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God Is Not One
- The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World - and Why Their Differences Matter
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 14 hrs and 37 mins
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Publisher's summary
At the dawn of the 21st century, dizzying scientific and technological advancements, interconnected globalized economies, and even the so-called New Atheists have done nothing to change one thing: our world remains furiously religious.
For good and for evil, religion is the single greatest influence in the world. We accept as self-evident that competing economic systems (capitalist or communist) or clashing political parties (Republican or Democratic) propose very different solutions to our planet's problems. So why do we pretend that the world's religious traditions are different paths to the same God? We blur the sharp distinctions between religions at our own peril, argues religion scholar Stephen Prothero, and it is time to replace naive hopes of interreligious unity with deeper knowledge of religious differences.
In Religious Literacy, Prothero demonstrated how little Americans know about their own religious traditions and why the world's religions should be taught in public schools. Now, in God Is Not One, Prothero provides listeners with this much-needed content about each of the eight great religions.
To claim that all religions are the same is to misunderstand that each attempts to solve a different human problem. For example:
- Islam: the problem is pride / the solution is submission
- Christianity: the problem is sin / the solution is salvation
- Confucianism: the problem is chaos / the solution is social order
- Buddhism: the problem is suffering / the solution is awakening
- Judaism: the problem is exile / the solution is to return to God
Prothero reveals each of these traditions on its own terms to create an indispensable guide for anyone who wants to better understand the big questions human beings have asked for millennia and the disparate paths we are taking to answer them today.
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World-renowned Jesus scholar Marcus J. Borg shows how we can live passionately as Christians in today's world by practicing the vital elements of Christian faith. For the millions of people who have turned away from many traditional beliefs about God, Jesus, and the Bible, but still long for a relevant, nourishing faith, Borg shows why the Christian life can remain a transforming relationship with God. Emphasizing the critical role of daily practice in living the Christian life, he explores how prayer, worship, Sabbath, pilgrimage, and more can be experienced as authentically life-giving practices.
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book worth rediscovering for both head and heart
- By connie on 06-30-12
By: Marcus J. Borg
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Forbidden Faith
- The Secret History of Gnosticism
- By: Richard Smoley
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
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The success of books such as Elaine Pagels's Gnostic Gospels and Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code proves beyond a doubt that there is a tremendous thirst today for finding the hidden truths of Christianity - truths that may have been lost or buried by institutional religion over the last two millennia. In Forbidden Faith, Richard Smoley narrates a popular history of one such truth, the ancient esoteric religion of gnosticism, which flourished between the first and fourth centuries AD, but whose legacy remains even today, having survived secretly throughout the ages.
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An absolute must for understanding Gnosticism.
- By Patriot RN - Doc on 05-12-21
By: Richard Smoley
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A History of Judaism
- By: Martin Goodman
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 23 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Judaism is one of the oldest religions in the world, and it has preserved its distinctive identity despite the extraordinarily diverse forms and beliefs it has embodied over the course of more than three millennia. A History of Judaism provides the first truly comprehensive look in one volume at how this great religion came to be, how it has evolved from one age to the next, and how its various strains, sects, and traditions have related to each other.
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Not easy to follow.
- By Max on 03-12-19
By: Martin Goodman
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Unbelievable
- Why Neither Ancient Creeds nor the Reformation Can Produce a Living Faith Today
- By: John Shelby Spong
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Five hundred years after Martin Luther and his Ninety-Five Theses ushered in the Reformation, best-selling author and controversial bishop and teacher John Shelby Spong delivers 12 forward-thinking theses to spark a new reformation to reinvigorate Christianity and ensure its future. Spong contends that there is mounting pressure among Christians for a radically new kind of Christianity - a faith deeply connected to the human experience instead of outdated dogma.
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great
- By Brian Diffley on 03-27-21
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A New Kind of Christianity
- Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith
- By: Brian D. McLaren
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
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We are in the midst of a paradigm shift in the church. Not since the Reformation five centuries ago have so many Christians come together to ask whether the church is in sync with their deepest beliefs and commitments. These believers range from evangelicals to mainline Protestants to Catholics, and the person who best represents them is author and pastor Brian McLaren. In this much anticipated book, McLaren examines ten questions facing today's church - questions about how to articulate the faith itself, the nature of its authority, who God is....
