If you could suggest any one book on religion, it would be...

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Paris_Lennon

Registered Member
I was just curious what people felt were the best books on the topic of religion. Either pro/con, for/against, whatever you feel is a very helpful book in terms of understanding a particular religion or an objective view as religionism as a whole.... :)
 
The best I've read is The World's Religions by Huston Smith. The author (interesting side note: Smith happened to be part of the Good Friday experiment at Harvard) explains the major religions and their basic tennents without involving the historical flaws of man and the criticisms that come with them. He also doesn't preach or try to make a case for god. Just a straight forward explination of what each faith was founded on and believes.
 
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M*W: To really learn the truth about christianity, I recommend:

Bloodline of the Holy Grail: The Hidden Lineage of Jesus Revealed, by Laurence Gardner
 
If you're looking for information, try "The Biography of the Gods" by A. E. Haydon. I think it's out of print now, but Amazon or JJ's Books might still have copies.

If you're looking for inspiration, go to the core religious texts of the various religions such as the Bible and see which appeals to you. Avoid the ancilliary books such as catechisims because they tend to be more like sales literature.
 
In all seriousness: The Penguin Desk Encyclopedia of Science and Mathematics (ISBN 0-670-88528-2).

Religion is simply an organized ethical group; nothing really there to understand.
 
Paris_Lennon said:
I was just curious what people felt were the best books on the topic of religion. Either pro/con, for/against, whatever you feel is a very helpful book in terms of understanding a particular religion or an objective view as religionism as a whole.... :)
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I havent read any book in ages,with so much info on the net...
so heres some sites where you can get lots of good info
www.atheists.org
www.secularhumanism.org
www.talkorigins.org
www.infidels.org/index.html
www.thewaronfaith.com
 
I was just reading through (good suggestions by the way) and realized I didn't even post any, lol. Right now I'm reading two that are really good:

God Against the gods: The History of War Between Monotheism and Polytheism by Jonathan Kirsch

and

The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion by Mircea Eliade
 
A very successful and interesting book in the Religious Book genre is "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Yogananda. It is full of interesting stories while it painlessly explains much of general Yogic Philosophy. It does fall down somewhat by not specifically explaining the specific Yogic Technique of the Author's particular Organization... I suppose they would hope people would join up in order to learn the details. But the book is good as an overview.

The best book I have read that attacks a Religion is "Confessions of a Justified Sinner" by James C. Hogg. It was written in the 19th Century and the author took the format of being a journalist uncovering actual documents, which actually fooled much of his reading public. He was attacking Presbyterian notions of Predestined Election. The book is weird and haunting and unfolds with psychological insights that were half a century ahead of their time.

The most fascinating Catholic presentation I have read has been "Life of Jesus" in Four Volumes, the Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, who was Catholicism's foremost Seer and Visionary. The "Life of Jesus and History of Redemption" takes you from the Creation Story, through the Old Testament, through the Life of Jesus with a extensive explication of the Role of the Blessed Virgin. Volumes 2 and 3 bog down a bit... the first Volume could really stand alone.

The best publishing house I know of is Tans Books, for their catalogue of books on Catholic Saints, but it is better to order from Barnes and Nobles who delivers faster than Tan Books, but carries the same stock. I couldn't decide on which is the best Saint book. There are a few good ones. Saint Anthony of Padua, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint Vincent Ferrer, Saint Francis of Paola, Saint Joseph of Copertino.

The best single book on the History of the Marian Apparitions is "The Last Secret" by Michael H. Brown. He is best at presenting a great number of Apparitions in context to what their purpose throughout History may have been. and he is a polished author, which makes the book easy reading.
 
Enigma'07: The Bible.
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M*W: The question asked was which one book do you recommend. The KJV Bible contains two testaments sharing some 66 books. The Catholic Bible contains more.

You don't read much, do you?
 
Enigma'07 said:
The Bible.
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They sit on coffee tables, and Protestants carry them around. But nobody ever reads the things. The Old Testament is meaningless except if you are Jewish, and then it is not so much a Religious Document as a kind of Jewish "Mein Kempf" which tells them they have every right to enslave and exploit the rest of the World. The New Testament is 1 book repeated three times (Mat Mark Luke), and then a fictional account of Christ (John), and then Propaganda intended to dismiss the teachings of Christ in favor of the Antichrist Paul, and then a few letters which refute the Antichristical Letters which everyone ignores because the Antichristical Letters are so much more seductively appealing.

Now, if anybody really read the Bible, there would not be the toleration of Jewish Supremacism, and Christianity would not be the Institutionalization of the Antichrist's Doctrines. But since every only pays the Bible lip service and nobody really ever reads it, we have what we have.

Perhaps if the Bible had been written with more Truth and in a more compelling way, we would not have these present problems. That is why we are discussing Books that people really DO read.
 
Repeat: To utter in duplication of another's utterance-dictionary.com
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Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John do not repeat each other. Each contains differant accounts of the life of Jesus.

nobody really ever reads it
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I suppose I'm nobody then, because I do read it. Not only that, I study it.

M*W: The question asked was which one book do you recommend. The KJV Bible contains two testaments sharing some 66 books. The Catholic Bible contains more.
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I'm sorry I tried not to get technical with everyone, but if you insist, I will do so. I would say read the book of mark. But then again, since all the books are generally sold together, I think it could count as an anothology almost, which would me that it is A book.
 
then enigma, your not studying very well, are you.
and as M*W said dont read much do you.
enigma said:
which would me(an) that it is A book.
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what do you think the word "Bible" means.
but it is still a collection, of badly written books.
anyway I believe Paris Lennon meant, a book other then, the bible.
 
anyway I believe Paris Lennon meant, a book other then, the bible.

Sorry for the long delay in a responding post, I was away for a long weekend. My original intention was for books other than the Bible, the Qu'ran, the Torah, etc. I was just wondering what good unknown books people know of and respect. But that's just to clarify, anybody can take the post wherever they wish :p
 
I just finished Life of Pi last week. It not only has a very compelling story but it is also explores various religions. It is not the one book I would chose on religion, but it is a very good read.
 
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