of Buddhists, Moslems, Hindus, Jews, Christians, and atheists. Editorial notes and comments direct the reader to the heart of each viewpoint presented.

Leo Strauss argued that the most visible fact about Machiavelli's doctrine is also the most useful one: Machiavelli seems to be a teacher of wickedness. Strauss sought to incorporate this idea in his interpretation without permitting it to overwhelm or exhaust his exegesis of The Prince and the Discourses on the First Ten Books of Livy. "We are in sympathy," he writes, "with the simple opinion about Machiavelli [namely, the wickedness of his teaching], not only because it is wholesome, but above all because a failure to take that opinion seriously prevents one from doing justice to what is truly admirable in Machiavelli: the intrepidity of his thought, the grandeur of his vision, and the graceful subtlety of his speech." This critique of the founder of modern political philosophy by this prominent twentieth-century scholar is an essential text for students of both authors.

The nine essays in this collection, selected from La theologie au douzieme siecle, inquire into the historical context and origins of medieval scholasticism. They are representative of Chenu's finest work.