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Clear, Careful, Considerate Confrontation
- By Celia on 09-10-12
By: Brian D. McLaren
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The Book That Made Your World
- How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization
- By: Vishal Mangalwadi
- Narrated by: Peter Lawrence
- Length: 14 hrs and 15 mins
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Whether you're an avid student of the Bible or a skeptic of its relevance, The Book That Made Your World will transform your perception of its influence on virtually every facet of Western civilization. Vishal Mangalwadi reveals the personal motivation that fueled his own study of the Bible. Learn how the Bible transformed the social, political, and religious institutions that have sustained Western culture for the past millennium, and discover how secular corruption endangers the stability and longevity of Western civilization.
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loved this look on the Western World
- By DM on 11-03-20
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Dangerous Mystic
- Meister Eckhart's Path to the God Within
- By: Joel F. Harrington
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
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Meister Eckhart was a medieval Christian mystic whose wisdom powerfully appeals to seekers seven centuries after his death. In the modern era, Eckhart's writings have struck a chord with thinkers as diverse as Heidegger, Merton, Sartre, John Paul II, and the current Dalai Lama. He is the inspiration for the best-selling New Age author Eckhart Tolle's pen name, and his 14th-century quotes have become an online sensation. Today, a variety of Christians, as well as many Zen Buddhists, Sufi Muslims, Jewish Cabbalists, and various spiritual seekers, all claim Eckhart as their own.
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Meister Ekhart foisting his sexuality....
- By Kindle Customer on 08-08-19
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Religions of the World
- By: Neil Wenborn
- Narrated by: Adrian Grove
- Length: 2 hrs and 38 mins
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Religion is central to the lives of millions of people around the globe. But how did the great religions begin, and what do their followers believe? Religions of the World tells the remarkable story of some of the faiths which have helped to shape the way we live today. Aimed at younger listeners, it introduces the history and scriptures, beliefs and customs of some of humanity’s most enduring religious traditions, and looks at their place in the lives of men, women and children across the world.
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Good, Concise- Should be mandatory reading for all
- By Gregory on 05-28-12
By: Neil Wenborn
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The Great Transformation
- The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions
- By: Karen Armstrong
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- Length: 22 hrs and 29 mins
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From one of the world's leading writers on religion and the highly acclaimed author of the best-selling A History of God, The Battle for God, and The Spiral Staircase, comes a major new work: a chronicle of one of the most important intellectual revolutions in world history and its relevance to our own time.
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Fills in the blanks
- By Laura on 09-20-06
By: Karen Armstrong
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Anti-Judaism
- The Western Tradition
- By: David Nirenberg
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- Length: 17 hrs and 25 mins
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This incisive history upends the complacency that confines anti-Judaism to the ideological extremes in the Western tradition. With deep learning and elegance, David Nirenberg shows how foundational anti-Judaism is to the history of the West. Questions of how we are Jewish and, more critically, how and why we are not have been churning within the Western imagination throughout its history. Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans; Christians and Muslims of every period; even the secularists of modernity have used Judaism in constructing their visions of the world.
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Great Book: Terrible Narrator
- By LB on 12-29-16
By: David Nirenberg
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Jesus' Alternative Plan
- The Sermon on the Mount
- By: Richard Rohr OFM
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Richard Rohr Rohr goes through the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, explaining the historical and cultural context of each verse and offering guidance for what it means for Christians today.
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Updated Version
- By Anonymous User on 03-30-23
By: Richard Rohr OFM
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What listeners say about God Is Not One
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- James
- 04-03-18
A long-winded but helpful overview!
Before reading this book, I had been tossed between the two extreme perspectives on religion in general - that either all religions are essentially the same in their exploration of the divine OR that all religions are poisonous and anti-intellectual. The type of secular perspective on religious literacy that Prothero advocates is an enlightening middle path similar to the concept of cultural mining advocated by Alain de Botton. I will be following up on several of the new perspectives I encountered here!
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Overall
- SisterLucia
- 07-13-11
good but disappointing
loved prothero's audio course Religions of the East. i listen to it repeatedly. but this book is mostly a rehash of that course and his writing is not as interesting as his teaching.
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2 people found this helpful
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- E. Morse
- 08-28-18
Was looking for something a little higher level
While it had very good coverage of the 8 religions, I often times found myself not paying attention as I had gotten lost about what he was talking about. Higher level and not so much detail probably would have been better.
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- Robert.D
- 08-06-18
Fantastic read
This book is deep but also put a way thats straight to the point and full of knowledge!
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- Brian Dean
- 08-23-10
Informative, but disappointing.
