Mircea Eliade and Charles J. Adams (eds.), The Encyclopedia of Religion. New York, N.Y. : Macmillan ; Collier Macmillan,1987. (16 vols.)
**John and David Noss, A History of the World's Religions. New York: Macmillan. (For Sale in the HSU Bookstore.)
**Huston Smith, The World's Religions. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991. (For Sale in the HSU Bookstore.)
Pre-Classical Abrahamic Traditions. The writings of the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament) cannot be claimed exclusively by any of the three Abrahamic religions, and it is most plausibly argued that ancient Israelite Religion is distinct from the orthodox forms of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. You are encouraged to explore this ancient religion, and its legacy in later faiths by reading books from the Hebrew Bible. Beware, however, that it is extremely important to understand these writings in their historical context. The first two books listed are among the many that could help you to understand something about the history and religion of the ancient Israelites.
Bernhard Anderson, Understanding the Old Testament. (3rd Edition.) Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall 1975.
Norman Gottwald, The Hebrew Bible: A Socio-Literary Introduction. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985.
Suggested books from the Hebrew Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Judges, 1&2 Samuel, Amos, Hosea, Jeremiah, Ezekiel.
Martin Buber, I and Thou. This book is a classic on the nature of religious experience, and especially how to perceive the world as a living organism, rather than as a dead objective thing. Buber one of the subtlest and most inspirational writers in modern Judaism. But beware: this book is deep.
Abraham Heschel, The Prophets. The best statement ever written on the Hebrew Prophets. A passionate introduction to ancient Israel's prophets.
______, God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism. New York: Octagon, 1972. Heschel, but this time on Judaism. Several of my Jewish friends have told me that this is as good a statement about the nature of Judaism as can be found.
Jacob Neusner, Invitation to the Talmud: A Teaching Book. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1984. This book may be a little hard going for most, but it takes the reader into the intricacies of Talmudic reasoning. Fascinating, if you're up to the task.
Chaim Potok, The Chosen: a Novel. New York, Simon and Schuster, 1967.
______, My Name is Asher Lev. New York, Knopf; [distributed by Random House], 1972. These two books by Potok are compelling stories about to live life as a Jew, but are more about human drama than about Judaism per se.
**Elie Wiesel, Night/Night Trilogy. (For sale in the HSU Bookstore.) An immensely moving picture of the Nazi Holocaust against the Jews and the problems for religious faith that derive from such profound evil. The first part, Night, is an account of Wiesel's own experiences in German concentration camps and tells of his own encounter with the death of God. I have never known anyone who read this book who was not deeply moved by it.
_______, Souls on Fire: Portraits and Legends of Hasidic Masters. New York: Summit, 1982. Very powerful stories, by one of the 20th centuries best story-tellers. Filled with spirit, power, and a reverence for the great mystics of the Jewish tradition.
New Testament Books: Reading from the New Testament is a must for any educated person. However, a background in the history and culture of the time is also a must for an informed reading of the text. Borg's book below gives some important background; many other standard NT introductions are also available, as are various encyclopedias and dictionaries of biblical studies. Everyone from the modern world, Christians and non-Christians alike, brings a host of preconceptions to the text of the NT that will shape their interpretation in a heavy handed way and obscure the sorts of things that were important concerns of the authors. Please try to gain some historical perspective as you delve into the New Testament.
Recommended NT Books : Luke and Acts (read them together; they were originally one book); John; Epistle to the Romans; First Epistle to the Corinthians; Revelation of St. John.
Marcus Borg, Jesus: A New Vision. This book can really open your eyes about a different way of looking at Jesus. Well written introduction into how to understand Jesus in a spiritual way in the light of modern scholarship.
Soren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling. A classic work in Christian existentialism. This book addresses the problem of doubt and faith, how to know God in spite of the limitations of reason. My first encounter with Kierkegaard changed my life.
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity. A revised and enlarged edition, with a new introduction of the three books, The Case for Christianity, Christian Behaviour, and Beyond Personality, by C. S. Lewis. New York: Macmillan,1953 [c1952]. One of the most compelling apologies for Christian orthodoxy in the 20th Century.
Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels. New York: Random House, 1979. A book about a set of Gospels that did not make it into the New Testament. This is an account of how a group of non-orthodox Christians looked at Jesus shortly after he walked on earth.
John A. T. Robinson, Honest to God. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1963. An introduction to some of the main themes of modern Christian theology, including Tillich and Bonhoeffer. A best seller when it was first published, and still well worth the read.
Karen Armstrong, Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992. An excellent telling of the story of Early Islam, including many insightful comments about the position of women in Islam and the relationship of so-called "Islamic Fundamentalism" to the ideal community established by Muhammad in the 7th century BCE.
Farid al-Din Attar, The Conference of the Birds. A Sufi allegory about the quest for God. Filled with parables and stories that illustrate the difficulty of changing one's consciousness so as to perceive the divine. A classic work of Islamic mysticism.
John Esposito, Islam: The Straight Path. New York: Oxford, 1991. A standard textbook on Islam.
The Koran/Qur'an. (Penguin Edition for sale in the Bookstore.) The Qur'an is pretty easy to understand, though awfully repetitive by modern Western tastes. If you can get into the swing of it, you may discover why Muslims regard this as the greatest of all books.
Maxime Rodinson, Muhammad. New York: Pantheon, 1972. A detailed picture of the life of Muhammad. Rodinson gives a down to earth biography, which some Muslims might find offensive, because he is perhaps too objective. But the facts are all there.
Malise Ruthven, Islam in the World. New York: Oxford, 1984. A book on modern Islam and politics by a journalist. Well written, and can serve as a general introduction to Islam, as well.
Idries Shah, The Seeker after Truth. London: Octagon Press, 1982, 1992. A book on Sufi wisdom by one of the great modern interpreters of Sufism. Once you've read through a book by Shah, you'll never look at the world in quite the same way.
, Hundred Tales of Wisdom. London: Octagon Press. Another book by Shah, but this time his translation of a classic set of stories about the great poet-saint, Rumi. If you can't find either of these two books by Shah, look for others of his. He is a great writer and thinker.
Interpretations of Asian Religion by Westerners..
**Ram Dass, Be Here Now. (For Sale in HSU Bookstore.) This is a book by a guy who left Harvard and his research in hallucinogenic drugs to discover Hinduism. Not very orthodox, but filled with insights. An entertaining and enlightening read.
**Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha. (For Sale in HSU Bookstore.) As a Western picture of the quest for enlightenment, this book is not exactly about Buddhism. Still, it has a remarkable power to take the beginner into the sorts of issues that are addressed in the Buddha's vision of religion.
Wing-tsit Chan, A Sourcebook in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Don't let the size of this volume upset you. I don't ask you to read it all. Read selections from Confucius, Lao-tzu, Chuang-tzu, or others. The Chinese sages write so plainly that even the beginner can get a lot out of them. This is a great volume to have in your library.
I-Ching. A classic book of Chinese philosophy. It comes in many editions, and many students have told me how much it has meant to them. However, it can be a little hard going at first. It's good to stick with it, and to allow your mind to change slowly under its influence. It's important to pay attention to the commentary.
William Buck, The Mahabharata. This is a synopsis of one of the great Hindu epics. Also, a film version is in the Faculty Media center. An incredible tale. Hindus say that anything not discussed in the Mahabharata is not worth discussing.
Raimundo Panikkar, The Vedic Experience. Berkeley: University of CA, 1977. Upanishads with commentary by one of the great theologians of our time.
Upanishads and/or Bhagavad Gita. The Upanishads and the Gita are in many editions. They can be hard going if you're new to the study of philosophy and religion. But if you're game for a challenging, but rewarding experience, you can read nothing better in the world than these writings.
Thich Nhat Hanh, The Heart of Understanding:Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra. Edited by Peter Levitt. (Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1988.) Check also other titles by Thich Nhat Hanh. He writes with great wisdom yet very simply. For some reason, we don't seem to have his books in the HSU library.
Thera Nyanaponika and Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Vision of Dhamma: Buddhist Writings of Nyanaponika Thera. (York Beach, ME: S. Weiser, 1986).
