Best one volume resource on World Religion
What is the best one volume resource on World Religion for a class? My professor is using Prothero, Stephen. God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World and I have read it already.
Comments
-
Christian Alexander said:
What is the best one volume resource on World Religion for a class? My professor is using Prothero, Stephen. God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World and I have read it already.
This is the text book we have at VIU:
Neighboring Faiths: A Christian Introduction to World Religions | Logos Bible Software
I haven't read it yet, but I've read other books by the author, and can confirm that he has some immense knowlege on world religions. I'm looking forward to actually taking the world religions course later this year.
0 -
I don't have an answer to your direct question Christian but I wonder why 'one volume'? One volume seems a pretty arbitrary measure.
How is 'one volume' a useful construct in the digital world where it doesn't make any difference as to whether it is one volume or twenty?
tootle pip
Mike
Now tagging post-apocalyptic fiction as current affairs. Latest Logos, MacOS, iOS and iPadOS
0 -
Mike Binks said:
How is 'one volume' a useful construct in the digital world where it doesn't make any difference as to whether it is one volume or twenty?
One volume is a "useful construct" because it gives me a bird's eye view of the topic in question before I begin a class. My class does not have any other textbooks other than the book by Stephen Prothero which I have read already. I have never taken this kind of class before other than a world mythology and ANE history class so I am a bit corroded and out of practice. I wanted a basic outline of the topic before I got into the class. Does that make sense?
0 -
Christian Alexander said:
One volume is a "useful construct" because it gives me a bird's eye view of the topic
I have a one volume Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church it is huge and has very small print. I have a few other books on the same subject. To get an idea of the subject it would be quicker to read all those books rather than plough through the single tome.
Not to me. :-(Christian Alexander said:Does that make sense?
tootle pip
Mike
Now tagging post-apocalyptic fiction as current affairs. Latest Logos, MacOS, iOS and iPadOS
0 -
Mike Binks said:
Not to me. :-(
I am looking to grasp the major outlines: Hinduism, Buddhism, etc and be prepared for a class rather than take 3 weeks to read everything I can. The class begins May 1. Hopefully that explains my perogative.
0 -
This won't likely turn out well. Starting with 'run the world' religions. Or just 'religions'. But maybe a few weeks in university-land.
0 -
Christian Alexander said:
What is the best one volume resource on World Religion for a class?
I doubt very much that there is such a volume. Most classes taught by people I know choose a series of small paperbacks to get the best introduction to each of the major religions. Huston Smith's book on World Religion isn't bad. There's a new book that I've heard very good things about A History Of World Religions: A Concise Guide to the History and Beliefs of Religions Throughout time by Mr. Gil Barrett. Very cursory but valuable for its breadth is 12 Major World Religions: The Beliefs, Rituals, and Traditions of Humanity's Most Influential Faiths by Jason Boyett
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
0 -
I just picked up this resource today when I purchased one of the library expansion modules.
https://www.logos.com/product/145435/introduction-to-world-religions-2nd-ed
The module is available in the Small Edition https://www.logos.com/product/248050/apologetics-and-world-religions-library-expansion-s
Glancing through it right now makes me think it might meet your needs, of course only you can answer to that.
0 -
Christian Alexander said:
Hopefully that explains my perogative.
I understand what you really want, a quick introduction to other religions.
What I don't understand is why you want it in a 'single' volume!
Skimming these six booklets would probably be as efficient as reading any single volume offering.
tootle pip
Mike
Now tagging post-apocalyptic fiction as current affairs. Latest Logos, MacOS, iOS and iPadOS
0 -
Mike Binks said:
I understand what you really want, a quick introduction to other religions.
What I don't understand is why you want it in a 'single' volume!
Skimming these six booklets would probably be as efficient as reading any single volume offering.
Yup, the sum total pages of these slim volumes would be less than a longer one-volume book covering all major religions. And these Oxford guides are excellent. I agree with Mike that it doesn't matter whether the pages you're going to read are bound together in one volume if you're reading them digitally.
Unfortunately the only Oxford "Very Short Introduction" book offered in Logos (for only $3.99) is American Political History and it's still in pre-pub. But they're all available in Kindle format:
Judaism: A Very Short Introduction
Islam: A Very Short Introduction
Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction
Hinduism: A Very Short Introduction
Sikhism: A Very Short Introduction
Confucianism: A Very Short Introduction
African Religions: A Very Short Introduction
All but one of these are less than $6.
0 -
There are two resources I'd recommend if you are looking for a single edition.
- The Universe Next Door by James W. Sire. This resource has been around for a while and is currently in its 6th edition. It's focus is on worldviews rather than religions, but overlaps with the stuff you are after.
- A Spectator's Guide to World Religions by John Dickson is another staple in my neck of the woods. If memory serves its in its 3rd edition. It will give you a brief introduction and outline of beliefs to the big 5 (Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam). It's also an easy read. However, it's not available on logos as far as I am aware
But, here is a sneak peak.
Current MDiv student at Trinity Theological College - Perth, Western Australia
0 -
Perhaps this should be a new thread (although the book suggestions may be the same, just narrower), but I am looking for one of these books that also addresses unique practices, beliefs, and syncretism in Mexican Catholicism.
Suggestions?0 -
GaoLu said:
I am looking for one of these books that also addresses unique practices, beliefs, and syncretism in Mexican Catholicism.
Too bad you're oceans away; going to a service is most enlightening (though I suspect you've experienced the mixing, in other contexts already). Smoke lazily drifting upwards, smells of cooking beef outside, and quiet candles in the darkness.
