The biography, published in 1906, of the leading Victorian literary figure and founding Editor of the Dictionary of National Biography.

In this classic work of agnosticism, Leslie Stephen presents his arguments against religious belief. Drawing upon his background as both a clergyman's son and an agnostic philosopher, Stephen challenges the idea of divine revelation and questions the evidence for a God who intervenes in human affairs. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of religious skepticism and the idea of agnosticism as a cornerstone of intellectual inquiry. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

A gripping and emotional work around the power of religion and the defense of agnosticism, Leslie Stephen's An Agnostic's Apology and Other Essays is considered a seminal work in religious studies. Through the course of his life, Leslie Stephen held many professions including clergyman, journalist, author, and literary critic. In addition to his contributions to these fields, he is also known as the father of famous author Virginia Wolf and famous artist Vanessa Bell. Stephen was born and raised in London and many of his childhood experiences were shaped by religion. His immediate family was part of an early 19th century group of evangelical Christian social reformers known as the Clapham Sect, known for their religious mission and social activism. When Stephen went off to college, he continued his religious exploration through study and eventually became an Anglican clergyman. By his 30s, however, he renounced his religious beliefs and became an investigative journalist, both changes led to the writing and publication of his book An Agnostic's Apology and Other Essays. Stephen begins the book by describing the difference between an atheist (one who does not believe in any god) and an agnostic (one who questions the existence of a god). "The Agnostic is one who asserts 'what no one denies' that there are limits to the sphere of human intelligence..." This distinction is important for the reader to fully understand Stephen's points in his book. His work is colored with the same fervor and poignancy that filled his spiritual life and his argument for Agnosticism reads like a sermon. Each of the essays in An Agnostic's Apology and Other Essays are about religion and religious themes. The Skepticism of Believers, Dreams and Realities; What is Materialism?; Newman's Theory of Belief; Poisonous Opinions; and The Religion of all Sensible Men are all topics explored in the book. Stephen's own personal experiences help shade his approach to the topic of religion in an interesting and dynamic way. His own religious beliefs, or lack thereof, give an interesting look into religion during his lifetime. This book is an excellent read and highly recommended for any reader. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Since F.W. Maitland's Life and Letters of Leslie Stephen (1907), there has been no volume of the letters written by this extraordinary and eminent Victorian. Alpinist, literary critic, god-killer, editor of The Cornhill Magazine and The Dictionary of National Biography, biographer, historian of ideas, and father of Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf, Stephen corresponded with a host of men and women, including such notables as his American friends - James Russell Lowell, Justice Holmes and art historian Charles E. Norton; such contemporaries among the intelligentsia as John Morley, Henry Sidgwick, George Eliot, Robert Louis Stevenson, F.W. Maitland, and Thomas Hardy; and the members of his family - Minny, his first wife; his sister-in-law, Anny Ritchie; his son Thoby; and his best beloved second wife, Julia. In his letters, always readable, we find his enthusiasms, his ironic humour, his self-doubt and self-pity, his anguish over his retarded child Laura, his candour, his lively portraits of people and places, his delight in the young - Nessa, Ginia and Thoby, and his direct and easy style as he responds to his reader's interests and needs. This second volume follws the demanding years Stephen spent as Editor of The Dictionary of National Biography, his happy life with Julia until her death in 1895 and his continuing devotion to literature, a source of much solace in his last years.