Paul Reps, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. Rutland, VT: C.E. Tuttle Co., 1957. Zen stories. These can really screw your head on in a different direction.
D.T. Suzuki, Introduction to Zen Buddhism. New York: Grove Press, 1964. A classic introduction to Zen in a systematic fashion.
Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. New York: Walker/Weatherkill, 1970. Lectures and conversations by an important Zen Master who came to the U.S.
Phra Thepwisutthimethi and Donald K. Swearer, Me and Mine: Selected Essays of Bhikkhu Buddhadasa. (Albany: SUNY Press, 1989.)
Chogyam Trungpa, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism. (Berkeley: Shambhala, 1973).
____________, The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Great Liberation Through Hearing in the Bardo. (Berkeley: Shambhala, 1975).
Alan Watts, The Way of Zen. New York: Pantheon, 1958. Highly readable and thorough introduction to Zen. Most Western scholars and many Buddhist practitioners say that Watts is unreliable, but I think that he's a good writer with lots of insight.
Native American Religion and Shamanism.
Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings of don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge. This book is another mind bender. No better introduction to the nature of the shamanic experience.
Vine DeLoria, God Is Red. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1973. Native American theology.
Michael Harner, The Way of the Shaman: A Guide to Power and Healing. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1980. Introduction and how-to manual on Shamanism. Well written, more academic than the other books here. But still a good read.
John (Fire) Lame Deer, Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions. A beautiful statement by a 20th century Lakota Shaman. Tells a lot about Native American religion and spirituality, shamanism, and the problems facing Native Americans in the middle of White Man's society.
**John Neihardt, Black Elk Speaks. (For sale in HSU Bookstore.) One of the most beautiful books I have ever read. It tells the story of Black Elk, a Lakota shaman who was involved with Custer's Last Stand and the Wounded Knee massacre.
Mark J. Plotkin, Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice : An Ethnobotanist Searches for New Medicines in the Amazon Rain Forest. New York : Viking, 1993. This book is currently on the list of books that I want to read. It comes to me with high recommendations; you read it and tell me what you think.
Mary Daly, Beyond God the Father: Towards a Philosophy of Women's Liberation. Boston: Beacon, 1973. One of the first, and best, critiques of male dominated religion from a feminist perspective. She pulls no punches.
Marija Gimbutas, The Civilization of the Goddess : The World of Old Europe. Edited by Joan Marler. San Francisco, Calif. : HarperSanFrancisco, 1991.
______, The Language of the Goddess: Unearthing the Hidden Symbols of Western Civilization. San Francisco : Harper & Row, 1989. These books by Gimbutas are central to the development of ideas about the Goddess in modern scholarship. The book by Eisler (below) is heavily dependent on the research done by Gimbutas, as is nearly every other scholar in the field. These books are lavish with pictures and drawings.
**Riane Eisler, The Chalice and the Blade. (For sale in HSU Bookstore.) Like Stone's book, this is a sort of history of Goddess worship before the rise of male dominated religions. However, Eisler's book has a more fully developed theoretical discussion than Stone, and she has more recent archaeological research at her disposal.
Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza, In Memory of Her: A Feminist Reconstruction of Christian Origins. (New York: Crossroad, 1983). A Christian feminist work by a New Testament scholar. A very important work for establishing a feminist view of Christian origins.
Rosemary Radford Ruether, Sexism and God-talk. Boston: Beacon, 1983. A critical look at Christian theology by one of the most prominent Christian feminists today. A big book, and may be tough going. But if you can get through it, you'll have a good background.
Starhawk, Dreaming the Dark. A vision of Goddess worship for modern people, by one of the most popular writers on the subject.
Merlin Stone, When God Was a Woman. New York: HBJ, 1978. A history of Goddess worship before the advent of male dominated religion. Much discussion of biblical religion, and of other religions in the Mediterranean region at the dawn of history.
Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics. One of the most important books in religion and theology to have been written in the last 25 years. Draws parallels between physics and Eastern mysticism. Ideal for students of science, especially for gaining an appreciation of how recent scientific discoveries lead us to, not away from, religious consciousness.
