Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Text Credits
Foreword -- Betty Sue Flowers
Author's Preface: Introducing the Second Edition
1. Introducing Reverence
2. Without Reverence
3. Music and a Funeral: Finding Reverence
4. Bare Reverence
5. Ancient Greece: The Way of Being Human
6. Ancient China: The Way of Power
7. Reverence Without a Creed
8. Reverence Across Religions
9. Relativism
10. The Sacred
11. The Reverent Leader
12. Compassion
13. The Reverent Teacher
14. Home
15. Epilogue: Renewing Reverence
Notes
Works Cited
Index and Glossary of Proper Names

About the Author

Paul Woodruff has served at The University of Texas at Austin since 1973; he has been chair of the Department of Philosophy, director of the Plan II Honors Program, and inaugural dean of the School of Undergraduate Studies. Woodruff has translated works by Plato, Sophocles and other ancient Greek writer and interpreted them for modern audiences.

Reviews

"This book by Paul Woodruff is a delight, in part from the beauty and pertinence of the poetry that Woodruff brings in to illuminate his discussion and from the charm added by his explications. His prose is a joy as he illustrates the various facets of reverence with brief scenarios and as well as longer stories. This book is capable of changing some people."--George Bennion, Brigham Young University
"In this small book, philosopher Paul Woodruff sets himself two large tasks: to revive an appreciation for reverence in a culture that celebrates irreverence, and to rescue the idea of virtue from its proponents on the right and its opponents on the left. He succeeds admirably in both." --Scott Russell Sanders, Christian Science Monitor
"An admirable, historical and ideological survey."--Publishers Weekly
"Elegant.... Not a simple self-help book, nor is it intended to be a feel-good, or feel-better, philosophical read.... It is grounded in Western and Eastern philosophical, intellectual, an literary traditions, and it invites us to figure out for ourselves how its plainspoken lessons about the role of reverence...can be applied to the challenges of that confront us in our day-to-day lives."--Tom Palaima, The American Prospect
"Woodruff approaches his subject with reverence, thereby invoking it even as he is analyzing it with depth and clarity. We have lost the 'idea' of reverence, he tells us, and to reclaim it is our obligation and opportunity. A beautiful book, lyrical and hard-hitting, intellectual and emotive, transformative."--Ursula Goodenough, author of Sacred Depths of Nature
"Reverence is a beautifully written meditation on an important--and neglected--virtue. It is a wise, humane work and--in its own reverent way--something of a minor masterpiece."--David Reeve, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
"This book by Paul Woodruff is a delight, in part from the beauty and pertinence of the poetry that Woodruff brings in to illuminate his discussion and from the charm added by his explications. His prose is a joy as he illustrates the various facets of reverence with brief scenarios and as well as longer stories. This book is capable of changing some people." --George Bennion, Brigham Young University
"[Woodruff] makes use of his broad knowledge of classical literature, modern politics, and Chinese philosophy to illustrate that reverence is essential to a well-functioning society and that it plays a part in almost every human relationship."--Theology Digest
"In this small book, philosopher Paul Woodruff sets himself two large tasks: to revive an appreciation for reverence in a culture that celebrates irreverence, and to rescue the idea of virtue from its proponents on the right and its opponents on the left. He succeeds admirably in both." --Scott Russell Sanders, Christian Science Monitor
"An admirable, historical and ideological survey."--Publishers Weekly
"Elegant.... Not a simple self-help book, nor is it intended to be a feel-good, or feel-better, philosophical read.... It is grounded in Western and Eastern philosophical, intellectual, an literary traditions, and it invites us to figure out for ourselves how its plainspoken lessons about the role of reverence...can be applied to the challenges of that confront us in our day-to-day lives."--Tom Palaima, The American Prospect
"Woodruff approaches his subject with reverence, thereby invoking it even as he is analyzing it with depth and clarity. We have lost the 'idea' of reverence, he tells us, and to reclaim it is our obligation and opportunity. A beautiful book, lyrical and hard-hitting, intellectual and emotive, transformative."--Ursula Goodenough, author of Sacred Depths of Nature
"Reverence is a beautifully written meditation on an important--and neglected--virtue. It is a wise, humane work and--in its own reverent way--something of a minor masterpiece."--David Reeve, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
"Ranging through time and traditions from the ancient Greeks to the present day, Woodruff has written a wise, original book."--The Common Reader
"Clarion and worthy, Woodriff's treatise will give readers their own 'Eureka!' moments and, hopefully, create a ripple effect."--Booklist