Good books on comparative religion?

[Flaxbee]

I realize this isn't really a Friday night Lounge thread, but I want some input...I also posted this in the Christian Liberals Group, I hope double-posting isn't a no-no.

I wasn't raised with any particular religion and had absolutely no introduction to any religious teachings at all. I'm fine with it, never felt anything was lacking, but I am very curious about the "major" religions and philosophies and would like to learn much more for a variety of reasons, but in a more academic, historical and philosophical and even political treatment rather than strictly spiritual. I realize the spiritual can't be excluded; I hope I've been able to explain what I'm looking for. I include Buddhism along with Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and all others I might have forgotten but should know about.

Can anyone recommend some good books? I just want to know more, but don't want to be waylaid by the psuedo-spiritiual guides that seem to have exploded all over bookstores lately.

[Straight Shooter]

1. "The Battle for God," by Karen Armstrong

Deals with the rise of fundamentalism. I enjoyed it. I also enjoyed putting it on my library file in case the Dept. of Homeland (in)Security snoops :)

From Booklist
Combining synoptic and interpretive historical manners, Armstrong, author of the widely read and well-received History of God (1993), produces another splendid book that, for the considerable readership interested in religion, may prove to be a page-turner. The subject is fundamentalism in the world's great monotheisms--Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Armstrong represents the dissimilar movements called fundamentalist as fearful reactions to modernity, especially the modernist predispositions for materialist reason and empirical evidence, which have increasingly encouraged denying the validity, or even the possibility, of truths expressed by the symbolic systems of religion. But, she maintains, these fundamentalisms are themselves typical products of modernity, for they tacitly accept the modern scientific devaluation of religious mythos by insisting on the literal truth of sacred writings, as in Christian fundamentalists' use of the New Testament Book of Revelation as a set of predictions of particular historical events and persons. Armstrong works out her interpretation by historically tracing the challenge of modernity and the fundamentalist reaction in the three monotheisms as parallel developments that span some 1,500 years. The typically modern pressure of politics upon religion began in the Middle Ages (Islam has never been free of it). A crucial date is 1492, when Ferdinand and Isabella ordered the expulsion of Jews and Muslims from the first rational modern state, their united kingdom of Spain, even as they dispatched Columbus, probably a Christianized Jew, in the opening salvo of modern imperialism. Intriguingly, Armstrong says the modernizing process had been launched earlier in the century by the Inquisition--a statement provocative enough to current ideas of what's modern to hook many readers, none of whom will later be the least bit dismayed about having taken the bait. Ray Olson

See more on this book: http://www.bookfinder.us/review4/0345391691.html

Good luck. And, yes, you can double post. :hi:

[Flaxbee]

3. Sounds great, thank you!

:hi: back to you!

[Robeson]

2. Read Gore Vidal's Creation....

...It pretty much lays out where all modern religious belief comes from, and shows the interrelation and incongruities of them all. Highly enjoyable and entertaining book.

[Flaxbee]

4. Hmm, hadn't thought about that but I'll check it out....

I really like Vidal, have read his more recent political commentary but not his novels. Looks like I should remedy that!

Thanks!

[DustMolecule]

5. There are no "Cliff Notes"

If you REALLY want to know about the major religions, take the time to read their major foundational works (and the 'characters' that are central to those writings/works.) If you do this, through time and experience you will figure out what's true or not.

It takes time and effort....there are no "Cliff Notes" (unless you want to be led-by-the-nose as to 'what to think'). God (however you define God - or even if you don't believe in him/her at all) gave us all a "good brain" and we should use it.

It has been said that, "if you seek, you shall find".

Good luck on your search.