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u/nearlynoon · 1 pointr/religion

Boy was that the wrong question to ask. Wall of text inbound.

Judaism is my least-studied religion, but as I understand it Rabbinic literature is basically all commentary. The Mishnah, Tosefta, various Talmuds etc, they're all commentaries on the Tanakh. Of course, they are so old as to basically need their own commentaries, but there you have it. why_nn_doesnt_study_judaism.jpg

We Christians have a really different view on the 'Old Testament', and inter-commentary is pretty common in our scriptures. The New Testament may come at the end of our Bible, but it's the key to our way of reading the old scriptures as well, so start there. William Barclay was not super-dee-duper orthodox in his views, but he was a good Biblical scholar and I still like his 'Daily Study Bible' New Testament commentary for beginners. Patristics is a study of the development of early Christian orthodox thought, and consists mostly of reading post-NT commentaries by the Church Fathers, but those books are a giant money-sink so I'll let you get into that in your own time. 'Dogmatik' may be a bit heavy, but it's a good summary of our thought on our whole religion, scripture and all.

Islam is tricky, because the Qur'an is taken much more literally than orthodox Christians and Jews treat their scriptures, i.e. it cannot be translated out of Arabic, only interpreted. Maybe one of our Muslim friends can chime in with a better suggestion, but the version of the Qur'an used by my classes (which has some light commentary) is the Oxford World's Classics version. Quran.com can also be pretty useful since you can hover over an Arabic word and get its direct translation.

As far as Buddhism goes, I think the BDK English Tripitaka has some big flaws (it's also way incomplete), but it's pretty academic and a lot of its texts are the only versions available in English. Individual sutras are around, I always appreciate the work of the Sanskrit scholar Red Pine, he's done the Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutra and maybe some others, from a Japanese Zen perspective. Buddhist scripture is sorta endless.

The only other religious texts I've read extensively are the European esoteric stuff I hope to do my graduate work in, in which case all the texts are weird, and all the commentaries are as weird or weirder. It's religious studies on Hard Mode.

I hope that gives you some places to start! And I hope I haven't scared you off! Good luck!

u/blackstar9000 · 3 pointsr/religion

Elaine Pagels is a great contemporary scholar of Christian religion, and particularly textual and historical explication. Her The Origin of Satan is fascinating, and The Gnostic Gospels is a solid survey of some of the lost branches of early Christian tradition.

Gershom Scholem is one of the last century's great explicators of Judaism and mysticism, particularly the Kabbalah. I doubt there's a book he's written that isn't worth reading, but the best place to start may be his book On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism, particularly the chapter on the relation of mystical experience to community norms.

Speaking of Kabbalah, it's recent popularity speaks poorly of what is an otherwise venerable and serious tradition of symbolism and ethical concern. If you're interested in spiritual literature, it's probably not a bad idea to take a stab at the Zohar. There's an abridged translation by Scholem out in paperback, but you're probably better off with this edition.

That comes, incidentally, from a series of books issued by a Catholic publisher, Paulist Press, under the name Classics of Western Spirituality, which is generally excellent. So far as I know, it's the only press currently printing some truly classic historical texts, so their catalog is worth browsing. They're particularly good, as you might suspect, on early Christian texts -- I don't know where else you'd go for something like Carthusian Spirituality -- but they also have Sufist, Judaic and non-mainline texts. In particular, I'd say pick up the Pseudo Dionysus.

While we're on the subject of early Christian writers, there's The Desert Fathers, The Cloud of Unknowing, Revelations of Divine Love -- the last of which is a notable early example of feminine Christian spirituality.

On the more modern end, there's Simone Weil, the tragic Marxist-cum-Catholic. I'd recommend either Waiting for God or Letters to a Priest]. While we're talking about modern Christian theology, we should note three of the most important names of the 20th century: Paul Tillich, Rudolf Otto, and Tielhard de Chardin. The books to start with, respectively, are Dynamics of Faith, The Idea of the Holy, and The Divine Milieu.