But Mexican Catholicism (if one can call it that) is an excellent example of the mis-thinking of Western theologians. That when the rubber hits the road, the message has to be simple, the meanings basic, and local context, or it will fail. It's why I always look at Galatia and not Galatians.
There is a book on it, but concentrating on the native-Mexican mixing with Catholic traditions. I just don't remember it; heavy emphasis on the use of imagery.
0 -
Christian Alexander said:
What is the best one volume resource on World Religion for a class?
I'm well aware, you're esconced in university-land, as well as modern-day Christiandom. But the below quote from this morning, expresses the disfunction of your quest:
"As J. Z. Smith notes, “religion” is not an ethnographically “native term” but is “a term created by scholars” as a “second order, generic concept.” Indeed, “religion,” like “idolatry,” is not a term that appears in the Hebrew Bible; it similarly denotes a category that is alien to the ancient West Asian cultural contexts that are in focus in this study."
Levtow's 'Images of Others: Iconic Politics in Ancient Israel' p22
0 -
Mal Walker said:
The Universe Next Door by James W. Sire. This resource has been around for a while and is currently in its 6th edition. It's focus is on worldviews rather than religions, but overlaps with the stuff you are after.
I too think Sire's work could be helpful to you. Here is his definition of worldview:
“A worldview is a commitment, a fundamental orientation of the heart, that can be expressed as a story or in a set of presuppositions (assumptions which may be true, partially true or entirely false) that we hold (consciously or subconsciously, consistently or inconsistently) about the basic constitution of reality, and that provides the foundation on which we live and move and have our being.”[1]
He sees our concept of God as a primary part of our worldview, showing how our spiritual views influence our take on life.The Truth about Worldviews, by James Eckman, may also fit your particular needs. It is not available in Logos as far as I know, and I am unsure of how recent an edition may be available elsewhere.
[1] James W. Sire, The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog, 5th Ed. (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2009).
Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection. - Colossians 3:14
0 -
GaoLu said:
but I am looking for one of these books that also addresses unique practices, beliefs, and syncretism in Mexican Catholicism.
It is impossible in any country to find a dividing line between folk practices (tradition) and religion. Often it is at the level of family traditions rather than larger units. My favorite example of syncretism is my son who was very young when I was in graduate school. He somehow got Mary and Parvati merged into a single person and had the elephant-headed Ganesha encircling Mary for his "speed run around the world".
- Dining with the Dead: A Feast for the Souls on Day of the Dead - A Mexican Cookbook by Mariana Nuño Ruiz and Ian McEnroe is an excellent study of the practices for this particular celebration.
- The Origins of Mexican Catholicism: Nahua Rituals and Christian Sacraments in Sixteenth-Century Mexico (History, Languages, and Cultures of the Spanish and Portuguese Worlds) by Osvaldo F. Pardo while limited geographically and ethnically, this book shows how conversion is a process rather than an event.
- Mexican American Religions: Spirituality, Activism, and Culture by Gastón Espinosa and Mario T. García illustrates that syncretic practices does not necessarily mean syncretic Catholicism ... rather religious practices anywhere are a complex of overlapping beliefs (world view) some of which are related to organized religion.
- Horizons of the Sacred: Mexican Traditions in U.S. Catholicism (Cushwa Center Studies of Catholicism in Twentieth-Century America) by Timothy Matovina, Gary Riebe-Estrella covers many of the traditions that the Mexicans bring with them into their US parishes ... what many people think of as "Mexican Catholicism"
- Santa Muerte: The History, Rituals, and Magic of Our Lady of the Holy Death by Tracey Rollin represents the shock value side of the mixed traditions.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
0 -
MJ. Smith said:GaoLu said:
but I am looking for one of these books that also addresses unique practices, beliefs, and syncretism in Mexican Catholicism.
It is impossible in any country to find a dividing line between folk practices (tradition) and religion. Often it is at the level of family traditions rather than larger units. My favorite example of syncretism is my son who was very young when I was in graduate school. He somehow got Mary and Parvati merged into a single person and had the elephant-headed Ganesha encircling Mary for his "speed run around the world".
- Dining with the Dead: A Feast for the Souls on Day of the Dead - A Mexican Cookbook by Mariana Nuño Ruiz and Ian McEnroe is an excellent study of the practices for this particular celebration.
- The Origins of Mexican Catholicism: Nahua Rituals and Christian Sacraments in Sixteenth-Century Mexico (History, Languages, and Cultures of the Spanish and Portuguese Worlds) by Osvaldo F. Pardo while limited geographically and ethnically, this book shows how conversion is a process rather than an event.
- Mexican American Religions: Spirituality, Activism, and Culture by Gastón Espinosa and Mario T. García illustrates that syncretic practices does not necessarily mean syncretic Catholicism ... rather religious practices anywhere are a complex of overlapping beliefs (world view) some of which are related to organized religion.
- Horizons of the Sacred: Mexican Traditions in U.S. Catholicism (Cushwa Center Studies of Catholicism in Twentieth-Century America) by Timothy Matovina, Gary Riebe-Estrella covers many of the traditions that the Mexicans bring with them into their US parishes ... what many people think of as "Mexican Catholicism"
- Santa Muerte: The History, Rituals, and Magic of Our Lady of the Holy Death by Tracey Rollin represents the shock value side of the mixed traditions.
Excellent. Thank you. You provided what I was hoping for.
0 -
0
-
GaoLu said:
You’re welcome! Here’s a nice practical volume I just picked up: https://www.logos.com/product/145435/introduction-to-world-religions-2nd-ed
Check your dynamic pricing here: https://www.logos.com/product/248050/apologetics-and-world-religions-library-expansion-s
0 -
Hmmm. Yes. For $2 more I get the farm too. Thanks.
0
