[Seeking]

I'm looking for a well-rounded, unbiased book on the history of religion, detailing developments of ancient religions, how ideas were transferred from one to another, etc. I don't want something that sets out to purposely flame Christianity, nor do I want something that's written from a "Christianity is the one true way, and here's why!" perspective. Does such a balanced tome exist? Thanks!

[R. S. Martin]

Oh boy! I don't know of a single volume that covers world religions per se though I'm sure they do exist. I'll list a few sources I found helpful in my own studies, both personal interest and formal courses.

• CD To See, To Be, To Do: How World Religions Define God, The Universe, and Reality available here. Copyright 2004. If you don't want to order the CD, you may be interested in browsing the website Encounter World Religions Centre as a starting point. I attended the presentation in my school a few years ago and was duly impressed.

  Quote

  Quote from CD: We're going to be emphasizing how religions perceive God and the universe and reality in different ways--not to point out their differences and to say "See how unalike we are--we have nothing in common--we can't discuss anything--we'll never understand one another." Rather, it's to say "See how we can appreciate one another by understanding another's fruitfulness. We're able to have a dialogue of understandings."
  My transcription.
  
• World Religions: Eastern Traditions and World Religions: Western Traditions, 2nd ed, edited by Willard G. Oxtoby, Oxford University Press, Toronto, 2002. (These two books go together as a set. There is a chapter for each of about ten major world religions, most of which are written by practicing members of the religion the chapter is about.)
  
• Religious Worlds: The Comparative Study of Religion, by William E. Paden, Beacon Press, Boston, 1994
  
• The Meaning and End of Religion, by Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Fortress Press, Minneapolis, 1991.
  
• Ancient Mystery Cults, by Walter Burkert, Harvard University Press, 1987 (What I like about study of the Mystery Cults, and Ancient Greek and Roman Religions and Cultures, is that they directly preceded our own Western culture (I speak as a European descendent) and directly impacted the formation of Christianity. However, they are long past and dead, which means no one has any allegiance to them today, but we can see how they compare to present-day beliefs and practices of various religions.)
  
• The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook of Sacred Texts, by Marvin W. Meyer, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1987.

That touches: World Religions, Comparative Religion, and Mystery Religions. Religion can also be studied from the perspective of sociology, anthropology, and psychology, e.g. Sociology of Religion, by Max Weber.

As for History of Christianity, I really like The Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity, edited by John McManners, Oxford University Press, 2001. Different scholars write the various chapters of the different historical periods. Each scholar writes about the period and type of Christianity in which he/she specializes. While individual authors may be biased, I think the book as a whole seems to be balanced. For example, one author may write in favour of the Crusades and explain how stuffy the Byzantine Church Patriarchs were. However, another author writing from the Greek Orthodox position will explain how the uncivilized Europeans barged in there from the north and pillaged the place. They don't use crude language like this. It's all very polite and scholarly but easy to understand.

Another perspective from which to study religion is via the history of thought as in philosophy. Maybe an introductory philosophy text would be helpful--I really don't know too much what's available in philosophy of religion.

I didn't look these books up but I would guess most are available from or through Amazon.

Another approach I have found useful is to watch formal debates between a Christian such as William Lane Craig and an atheist/agnostic such as Bart D. Ehrman or very liberal Christian such as John Shelby Spong. Ehrman and Spong are NT scholars. If you really want scholarly factual debates, I wouldn't bother listening to debates where Hitchens participates. For debates on theism vs. atheism, go to Common Sense Atheism.

[R. S. Martin]

After writing that post I discovered some links that I collected in a few posts on my forums that may or may not be of interest. I'll post the threads here so you can check it out if you're interested:

• Sacred Text Archive
  
• Zoroastrianism, Forerunner of Abrahamic Religions
  
• Ancient World Cultures

This post has been edited by R. S. Martin: 03 May 2009 - 03:18 PM

[Seeking]

Thank you very much for your recommendations. I will look into these!

[child like faith]

R. S. Martin, on May 3 2009, 01:16 PM, said:

After writing that post I discovered some links that I collected in a few posts on my forums that may or may not be of interest. I'll post the threads here so you can check it out if you're interested:

• Sacred Text Archive
  
• Zoroastrianism, Forerunner of Abrahamic Religions
  
• Ancient World Cultures

any God/


IF The true faith in Jesus could be comprehended by our rational facilities brainy boy .There would be no need of the Holy Ghost.

the world in its wisdom did not know God.


1 Corinthians 1:21
21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

[florduh]

child like faith, on May 4 2009, 08:57 PM, said:

any God/


IF The true faith in Jesus could be comprehended by our rational facilities brainy boy .There would be no need of the Holy Ghost.

the world in its wisdom did not know God.


1 Corinthians 1:21
21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

Mindless spouting of scripture isn't germane to the topic. What's being discussed is books on religious history. Brainy boy.

[R. S. Martin]

Seeking, on May 3 2009, 11:21 PM, said:

Thank you very much for your recommendations. I will look into these!

I hope you find them helpful. Maybe someone knows books I haven't mentioned.

[Evolution_beyond]

Ninian Smart - The World's Religions

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Worlds-Religions-N...t/dp/0521637481

[HereticZero]

This is an interesting site: http://www.greatsite.com/

This post has been edited by HereticZero: 17 May 2009 - 07:10 PM