Shifting away from Christianity, another major name in 20th century theology is Martin Buber, the Jewish German mystic. His I and Thou is the most generally applicable and was widely influential in existential circles, but he also wrote widely on issues of Jewish identity.

More in the mainstream of Jewish tradition, there's the Talmud, although the sheer size of the writings that full under that name are the sort of thing that scholars give their lives over to. For our purposes, something like Abraham Cohen's Everyman's Talmud will generally suffice.

And finally, I just recently bought The Three Pillars of Zen, which is widely held to be the best practical introduction to the topic available in English. There are a bewildering amount of books on the subject, but without some sort of framework for understanding their relation to the historical traditions, it can be nearly impossible to sort out which are worth while.

EDIT: Forgot linking by reference isn't working; fixed with inline links.

u/unique_spirituality · 1 pointr/religion

That's great you are open to learning and interested in broadening your world view. That's a great first step. There are a lot of great books about religion and philosophy. You should start where you are most interested but it can be helpful to get a high-level overview with books like:

u/PlimsollPunk · 2 pointsr/religion

Exploring the world's many religions is a fun and enriching activity. I'll tell you what I tell everyone who makes this post here:

First, you should start out by perusing one or both of the following websites - [BBC Religions] (http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/) and [Harvard University's Pluralism Project] (http://pluralism.org/religions/). Both of these sites offer high-quality, scholarly yet accessible introductions to most of the world's major traditions. These sites alone can keep you occupied for days.

Once you're ready to jump into books, you have two options. Your first option is to find a book that offers an overview of what's called "comparative religions." The classic is Huston Smith's [The World's Religions] (https://www.amazon.com/Worlds-Religions-Plus-Huston-Smith/dp/0061660183/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1536540983&sr=8-2&keywords=huston+smith+the+world%27s+religions). There are others that are newer and probably more up-to-date, but this is a beloved book for a reason, and won't disappoint.

Your other option is to dig into one particular tradition that you've identified as of special interest from your internet search. If you go that route, which has its advantages and disadvantages, I'd encourage you to do some research online (including on the tradition's individual subreddit) to see what books are recommended. If you have specific questions on this, I may be able to help as well.

Hope this was helpful - good luck!

u/Three_Scarabs · 1 pointr/religion

CONSCIOUSNESS AS AN ONTOLOGICAL PRIMITIVE: THE EXISTENCE OF GOD(S)

  • Consciousness is empirically proven to be ontologically distinct from matter. This can be shown by comparing the properties of both, such as minds being nonspacial and matter taking up space, the contents of mind being subjective and those of matter objective, the contents of mind private to the individual and those of matter accessible to anyone, the contents of mind being about things and the contents of matter lacking aboutness, and these are only a few examples. Anyone can test this at any time. For instance, the volume in a room your body takes up will be the same if you're actively consciously thinking or dead, there's no difference. Or that no matter who you love the most of feeling you cannot actually access those feelings. [1]

  • Consciousness is an absolute certainty, it is the one thing we know directly and can be sure exists. The existence of the Self and Consciousness is an axiomatic fact, it must be true and cannot even be logically argued against without violating that same logic. Anything that is Not-Consciousness in known through Consciousness, including the material world, body, and brain. Anything you ever have or will know about matter relies on consciousness, and while consciousness cannot have its existence doubted [2-3], we can EASILY doubt matter (such as brain in a vat, solipsism, idealism, philosophical skepticism, etc.) [4-7]. To reduce what we can doubt and never directly or certainly to something axiomatically true that we know with direct certainty is the height of unreasonable.

  • Consciousness, even in less advanced being like animals, comes with very specific traits. This includes being aware of the self and others to some extent, having needs and desires, seeking either social situations or isolation actively, emotions, and so forth.

