King Of The Castle: Choice And Resposibility In The Modern World by Gai Eaton

THIS BOOK examines closely many of the unquestioned assump¬tions by which we live our lives, comparing them with the beliefs that have shaped and guided human life in the past. The author, a Muslim, writes primarily from the viewpoint of Islam. The book begins with a consideration of how secular societies attempt to possess their citizens, body and soul, and how, as a consequence, the necessity of redefining human responsibility becomes an ever more urgent imper¬ative. The book continues with a presentation of the traditional view of man as ‘God’s Viceroy on earth’, with an eye to its practical impli¬cations in a world that has all but forgotten, under the pressure of mass social persuasion, that man must always be free to choose his own ultimate destiny. The author’s thesis is a passionate yet incisive plea for the restoration of the sacred norms of religion, as against the debilitating and falsifying aims of a profane world-view based on no more than recent scientific and technological achievements. SOME REVIEWS: ‘This marvellous book… abounds with penetrat¬ing insights… The most remarkable quality of the book however is its courage.’ (Fourth World Review) ‘This is a book of the utmost importance to anyone concerned … with the really basic questions of human life.’ (Country Life) ‘This is an urgent piece of writing, a reading of “what and where we are”.’ (TLS) ‘Reading this book enormously influenced me. There are two reasons for this. One was that what the man said was so obviously right. The other was that Eaton is, as Cobbett was, a master of the English language. His writ¬ing is direct, elegant, but most of all devastatingly persuasive’. (John Seymour) ‘There is useful reading here for Christians… who come into contact with Muslims.’ (Church Times) ‘How much sharper is his call for ecological respect than our current pragmatic codes of con¬servation.’ (Guardian)