The Religion of Man - by Rabindranath Tagore (Paperback)

About the Book

"The Religion of Man is a compilation of lectures by Rabindranath Tagore, edited by Tagore and drawn largely from his Hibbert Lectures given at Oxford University in May 1930. A Brahmo playwright and poet of global renown, Tagore deals with the universal themes of God, divine experience, illumination, and spirituality. This International Edition combines all existent English editions into a single volume, including the previous foreword by Philip Novak; the introduction to the British edition by Andrew Robinson; four appendices from an earlier American edition, featuring a brief conversation between Tagore and Albert Einstein, titláxed "Note on the Nature of Reality" and a new foreword by religion writer and editor Jon M. Sweeney. Tagore is unequivocal in his faith. He appreciates the intellectual triumphs of science, but he writes as a poet and philosopher. Man must always be a music-maker and dreamer of dreams; man must never lose, in his material quests, his longing for the touch of the divine. Tagore traces the growth of the idea of God from primitive notions to universality. Today, as he says, all barriers are down and "the God of humanity has arrived at the gates of the ruined temple of the tribe." His book rings with joy and affirmation, overstepping all limitations of race and creed"--

Book Synopsis

Nobel Laureates' lectures given at Oxford toward the end of his life, edited by Tagore himself

Review Quotes

"His estimates of western civilization are searching and some of them written in acid...one reads much between the lines-but Tagore recognizes the true strength of the west and the faults of the east. The lectures are actually a superb and haunting criticism and evaluation of life from the viewpoint of an immemorial philosophy by a wise man." -Christian Century

"This is a book for everyone: a book whose human interest and pervading charm assure it a wide appeal and lasting value. It is not a philosophical work, as its author repeatedly warns us; in fact, its one semi-philosophical chapter (the first) may well be omitted. Its value is religious and poetical; like the essays of Emerson, it is primarily a document of the spiritual life." --Journal of Religion

"Rich in profound thought and poetic speech...he has never written anything so penetrating and illumination on the nature of things... Tagore has seen visions, and he can paint them for us with a compelling charm due to utter simplicity and fidelity. But he has not stopped there. His reason has entered into truth by the doors which his intuition has opened...A treasure-store of truth, beauty and wisdom." --New Chronicle