God Is Not One Audiobook By Stephen Prothero cover art

God Is Not One

The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World--and Why Their Differences Matter

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God Is Not One

By: Stephen Prothero
Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
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In God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World, New York Times bestselling author of Religious Literacy and religion scholar Stephen Prothero argues that persistent attempts to portray all religions as different paths to the same God overlook the distinct problem that each tradition seeks to solve. Delving into the different problems and solutions that Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Confucianism, Yoruba Religion, Daoism and Atheism strive to combat, God is Not One is an indispensable guide to the questions human beings have asked for millennia—and to the disparate paths we are taking to answer them today. Readers of Huston Smith and Karen Armstrong will find much to ponder in God is Not One.

 Art History & Criticism Religious Studies Philosophy Sociology Judaism Iran Middle Ages Middle East Ancient History
Educational Overview • Comprehensive Comparison • Wonderful Narration • Respectful Approach • Informative Content

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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!

A long-winded but helpful overview!

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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.

good but disappointing

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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.

Was looking for something a little higher level

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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.

Love it!

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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.

Great but deeply hypocritical on New Atheism

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