  • CONCLUSION: since consciousness axiomatically exists, cannot be doubted, and is proven ontologically distinct from matter, consciousness must be a separate “substance” or “thing”, an ontological primitive. We know this primitive because we have direct access to it, so we can know about the nature of consciousness. An ontological primitive – something immaterial and eternal – which desires, has emotions, experiences, is self-aware, etc. is the best possible definition for a God. Therefore at least one God exists.



    THE NATURE/RISE OF CONSCIOUSNESS: THE INTERFERENCE FROM GOD(S)

  • Not only are the properties of consciousness mutually exclusive from those of matter, but what we see consciousness is capable of, at least in humans, does not line up with the deterministic, linearly moving, material universe. For instance the mind of humans can question, manipulate, and even go against this linear, deterministic matter. Questioning is proven in this very writing, we are stepping outside of the system and looking in to figure out how it works, something which, to our knowledge, no other life does. If it does the certainly and evidently don’t to the same extent. We can manipulate nature such as the creation of complex chemical medications, the harnessing of electricity itself, the building of mega-structures that stand the tests of time [8-9], not to mention devices such as what you’re reading this on which would never have grown in a consciousness-less nature. Contradiction of this material nature is scientifically proven in things such as Self-Regulation, Cognitive Therapy, and Placebos without Deception [10-12]. All of these prove that we can willfully recognize our deterministic patters and freely choose to act differently.

  • The rise of the higher consciousness possessed by humans is suspicious even if we ignore that this consciousness came to be able to contradict nature, and doesn’t fit with what we know about biological evolution. This is specifically in the Great Leap Forward of the Upper Paleolithic Revolution, a scientifically proven event well known in anthropology. Mankind went from “just another animal” to an abstractly questioning and thinking being. Art arose, religion, language, math, cultures, agriculture, and society and civilization themselves. This has never occurred to the same extent in another species, not even close. Further, there was no genetic change that occurred at this time, and biologically modern humans had already existed for over 100,000 years when the UPR happened![13~15?]

  • CONCLUSION: The nature of the consciousness it birthed, along with the scientifically evidenced fact that it occurred abruptly and without biological evolution, suggest the interference of something outside of nature, i.e. a God.




    TELEOLOGY OF MIND AND BODY: THE PLAN OF GOD(S)

  • There is a Telos to the mind which was proven by psychological scientist Abraham Maslow in his Hierarchy of Needs. This shows the best path for human beings to follow in order to reach their ideal life, something that applies across times in cultures. Maslow showed that there is a “proper” hierarchy to human priorities, and a “proper” end-goal of Self-Actualization whatever that may before you. [16]

  • There is a Telos to the body which was proven by the Yale School of Medicine, especially through the works of Dr. Harold Burr. It shows that there are external fields creating and controlling, not simply produced by, the physical forms of all life. Anything from trees to amphibians to human beings. Readings of these “Life Fields” can predict cancer, ovulation, birth defects, and much more. Unfortunately Dr. Burr believed this to be evidence of an intelligent plan (it is…), so it has been largely swept under the rug in favor of (much more profitable!) materialism. [17-19]

  • CONCLUSION: There being a clear proper path for both all matter and consciousness shows that there is a Telos, or purpose, to human life and that we do not exist or evolve randomly.




    PERSONAL EXPERIENCE: DIRECT EXPERIENCES OF GOD(S)

  • Every single culture has experienced Gods. Hundreds of millions of people throughout human history and across cultures have experienced Gods, and these experiences have extremely similar characteristics. In fact these are so clear the can be categorized into 3 specific types of experiences (see Philosophy of Religion, and Introduction, by atheism William Rowe for example) [20]. Yes, the pantheons experienced seem to differ, but this is exactly what we would expect from cultures dependent on geography, weather, economy, class system, and so forth. To say this shows the experiences are invalid would be like saying the stars don’t exist because cultures came up with different constellations.

