Showing posts with label phylosophy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label phylosophy. Show all posts

God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World and Why Their Differences Matter by Stephen Prothero


Book release date: April 20, 2010

Genre: philosophy, sociology, religion,


“Provocative, thoughtful, fiercely intelligent and, for both believing and nonbelieving, formal and informal students of religion, a must-read.” 
--Booklist 

Stephen Prothero, the New York Times bestselling author of Religious Literacy, makes a fresh and provocative argument that, contrary to popular understanding, all religions are not simply different paths to the same end… and why this matters greatly for us. Readers of Huston Smith and Karen Armstrong will find much to ponder in God Is Not One.
 
At the dawn of the twenty-first 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 naïve 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 readers 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. A bold polemical response to a generation of misguided scholarship, God Is Not One creates a new context for understanding religion in the twenty-first century and disproves the assumptions most of us make about the way the world's religions work. 

To listen to an audio excerpt, click HERE


Stephen Prothero is the New York Times bestselling author of Religious Literacy and God Is Not One, and is a professor of religion at Boston University. He and his work have been featured on the cover of Time magazine, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, National Public Radio, and other top national media outlets. He writes and reviews for the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, Salon, Slate, and other publications. 
 
Would you like to read this book? You can buy it on Amazon by clicking HERE.

Lives of Confucius: Civilization's Greatest Sage Through the Ages by Michael Nylan and Thomas Wilson


Book release date: April 13, 2010

Genre: history, philosophy, religion


"Confucius’s influence is unrestrained by time or geography. One of the most significant leaders of all time, his teachings have resonated throughout Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese thought and life over the centuries, right up to the present day. For the general reader, there’s never been a telling of Confucius’s life and the evolution of his stature—until now. Written by two well-respected authorities on Chinese history, Michael Nylan and Thomas A. Wilson, Lives of Confucius: Civilization’s Greatest Sage Through the Ages is the new history of Confucius.

The single most important person in Chinese history, aside from Mao Zedong, Confucius must be viewed from several different perspectives in order to grasp the broad range of roles that he has played over the years. Based on archeological findings, especially those of the past twenty years, Lives of Confucius expertly paints these view points and becomes an evolving portrait of the philosopher. The many mysteries about Confucius’s historical life are answered, and fascinating details emerge about the progression of his teachings. Nylan and Wilson are rich in their interpretations, taking Confucian teaching through the millennia to the present day.

Confucius’s system of philosophy, Confucianism, emphasized personal and governmental morality, justice, and appropriateness in social situations. Throughout the world, the strength of his doctrine is as powerful as that of Jesus and Mohammad—perhaps even more so—and has gained prominence over Taoism and Buddhism. Although Confucius died almost 2,500 years ago, his teachings continue to hold relevance and insight. Modern China, for example, has reintegrated many of Confucius’s thoughts in the last fifty years—beginning under Mao’s influence and culminating in the more recent occurrence of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

The first encapsulation for general readers, Lives of Confucius is unique in the way it delivers the details of Confucius’s life and how his work and influence have been interpreted, reinvented, degenerated, extolled, and put to ever differing uses throughout Chinese history. It is a fresh perspective on one of China’s great teachers and is fascinating both for the individual portrait of Confucius himself and for the sweep of history it delivers.

To read an excerpt, click HERE.


Michael Nylan is Professor of Chinese History at UCB. Her specialty is Early China: seven centuries of Warring States through Eastern Han (475 BC-AD 220), with an emphasis on the sociopolitical context; aesthetic theories and material culture; and belief.She is the author of Five Confucian Classics and coauthor of the forthcoming Cambridge History of China.

Thomas A. Wilson is an associate professor of history at Hamilton College and is the author of On Sacred Grounds.

Would you like to read this book? You can buy it on Amazon by clicking HERE.

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