The Collected Works of Eric Voegelin, Volume 5, Modernity without Restraint, The Political Religions; The New Science of Politics; and Science, Politics, and Gnosticism

by Eric Voegelin, Manfred Henningsen

Overview

Published together for the first time in one volume are Eric Voegelin's Political Religions, The New Science of Politics, and Science, Politics, and Gnosticism.Political Religions was first published in 1938 in Vienna, the year of Voegelin's forced emigration from Austria to the United States. The New Science of Politics was written in 1952 and established Voegelin's reputation as a political philosopher in America. Science, Politics, and Gnosticism was Voegelin's Inaugural Lecture at the University of Munich in 1958 and introduced him to the West German intellectual public.

Although these books were written during remarkably different historical circumstances of Voegelin's life, all three present an analysis of modern Western civilization that has lost its spiritual foundations and is challenged by various ideological persuasions. Voegelin critiques in these texts a "modernity without restraint." It is a modernity with Hegelian, Marxian, Nietzschean, Heideggerian, positivist, Fascist, and other predominantly German characteristics. The author confronts this modernity with Western meaning as it emerged in ancient Greece, Rome, Israel, and Christianity and became transformed in the European Middle Ages, the Italian Renaissance, and the Anglo- American political formation.

This three-in-one volume delves into the intellectual and spiritual complications of modernity, tracing its evolution from the ancient civilizations to the twentieth century. In his substantial new introduction, Manfred Henningsen explores the experiential background that motivated Voegelin's theoretical analyses and the new relevance that his work has gained in recent years with the unexpected collapse of state socialism in East Germany, Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union. Modernity without Restraint will be a valuable addition to intellectual history and Voegelin studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826212450
Publisher:	University of Missouri Press
Publication date:	11/28/1999
Series:	Collected Works of Eric Voegelin Series , #5
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

About the Author

Eric Voegelin (1901-1985) was one of the most original and influential philosophers of our time. Born in Cologne, Germany, he studied at the University of Vienna, where he became a professor of political science in the Faculty of Law. In 1938, he and his wife, fleeing Hitler, emigrated to the United States. They became American citizens in 1944. Voegelin spent much of his career at Louisiana State University, the University of Munich, and the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. During his lifetime he published many books and more than one hundred articles. The Collected Works of Eric Voegelin will make available in a uniform edition all of Voegelin's major writings.

About the Editor

Manfred Henningsen is Professor of Political Science at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Editorial Reviews

Published together for the first time in one volume are three works written during different historical circumstances between 1938 and 1958; yet all share the theme that modern Western civilization has lost its spiritual foundations. Editor Henningsen (political science, U. of Hawaii-Manoa) explores the background that motivated Voegelin's theoretical analyses and the new relevance that his work has gained in recent years with the collapse of state socialism in East Germany, Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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