books
a very brief history of eternity
p what is eternity is it anything other than a purely abstract concept totally unrelated to our lives a mere hope a frightfully uncertain horizon or is it a certainty shared by priest and scientist alike and an essential element in all human relations p in a very brief history of eternity carlos eire the historian and national book award winning author of waiting for snow in havana has written a brilliant history of eternity in western culture . tracing the idea from ancient times to the present eire examines the rise and fall of five different conceptions of eternity exploring how they developed and how they have helped shape individual and collective self understanding . p a book about lived beliefs and their relationship to social and political realities a very brief history of eternity is also about unbelief and the tangled and often rancorous relation between faith and reason . its subject is the largest subject of all one that has taxed minds great and small for centuries and will forever be of human interest intellectually spiritually and viscerally .
hardcover princeton university press 2009 isbn13 9780691133577 isbn10 0691133573
abridged n isbn 13 9780691133577 number in series 1 number of pages 268 publisher princeton univ pr release date 62135769600000