  • We also don’t inherently reject and human experience as delusion off the bat. We accept people experience pain, love, fear, happiness, depression, etc., despite never having actual access to their experiences. Yet when it comes to religious experiences many non-believers fall back on SPECIAL PLEADING, which is to judge this one type of experience differently from the rest. [21]

  • CONCLUSION: since we would expect gods to be interpreted differently by cultures, and without reasons to reject religious experiences (which would have to be on an individual basis, such as pain), all we have is something all cultures have consistent experienced across time, which parsimony would suggest means they actually experienced.





    POLYTHEISM: MORE THAN ONE GOD

  • There are experiences of all different gods throughout time, and so if one accepts experience (you have to without reasons specific to that individual case, such as intoxication or mental illness) they cannot say THEIR god is valid while others are not without SPECIAL PLEADING.

  • Monotheistic gods have been logically defeated, such as by the problem of evil, lack of miracles, lack of answered prayers, etc.

  • CONCLUSION: If you believe ANY gods exist, it is more reasonable to believe MANY do.


    SOME References

    1- Mind/Body Dualism, SEP
    https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dualism/#MinBod

    2- About of Consciousness http://wiki.objectivismonline.net/Axiom_of_Consciousness

    3- Ontological Argument for Idealism by Bernardo Kastrup

    4 to 7- Skepticism and Content Externalism https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/skepticism-content-externalism/

    8- Making Medicines
    http://broughttolife.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/themes/treatments/medicines

    9- Powering a Generation
    https://americanhistory.si.edu/powering/generate/gnmain.htm

    10- How to Practice Self Regulation
    https://www.verywellmind.com/how-you-can-practice-self-regulation-4163536

    11- Cognitive Appraisal
    https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-1-4419-1005-9_1115

    12- Placebos Without Deception
    https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0015591

    13- Framework of the UPR
    https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0392192107076869

    14- Modern Humans Take the World
    https://www.thoughtco.com/upper-paleolithic-modern-humans-173073

    15- UP Technology, Art, Culture
    https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/world-history-beginnings/origin-humans-early-societies/a/paleolithic-culture-and-technology

    16- Hierarchy of Needs
    https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

    17- The Electrical Patterns of Life
    http://www.wrf.org/men-women-medicine/dr-harold-s-burr.php

    18- Harold Burr's Biofields
    http://www.energymed.org/hbank/handouts/harold_burr_biofields.htm

    19- Electromagnetics of Life (PDF)
    https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://journals.sfu.ca/seemj/index.php/seemj/article/download/401/362&ved=2ahUKEwjv6Mm9xe_kAhW_CTQIHSjDCd8QFjAHegQIBhAB&usg=AOvVaw0xWf76krbzIG2DWHWuOP4q&cshid=1569537305106

    20- Phi of Religion https://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Religion-Introduction-William-Rowe/dp/0495007250

    21- Special Pleading
    https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/163/Special-Pleading
u/mnsh777 · 2 pointsr/religion

(courtesy of /u/lightnlng):


Check what you like from this list of Resources. I recommend starting with the Quran and a biography of prophet Muhammad (pbuh). If you want books, these ones are popular:




u/Harry_Seaward · 1 pointr/religion

So, reading the Bible is somewhat of a chore. If you're just reading it to say you've done so, or give yourself a brief glimpse of what it has, you can look here to get an idea of what each version offers. Some versions are more "modern" and use current language and syntax. They're easier to read but may include translations of words or phrases that may not be as accurate as others. On the other hand, some versions go to great lengths to be as accurate as possible and lose some readability because of it.

Once you've decided, you can go here to read a lot of those versions - or multiple versions at once. You can also find apps that do similar things - sword-reader, or something to that effect, and probably others.

There are also places like this that are geared towards atheists. They're often snarky, though, so take it with a grain of salt.

I think, and agree with weeglos, that you're better off reading something like this or this to get an idea of what it's about and the changes that have been made (and why).

u/99Kelly · 3 pointsr/religion

One World, Many Religions: The Ways We Worship, by Mary Pope Osborne – Survey of all the world’s religions from children’s perspectives, geared for 9-12 year olds.

