God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run The World--and Why Their Differences Matter (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
If you are looking for a highly readable, thought provoking, explanation/exploration survey of theworld's eight "rival religions," Stephen Prothero's God is Not One is for you. Prothero is a professor of religion at Boston University. His own religious (if he has any) beliefs are never apparent in the book. Refreshingly lacking is a self righteous attitude one often stumbles into in the work of clearly biased authors who write about the "other" religions of the world. Prothero argues in this book that all religions are not the same. duh! They may have a similar starting point; that the world is not as it should be; but they differ in what is wrong with the world and what the solution is. The only reason this book is good is that it attacks the leading orthodoxy prevalent in the western world that all religions are basically the same. This is a position championed by popular culture, Huston Smith, "The Religions of Man 1958, Karen Armstrong , Oprah Winfrey, Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers etc. I'm glad someone in academia that has influence finally admits this. It is also a good introduction into the different religions and what they see as the problem and the solution.The problem with this book is that it is written by an academic that pretends somehow that he is "above it all". He describes himself as "religiously confused". Like Archimedes of old he lacks a place to stand from which "to move the world" with his fulcrum. Because of this he doesn't seem to have the courage to fight for what he believes to be right. He has argued for mandatory public school Bible literacy courses along with mandatory courses on world religions but I'm not surprised that people aren't listening. Maybe they don't want their kids "religiously confused.The better approach in my opinion would be to have real freedom in which schools compete without government involvement and can offer classes in the religions they choose. In America, Christianity would win hands down and we wouldn't have to worry about his dire prediction that Islam will dominate the 21st century. How different he and his fellow academics are from David in the Psalms who said that he hated every false way. Stephen might say he is religiously confused but he holds tightly to the idea he criticizes. He just wants us to be a little more honest and admit the glaring differences so that according to him we can have a safer world.
What do You think about God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run The World--and Why Their Differences Matter (2010)?
So far I'm pleased with the premise and diversity of religions we'll lok at.
—jujubeans
A huge help in unravelling the great religions.
—skull