Aldous Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy. London: Chatto & Windus, 1950. One of the earliest books to show how the world religions speak of common important truths. May be hard going, but well worth the effort.
Raimundo Pannikar, The Unknown Christ of Hinduism: Towards an Ecumenical Christophany. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1981. A Catholic priest from India, Pannikar is one of the most important people in interreligious dialogue today. Here he tries to show how Hinduism manifests Christian principles.
Alan Watts, The Supreme Identity. New York: Vintage, 1972. Another "perennialist" work. Watts tries to show the nature of ultimate reality by appeal to several of the world religions.
Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents.
_______, The Future of an Illusion. Freud (the founder of psychoanalysis) is one of the 20th Centuries most outspoken and strident critics of religion as it has been experienced in the West. Some of his ideas are certainly open to criticism, but his insights are worthy of his genius. No educated person can be ignorant of Freud's influence.
Marvin Harris, Cannibals and Kings: The Origins of Cultures. New York : Random House, 1977.
_______, Cows, Pigs, Wars & Witches: The Riddles of Culture. New York: Random House, 1974. Harris is an anthropologist who believes that all religious phenomena can be explained scientifically in terms of the need of humans to establish the means of balancing population with resource needs. A good writer and fine mind, also controversial.
David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion and the Posthumous Essays: "Of the immortality of the soul" and "Of suicide." Edited, with an introd., by Richard H. Popkin. Indianapolis : Hackett Pub. Co., 1980.
_________, Writings on Religion. introduction, notes, and editorial arrangement by Antony Flew. La Salle, Ill. : Open Court, 1992. [CONTENTS: Of superstition and enthusiasm -- A note on the profession of priest -- Letter to William Mure of Caldwell -- Letter to Gilbert Elliot of Minto -- Of the immortality of the soul -- Of suicide -- Of miracles -- Of a particular providence and of a future state -- The natural history of religion .] Hume, an 18th century Scottish philosopher, is one of the West's most astute early critics of religion. Philosophers today still look to him as a master of rational argument, particularly as he shows the foibles of feeble superstitions. Hume is also much more easily understandable than most philosophers.
James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. One of the greatest novelists in English this century, Joyce had a great deal to say about religion, and he helped to create an alternative vision of spirituality with the creative artist as its patron saint.
Franz Kafka, "The Judgement," "The Metamorphosis", and "In the Penal Colony." Kafka is one of the most influential of modern writers, a man who pointed to the absurdity of modern existence and to its lack of a sure reference in matters of metaphysics and values. His work may not seem to point directly to religion as one of its main topics, but if you consider his writing carefully you will see that it offers both a critique of traditional forms of religious life, and a compelling portrait of the world we face in modernity. These three stories are recommended; many others, and his longer novels (The Castle and The Trial) are also highly recommended.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, On Religion. (Edited and Introduced by Reinhold Niebuhr.) New York: Schocken Books, 1967. This anthology gives a good sampling of Marx and Engels' views on religion. Their views have influenced even mainline religious thinkers (such as Niebuhr, the editor of this volume). No modern person can afford to be ignorant of what they had to say.
Friedrich Nietzsche, The Portable Nietzsche. (Edited and translated by Walter Kaufmann.) New York: Viking/Penguin, 1977. Nietzsche is arguably the most influential modern critic of religion in the West, and many thinkers in the modern world are indebted to his ideas. This volume is a wonderful sampling of his writings, which includes the full text of several of his books, including the famous and profound, Thus Spake Zarathustra. I don't recommend reading the whole of this one in one sitting; sample from it, and keep it on your shelf forever.
Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not a Christian and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects. (Edited, with an appendix on the "Bertrand Russell Case," by Paul Edwards.) New York: Simon and Schuster, 1957. Russell is among the most important philosophers of the 20th century, and he was known as an outspoken critic of Christianity and religion in general. An excellent and prolific writer; a fine mind.
You are encouraged to do research into areas other than those suggested under Area C. Many students have suggested additional areas of research to me over the years, and their papers have been quite enlightening for me, especially when they have done research in areas about which I know very little. If you would like to research a topic or to do some reading in an area I have not listed, please talk with me. We can probably work something out, and I am happy to give you any advice I can.