Buller, Laura (2005). A Faith Like Mine. New York, NY: DK.  Includes Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Sikhism in detail, with bits on Zoroastrianism, Shinto, Taoism, Jainism and Baha’i, for ages 9-12.

DK Publishing (2011). What Do You Believe? New York, NY: DK. Includes all of the largest faiths, many smaller religious, plus ancient philosophers such as Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato, as well as modern thinkers such as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Kant, and Sartre.

The Little Book of Hindu Deities: From the Goddess of Wealth to the Sacred Cow, by Sanjay Patel – This is actually not a children’s book, but came highly recommended

Demi (2005). Jesus. New York, NY: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Zen Shorts, by Jon Muth – Introduction to Zen principles by a giant panda, targeted to children 9-12

DK Publishing (2011). What Do You Believe?  New York, NY: DK. Includes all of the largest faiths, many smaller religious, plus ancient philosophers such as Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato, as well as modern thinkers such as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Kant, and Sartre.

The Elephant Prince: The Story of Ganesh, by Amy Novesky – Beautifully illustrated tale of Ganesh, Hindu deity.

Demi (2003). Muhammad. New York, NY: Margaret K. McElderry Books

u/r271answers · 1 pointr/religion

By the way you may also like the NRSV Oxford Annotated Study Bible it's pretty much the standard Bible used in academia and contains tons of information about translation choices, maps, information about cultural references, etc. I study religion at a secular state run university and this is the standard Bible that all the religion professors recommend.

You might also find The Book of Moses from The Pearl of Great Price an interesting read if you are into creation story stuff. It's from the Mormon canon: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/pgp/moses/2?lang=eng

My favorite Christianity-related creation story though is On the Origin of the World

u/person_of_the_book · 1 pointr/religion

Read the Qur'an with a commentary.


A really, really, really good place to start is "The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an in Today's English" by Yahiya Emerick". Written by an American Muslim for Americans with no background knowledge on Islam at all. It's really, really, really well done, and the best for people going in blind.


Yusuf Ali's translation and commentary is the standard, and the new Study Qur'an is wonderfully done and also recommended - but the notes may be a bit too specialist in tone. Pick it up in a book store and read a bit of it to see.


But yes, reading it front to back is perfectly fine. I have suggested maybe starting at "Joseph", as it's the only traditional style narrative in the whole book, and you skip the first 8 or 9 chapters that are a bit heavier in legalistic and ritualistic stuff, which some find challenging without any aides.

u/quay42 · 6 pointsr/religion

Do you want to become a theist (start believing in one or more gods) or just find a community and set of rituals? I think you can have either one without the other, depending on what your goals are. There are things like the Unitarian church as well as Sunday Assembly (essentially church for atheists).

For me personally, I didn't feel like I had found purpose in life until after I became an atheist and had to discover for myself what I found important in life. Having a family also helps provide purpose :)

That all said, I really enjoyed the textbook we used in my World Religions course in college (note, I linked to the "smile" version of the Amazon link, which is a small way you can have 'purpose' by having Amazon contribute a portion of a purchase price to a charity of your choice)

u/Stucipher · 3 pointsr/religion

What 'God' are you looking for, and for what purpose?

In order to find the divine, you may need a realization of what it actually is in your life. That may simply mean an altruistic ideal, or a deep yearning to understand the mystery of life itself. These things, of course, are not 'God', but can help one to obtain a better understanding of spirituality.

Also, I would reccomend this book. It has helped me immensely in my contemplation of spirituality and divinity in life.

u/Bundude · 3 pointsr/religion

Not sure if this fits under your definition of "world religions" but Mormonism is currently undergoing an interesting, scholarly reassessment of its history. Mormons have a pretty unique and (if I may say so myself) fascinating cosmology that you may enjoy learning about. If you're interested I would start by reading Bushman's Rough Stone Rolling.

u/NomadicVagabond · 5 pointsr/religion

First of all, can I just say how much I love giving and receiving book recommendations? I was a religious studies major in college (and was even a T.A. in the World Religions class) so, this is right up my alley. So, I'm just going to take a seat in front of my book cases...