In the introduction, Prothero makes the point that it is well intended, but ultimately disrespectful (at best) to speak of all religions as essentially the same; a different path up the same mountain. Despite his success at pinpointing the different goals for each religion, and the processes for achieving those goals, Prothero fails to adequately explain why the "different paths up the same mountain" metaphor is wrong, harmful, or otherwise misguided. Is it wrong to conceptualize nirvana as the "buddhist's version of heaven?" If so, why?
If the ultimate presription is understanding, why not use the mountain metaphor as a rallying point for all people, regardless of belief? Understanding can only occur if we can identify with each other's plight.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-30-13
Good book but not what I was looking for
I think it's a good book but I am still on the look for a true academic work about religion, specially the Christian and Muslim avenues, the author tries to cover way too much leaving us in a very shallow swimming sea of facts.
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- Elizabeth Ciminelli
- 01-15-12
Love it!
If you could sum up God Is Not One in three words, what would they be?
You. Must. Listen!
What other book might you compare God Is Not One to and why?
I don't know... It's a very good book if you want to learn about different religions.
Which scene was your favorite?
Wow, this form is not really suited to this book...
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No, anything with this much intimation must be taken topic by topic.
Any additional comments?
At first I was very underwhelmed by this book, but as it went on I changed my mind. I think that it is a book that all people should listen to because it is so educational. The author is a very good educator and I recommended this book to many people.
The only problem with this book is that the author made the choice to exclude one of the religions that I most wanted to learn about. The exclusion of Sikhism is forgivable but disappointing; at a time when many Americans assume that anybody with a turban is Islamic I think it is important for more people to learn about Sikhism.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Dustin
- 04-12-19
Great but deeply hypocritical on New Atheism
In general, I learned a lot from this book but the author's treatment of New Atheism is deeply hypocritical, uncharitable, and quite strawman-ish. Given his open-hearted approach to the other ideologies presented in the book, this is also incredibly unfair. If he took the same tone with even a marginal fundamentalist faction of any of the other discussed religions, there would be an uproar, but after mentioning how hated Atheists are, he joins in the hatred. Mean, bro.
Further, speaking from the perspective of a practicing Buddhist, I'd characterize his treatment of Buddhism to be more "not wrong" than actually completely correct, but it's a daunting task to undertake and not a bad start in general.
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Overall
- Nassir
- 11-03-10
Useful, but doesn't live up to its introduction
I want to expand on the previous reviewer's comments, which I essentially agree with. The introduction to this book is a blast against both the regressive fallacy that one religion can be better than others and the progressive fallacy that all religions are in a lovey-lovey way all the same. This is not the case, he declares; instead, each religion has its own independent character and instincts, appeals to different needs and desires, and aims to take you to different mental places -- this is what he means by calling them "rivals". It's a bracing call for a full-frontal tolerant plurality without wincing away from points of contention. It's a promising thesis to begin a book with.
Unfortunately, that's as far as it goes. The rest of the book consists of eight essays concerned separately with a "major" world religion (sorry Sikhs, Jains, Shintoists, and Scientologists... nothing here for you) that, while pleasant to read/listen to, are ultimately nothing more than pedestrian glosses. This book is, in fact, a direct sequel to Prothero's previous book, "Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know" which called for Americans to learn more about the religions of the world. As he say towards the end of the introduction, people were writing to him asking for a book to GIVE them that literacy. This is that book, and if that is what you want then this is the book for you. Each essay starts from basic facts, breezes through some history and contemporary issues, and ends there. Without a rhetorical connection between them the original thesis is nowhere to be seen. I was hoping for more depth.
There is still much of value here, particularly in the surprising choice of Yoruba as one of the major world religions. I like to think that I'm slightly more literate than most Americans when it comes to world religions, but was frankly ignorant about this West African religion and its many New World descendants. Touche, Mr. Prothero; consider me educated.
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13 people found this helpful
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Overall
- M.W.
- 07-04-11
More Like a Well Written Textbook
To be fair, I bought this book to gain a better understanding of the world's major religions. I did NOT want anything biased, preachy or opinionated. This book delivered on all accounts.
That being said, it really was more like a textbook. There weren't many anecdotes to keep things moving and interesting. Listening to it was not what I would call entertaining, It is so informative and fact filled that it would probably be better to read the print version, as it would be easier to re-read parts. I think I missed a lot by listening to this book rather than buying the print version.
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4 people found this helpful