Wager: Beauty, Suffering, and Being in the World

by Raymond Barfield

Publisher:

Cascade Books

, 2017

Overview

How do humans explore beauty, virtue, love, justice, and goodness? This book argues that philosophical attention to our lives, shaped in part by our choices, is our instrument for investigating these parts of reality. Constructing a life is a philosophical act. Philosophical acts that are shaped by a life, and that shape a life, constitute philosophical style. Everyone has a philosophical style, which is fundamentally about the way we live in the world through our bodies, our reason, our imagination, and our virtue. It is about what we love and how we are loved. Beauty, suffering, and being in the world are placeholders for everything that makes up our lived experience. As we live our lives between beauty and suffering, we learn most about being in the world. The argument of the book moves from a discussion of philosophical style, through the three placeholders for human experience as they are affected by philosophy (beauty, suffering, and being in the world), arriving at a reworking of Pascal's wager about living in relationship to the presence or absence of God as a way of understanding the commitments that are our only way into the truth of our life.

Praise for Wager

"You do not have to read this book, but I wager if you do, you will discover you are very glad you did. It is a book of wisdom written by a person who refuses to let how they think we should think and live be determined by disciplinary boundaries. I have a sense this book may become a classic."
--Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor Emeritus of Divinity and Law, Duke University 

"Here you will find everything we have come to expect from this extraordinary philosopher, physician, musician, and teacher. Subtle arguments, philosophical erudition, and probing questions are all clothed in a warm and accessible style. We are made to think as perhaps never before about that ultimate risk, the 'wager' on God, and the questions that we all send heavenward at some time or another: 'Are you there?' and 'What if you are there?'" 
--Jeremy Begbie, Duke University and the University of Cambridge

"Raymond Barfield has written a beautiful, compelling, and absorbing book. What makes it so special is that it is written with intellectual sophistication and yet carries the smooth, satisfying prose of a novelist; that it is fun and engaging and yet addresses the greatest subject of all; that it is inspired by a great apologist from four hundred years ago but is as contemporary as could be. This is a marvelous writer wrestling with the reader, with himself, and ultimately with God: and giving each a profound blessing."
--Sam Wells, Vicar, St. Martin-in-the-Fields

Product Details

• Title : Wager: Beauty, Suffering, and Being in the World
• Author: Barfield, Raymond
• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Publication Date: 2017
• ISBN: 9781498292108

About Raymond Barfield

Dr. Barfield is a pediatric oncologist with an interest in the intersection of medicine, philosophy and theology. His medical research focuses on immune therapies for childhood cancer (including bone marrow transplantation and antibody therapy) and improvement of the quality of life for children with severe or fatal diseases. Dr. Barfield worked for eight years in oncology and bone marrow transplantation at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. His work in philosophy focuses on ethics and the history of the impact of literature on philosophical thought. An author of dozens of publications in a range of genres including poetry, philosophy and medicine, he is currently working on a book manuscript titled “Poetic Openings: A Brief History of Philosophy’s Ancient Quarrel with Poetry.†In the Divinity School, Dr. Barfield interacts with students and faculty members bridging medicine, philosophy and theology. As director of pediatric palliative care for Duke, he works closely with the Institute for Care at the End of Life advancing interdisciplinary research, teaching and service by drawing on the strengths of both the Medical School and the Divinity School.