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In fact he would probably have qualified well as an ethical humanist, but also as a closet mystic of idiosyncratic bent (a careful reading of Felix Adler's "Life and Destiny" would reveal that the founder of the Ethical Culture movement was also a mystic, his mysticism was merely not placed by him on the front cover of his appeals to humanity). I've read in full only a few things by Twain, including some remarks of his ridiculing Mary Baker Eddy and her "Christian Science," his essay defending the quality of President Grant's memoirs against an unfavorable British review, and some of his other essays. Complete irreligion was still relatively rare in Twain's day, and his essay on "Saint Joan of Arc" (see another work available on Amazon, his complete essays republished recently in paperback) suggests that he had the good sense to appreciate the Saints, if not the spiritual healers. Twain presumably belonged to no organized church, and these essays of his on the Biible should probably be compared to the critical (or even condemnatory) writings of Tom Paine on the Bible and Christianity ("The Age of Reason" if I recall the title correctly). But Twain's rave about Saint Joan, derived from his personal reading of the transcripts of her ecclesiastical trial for witchcraft and heresy, blew away any thoughts of mine that he might be regarded as a mere atheist or irreligious fanatic.
Let's give credit where credit's due. Mark Twain would give it to Robert Green Ingersoll, America's great agnostic. Read Colonel Bob's many lectures and you'll see what I mean.
This "compilation" is more for a STUDENT of MT, then for someone casually reading his finer, posthumously-published works. If you are in a college literature class, then this is probably a textbook in it. If not, it's probably TOO "academic" to be digested in one sitting.
Its facinating how religious fanatics blindly believe every fairytale putforth in a fiction book written by early man with one hell of an imagination. The story in paticular of God sending Moses to ravage the Midinaites slaughtering innocent men women and children even the livestock and houses and selling the young girls into prostitution has touched me deeply. Even when Mark Twain has ripped their world apart with deductive reasoning they will still hold on to their primitive beliefs with a vengence. Enuf of the soap box, I luv how this author gets deep into some of the Bibles fallicies and reveals it in a straight forward and sometimes comical manner. Would I personally believe in a murderous vengefull God, Not unless I was brainwashed from early childhood and cud seriously overlook these atrocities and blindly believe everything I was force fed.I wud reccomend this book to every one sitting on a fence wondering and thinking about things that dont make sense. I cant get off that soap box.
He prays for help, and favor, and protection, every day; and does it with hopefulness and confidence, too, although no prayer of his has ever been answered.he thinks he's going to heaven. Heaven goes by favor. Adam and Eve, in their diaries, present bittersweet divergent stories of their dysfunctional relationship. Above all things, avoid overdressing.
Man is a marvelous curiosity. St. When he is at his best he is a sort of low grade nickel-plated angel; at his worst he is unspeakable, unimaginable; and first and last and all the time he is a sarcasm. There is nothing resembling it at home. A pair of spurs and a fig-leaf is plenty.leave your dog outside. Peter dislikes it.
"He was deeply religious, by nature and by the training of his mother, and a fluent swearer by the training of his father." In this original and inventive story, we learn all those things about heaven that were left out of the Bible - but would be included in an imaginary book, "How to experience Heaven in six weeks on $10 a day."An "Etiquette in the Afterlife" excerpt: "Do not try to show off. Most of them were not published until after his death and for some this is their introduction. He prays to Him, and thinks He listens. He worked on these essays for most of his life but was afraid their irreverent nature would damage his career, therefore, he just kept re-writing and re-editing them. The people are all insane, the other animals are all insane, the Earth is insane.
The simpler you are dressed, the better it will please him. They also tell him there is a hell, of everlasting fire, and that he will go there if he doesn't keep the Commandments."Of course, Noah makes an entertaining appearance, and through it all, Mark Twain has an opportunity to expound about those things in the Old Testament that do not quite make sense to him. On a lark, he decides to visit earth, an outlying little spot in an outlying galaxy that God had once played around with for a few days. In this book Mark Twain aims his satire at favorite stories from the Old Testament. Yet he blandly and in all sincerity calls himself the 'noblest work of God'.if I may put another strain on you - he thinks he is the Creator's pet. He believes the Creator's proud of him; sits up nights to admire him; yes, and watch over him and keep him out of trouble. Isn't it a quaint idea.
Fills his prayers with crude and bald and florid flatteries of Him, and thinks He sits and purrs over these extravagancies and enjoys them. The authors offer scholarly histories about these essays for those who are interested. Their accounts could be prototypes from a marriage counsellor's office, or short versions of "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus." Captain Stormfield has a dream about ending up in Heaven when he thought he was going to the other place. When they finally let loose with the words of Mark Twain, the reader feels a breath of fresh air. If it went by merit, you would stay outside and the dog would go in." In the masterpiece, "Letters From The Earth," Satan has been temporarily expelled from heaven and is wandering around the universe. Satan is astounded at what he finds, and writes home:"This is a strange place, an extraordinary place, and interesting. He has salaried teachers who tell him that.
This is a fine collection of satires on religion by perhaps America's premier homespun author; a very definite five stars, and well worth your time.
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