General:

  1. A History of God by Karen Armstrong

  2. The Great Transformation by Karen Armstrong

  3. Myths: gods, heroes, and saviors by Leonard Biallas (highly recommended)

  4. Natural History of Religion by David Hume

  5. Beyond Tolerance by Gustav Niebuhr

  6. Acts of Faith by Eboo Patel (very highly recommended, completely shaped my view on pluralism and interfaith dialogue)

  7. The Evolution of God by Robert Wright

    Christianity:

  8. Tales of the End by David L. Barr

  9. The Historical Jesus by John Dominic Crossan

  10. Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography by John Dominic Crossan

  11. The Birth of Christianity by John Dominic Crossan

  12. Who Wrote the New Testament? by Burton Mack

  13. Jesus in America by Richard Wightman Fox

  14. The Five Gospels by Robert Funk, Roy W. Hoover, and the Jesus Seminar (highly recommended)

  15. Remedial Christianity by Paul Alan Laughlin

    Judaism:

  16. The Jewish Mystical Tradition by Ben Zion Bokser

  17. Who Wrote the Bible? by Richard Elliot Friedman

    Islam:

  18. Muhammad by Karen Armstrong

  19. No God but God by Reza Aslan

  20. Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations by Michael Sells

    Buddhism:

  21. Buddha by Karen Armstrong

  22. Entering the Stream ed. Samuel Bercholz & Sherab Chodzin Kohn

  23. The Life of Milarepa translated by Lobsang P. Lhalungpa

  24. Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism by John Powers

  25. Zen Flesh, Zen Bones compiled by Paul Reps (a classic in Western approached to Buddhism)

  26. Buddhist Thought by Paul Williams (if you're at all interested in Buddhist doctrine and philosophy, you would be doing yourself a disservice by not reading this book)

    Taoism:

  27. The Essential Chuang Tzu trans. by Sam Hamill & J.P. Seaton

    Atheism:

  28. Atheism by Julian Baggini

  29. The Future of an Illusion by Sigmund Freud

  30. Doubt: A History by Jennifer Michael Hecht

  31. When Atheism Becomes Religion by Chris Hedges

  32. Atheism: The Case Against God by George H. Smith
u/DruidofRavens · 1 pointr/religion

ChristoPaganism would probably work well for you. From what I understand they tend to worship Mary as a goddess, and many believe in a larger divine feminine. A view like yours would mix well with Paganism as well. This book is a good starting place.

https://www.amazon.com/ChristoPaganism-Inclusive-Path-Joyce-Higginbotham/dp/0738714674/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542960161&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=christo-pagan+an+inclusive+path

u/[deleted] · 1 pointr/religion

[I would definitely recommend this version of the Bible.] (http://www.amazon.ca/Little-Rock-Catholic-Study-Bible-NABRE/dp/0814636489/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414062377&sr=8-1&keywords=the+little+rock+catholic+study+bible) - ridiculously scholarly, but written for the layman. It's amazing. Just amazing.


[And this version of the Qur'an.] (http://www.amazon.ca/Meaning-Holy-Quran-Todays-English/dp/1450549535/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414062405&sr=8-1&keywords=the+meaning+of+the+holy+quran+in+todays+english) - Very scholarly, written by an American convert for Americans with little knowledge of Islamic history or Arab culture. Ridiculously informative. The layout could be better, but this is a great starting point.

u/KaramQa · 1 pointr/religion

The Yusuf Ali Translation of the Quran is the best. I think it best preseves the spirit of the original arabic.

