The Other Calling

What is the true calling of the intellectual? In this provocative new book, Andrew Shanks presents a distinctive fresh answer. The Other Calling is a systematic riposte both to the elitism of philosophy in the heritage of Plato, and to the typical individualism of Plato's philosophic opponents. Here, instead, intellectual integrity is identified with a form of priesthood. * Asserts that intellectuals are critical to bringing together the common aspirations of a community * Offers a strikingly original approach to the moral and political aspects of theology's relationship with philosophy, exploring the perspectives of both disciplines * Draws on the work and thought of Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Agnostics, and Atheists * Argues for a new, religiously multicultural "priesthood of all thinkers", considering how once, all intellectuals were as a matter of course also priests * Published in the new and prestigious Illuminations series