This site is good it allows you to easily switch between translations

http://al-quran.info/#home


As for Tafsirs (commentary) I think the Tafir al Mizan is the best Shia Tafsir.


https://almizan.org/


But since you want something similar to a spoon-feeding I think you should check out the Study Quran. I've heard praise of it but I haven't read it myself.

u/servant_of_the_wolf · 2 pointsr/religion

>Edit: any recommendations for the most "unbiased" versions?

You might consider the New Oxford Annotated Bible. Here’s a bit from the blurb:

>For over 50 years students, professors, clergy, and general readers have relied on The New Oxford Annotated Bible as an unparalleled authority in Study Bibles. This fifth edition of the Annotated remains the best way to study and understand the Bible at home or in the classroom. This thoroughly revised and substantially updated edition contains the best scholarship informed by recent discoveries and anchored in the solid Study Bible tradition.

You might also consider The Study Qur’an. A bit from its blurb:

>Drawn from a wide range of traditional Islamic commentaries, including Sunni and Shia sources, and from legal, theological, and mystical texts, The Study Quran conveys the enduring spiritual power of the Quran and offers a thorough scholarly understanding of this holy text.

u/tedivm · 5 pointsr/religion

Jesus Interrupted is a fantastic book that explores the actual history of the bible. It goes over how they've dated each book, how ideas have evolved over time, and what can or can't be considered accurate.

I highly, highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the bible as a historical document as well as anyone who wants to know how christianity has grown and evolved over time.

u/Irish_Whiskey · 2 pointsr/religion

The Case for God and The Bible: A Biography by Karen Armstrong are both good. The God Delusion is a simple breakdown and explanation of most major religious claims. Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World by the Dalai Llama is an interesting book on ethics. The Koran: A Very Short Introduction by Michael Cook is 150 funny and insightful pages on Islam. Under the Banner of Heaven is a shocking and fascinating account of fundamentalist Mormonism. The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan discusses religion, and Cosmos and Pale Blue Dot are my secular versions of holy books. And of course given the occasion, I can't leave out God is Not Great.

I recommend avoiding authors like Lee Strobel and Deepak Chopra. Both are essentially liars for their causes, either inventing evidence, or deliberately being incredibly misleading in how they use terms. Popularity in those cases definitely doesn't indicate quality.

u/duhhobo · 1 pointr/religion

While I don't consider it to be a cult, the history of Mormonism is extremely interesting, as is the life of it's founder, Joseph Smith.

A good book written by a member of the church is called "Rough Stone Rolling." Another great one by a non mormon is called "No Man Knows My History"

u/Built2Last · 1 pointr/religion

This book won't answer every question you might possibly have on the nuances between the "Abrahamic" Faiths, but it is a great introduction:

http://www.amazon.com/God-Is-Not-One-Religions/dp/0061571288/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369104390&sr=8-1&keywords=Prothero+God+is+not+One

u/DSchmitt · 2 pointsr/religion

This is backwards thinking. Lack of evidence against something in no way is evidence for it, and in some cases can even be the opposite (lack of bigfoot skeletons is evidence towards them not existing, for example). Prove there is no X, and suppose that it's reasonable to accept X if it remains unproven but not disproven, is a way to think that leads to accepting false beliefs.

Let's apply the methodology to other ideas. Prove that fairies don't exist. Prove that the flying spaghetti monster doesn't exist. Prove that Zeus doesn't exist. Prove that socialism is bad. Prove that capitalism is bad.

The burden of proof is on the person with the positive claim... that these things exist, or that we should switch to X system, or whatever.

God does not exist is a positive claim, as is that claim that a god exists. The default position should be, if you want to believe as many true things and also not believe as many false things as you can, to not accept either claim until given sufficient evidence.

To the OP, have you read 50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God? It's an excellent list of reasons people have to believe in a god.

u/Sashavidre · 0 pointsr/religion

Interesting how all your statements change from "no" to some form of acknowledgment. Whatever...

If you want some more fun facts you can read this book by a Jew who hates Israel: https://www.amazon.com/Jewish-History-Religion-Thousand-Political-ebook/dp/B00GGOEL4A/

Cheers

u/Mjonasson · 3 pointsr/religion

Weeeell, it's quite hard to explain it all in a post on reddit. First of all, Buddhist does not consider Buddha to become or transform into a god.

My advice is to read some book about it. For instance Buddha by Karen Armstrong. It's about the person Buddha rather than his teachings. http://www.amazon.com/Buddha-Penguin-Lives-Biographies-Armstrong/dp/0143034367

Good luck!

u/DoubledPawns · 2 pointsr/religion

Mere Christianity is a great read. As far as a biography where he steps through his journey, I'm not sure he ever wrote anything quite like that.

Edit: Perhaps this might help

u/SorceressFane · 1 pointr/religion

A History of God by Karen Armstrong is a great book to learn a little about the "big 3" Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
http://www.amazon.com/History-God-000-Year-Judaism-Christianity/dp/0345384563/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

u/Hypatia415 · 1 pointr/religion

Oh, also there's a very interesting book called 50 Reasons People Give for Believing in God.
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1591025672/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_1NzYBbN5B4KY4

It puts many issues into a clear cut form.

u/Flankerl · 1 pointr/religion

> Interesting how all your statements change from "no" to some form of acknowledgment

It's just in your head mate.

> If you want some more fun facts you can read this book by a Jew who hates Israel: https://www.amazon.com/Jewish-History-Religion-Thousand-Political-ebook/dp/B00GGOEL4A/

And then? Am I enlightened and want to destroy Israel too?

u/greim · 2 pointsr/religion

Whether or not this particular article is sensationalistic fear-mongering, witch-mania and superstitious fervor are endemic to the human condition. I recommend reading the book The Demon-Haunted World.

u/fschmidt · -2 pointsr/religion

Zionism is basically an implementation of Mein Kampf for jews. In other words, it supports a racist nation. Now I have no particular opinion on racism. I am not racist, but I have no problem with racists. If a group of jews or whites want to establish a nation, that is fine with me. I just hate hypocrisy. White nationalists are at least honest about what they want, but unfortunately for them, they are quite stupid. Judaism is the most successful racist movement and they aren't stupid, but they are dishonest.

These 2 books, both written by jews, give both sides of Zionism, for and against:

https://www.amazon.com/Jewish-State-Struggle-Israels-Soul/dp/0465029027/

https://www.amazon.com/Jewish-History-Religion-Thousand-Political-ebook/dp/B00GGOEL4A/

u/wintyyr · -1 pointsr/religion

It means animals if you believe it does. Animals have feelings and can suffer just as much as any human. If you think that we are not "murdering" animals in slaughterhouses, you are sorely mistaken. Being abused, in pain, emotionally distraught and tortured, and then MURDERED is just that, murder. In the garden of Eden Adam and Eve were vegans, it was only after they were expelled that the idea even came about. Noah was a vegetarian until after the flood, at which time, God gave him PERMISSION to eat animals, but that is not the same thing as commanding them to.

If Adam and Eve were God's ideal vision of humanity in the beginning, why would you not strive to be that? There are BILLIONS of non-human animals murdered every YEAR, just in the US alone, and I'm sure a lot of that is wasted. Lives taken and then thrown away and not even used. Why cause suffering if you do not have to? Most human-animals do not NEED to eat meat/dairy, so why bother?

http://www.amazon.com/Emotional-Lives-Animals-Scientist-Explores/dp/1577316290/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462727585&sr=8-1&keywords=the+emotional+lives+of+animals

This book really opened my eyes when I was 15. If you believe the commandment includes non-human animals, it is your belief. You cannot make others believe it, but they cannot make you NOT believe it. If God is love we should extend that to all beings and stop abusing the Earth and our fellow Earthlings the way we do. If you have seen footage from inside factory farms there is no other way to call it, other than torture and murder.