*Disclaimers*: (1)If you just want the reading list, please scroll to the bottom now. (2)All ideas presented below represent my own interpretations and a respectful inquisitiveness regarding various texts and histories. I fully support everyone’s freedom to believe as they wish (so long as it doesn’t directly inflict pain or death on others).
Irrevocable commitment to any religion is not only intellectual suicide; it is positive unfaith because it closes the mind to any new vision of the world. Faith is, above all, openness – an act of trust in the unknown.
– Alan Wilson Watts, The Book: on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
This month’s reading was hard – I ended up only finishing three books, and am currently half way through two others which I will try to finish in the next couple days (fat chance, but hey).
There is a plethora of both fiction and non-fiction books on religion (and other such books that fall into either category, depending on your point of view). To be fair, who is to judge that the Bible is non-fiction but a book of Greek mythology is fiction? I think all religion should be one or the other, though I would probably classify it more like “magical realism”.
Many common themes came up across all of my readings both in books of scripture, and books about scriptures, and the history of religion.
The first, and most obvious, theme is how Islam and Christianity both sprang from Judaism. This is not so unbelievable given that the Jewish Torah is the first part of the Bible, and the beginning of the Quran also recounts the same stories of Adam and Eve and of Moses. The Quran then goes on to say that Christian, Jewish, or otherwise, will go to their heaven if they are faithful ̶ if only more people quoted this verse instead of all the ones about prejudice and violence. (Another common theme is that God/Yahweh/Allah seems to get more violent and less accepting as the scriptures go on…)
Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians, whoever believes in Allah and the Last day and does good, they shall have their reward from their Lord, and there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve.
Quran 2:62
The second idea is that spoken scripture has a different effect than written. Some would even say more powerful. This is a traditional still found in Hindu Vedic chants, prayers in both Judaism and Islam, and, to a lesser extent, Christian prayers and hymns. The Lost Art of Scripture, Evolution of God, and A History of God mention Hindu vedas being chanted because spoken word is more powerful than written (also Jewish and Muslim prayer chants) – I wonder if this is why we seek news and entertainment nowadays in the form of videos and podcasts over reading print?
It is form this idea that the third idea springs – Scripture is a living thing, and it was never meant to be the final word.
Today we tend to regard a scriptural canon as irrevocably closed and its texts sacrosanct, but we shall find that in all cultures, scripture was essentially a work in progress, constantly changing to meet new conditions. […] But we will see that scriptural narratives never claimed to be accurate descriptions of the creation of the world or the evolution of species. […] Instead of attempting a factual account of the past, “history” described the meaning of an event.
Karen Armstrong – The Lost Art of Scripture
I’m glad that scripture is not meant to be wholly accurate, because there is a whole lot of deception, bloodshed and violent sexuality in the scriptures! The fourth overarching theme is what I call the naughtiness of mankind. Abraham seems to have been the first pimp ̶ he not once but twice gives his wife away (as his “sister”), only to later receive riches from the ones which almost took her. His son, Isaac then does the same. Jacob (Israel) deceived his father and tricked his brother Esau (father of the Edomites, modern-day Jordan) and was rewarded by becoming father of the chosen people. Which could imply that the on-going conflicts between Israel and Jordan is essentially the worlds oldest sibling rivalry (I’m not saying this is true, just how I interpreted the story!) Does God really reward so much deceit? And, did God/Yahweh/Allah really tell his people to slaughter all the other peoples? Or did the men writing the story add that later to use that as their justification? Scripture may be the “word of God”, but it is still written by man (and with all his human prejudices). Again, another age-long debate between the believers and their critics.
13Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you. … 15And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. 16He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.
Genesis 12: 13-16, Bible (NIV)
The fifth and final theme is the idea of God within us or that we are God (as is everything else in the Universe).
This will be an important theme in the story of scripture: Yahweh was not simply experienced as a “Being” external to the self; he was, rather, an omnipresent reality, immanent in the human psyche as well as in the natural world and historical events.
Karen Armstrong – The Lost Art of Scripture
“Every individual is a unique manifestation of the Whole, as every branch is a particular outreaching of the tree.”
– Alan Wilson Watts, The Book: on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are
Coupled with this is the idea of religion being the bridge between creativity and logic. The Lost Art of Scripture and The Book both also discuss the idea that religion is a way to bridge right and lef-brain activities. (Similar with this TED Talk, which also compares religion to sex – and there is indeed a lot of sex in the scriptures!).
The two hemispheres of the frontal brain work in tandem. The Brahmanas’ ritual science, which explained, systematised and analysed the right hemisphere’s intuitive grasp of the inter-relatedness of all things, was a left-brain project. But the drama and sensory experience of the ritual, … returned this analytical account of the bandhus to the right brain, so that the patron experienced these “connections” physically and emotionally.
Karen Armstrong – The Lost Art of Scripture
Educated and A Burning both examples of extremism in different religions and also how ones choices affect the lives of others. Definitely two great reads for a different perspective.
Got Religion? focuses on problems facing actual organized religions these days – and the ultimate trouble facing Millennials on a whole – the paradox of choice. Too many choices of religion, and too many choices of religious institutions.
It has become cliché to point out that the array of choices we have today often leaves us more unhappy than a limited spectrum might have. […] Books on the millennial generation tend to go on at length about the so-called paradox of choice and the related phenomenon of decision fatigue. […] “The god of open options is also a liar. He promises you that by keeping your options open, you can have everything and everyone. But in the end, you get nothing and no one.”
Naomi Schaefer Riley, Got Religion?: How Churches, Mosques, and Synagogues Can Bring Young People Back
This may be the longest post I’ve ever written, and kudos to you if you read all the way through, but I feel I’ve only just touched the surface. One could write a thesis on these things; and in fact, in high school, I kind of did.
Religion is not something you can finish in a month, but something you study for a lifetime. In fact, any subject is. I’m starting to realize that there will never really be an “end” to such a project as this, but rather a means to develop good habits of lifelong learning.
Finally, I leave you with some Recommended Reading for your Religious Studies (just a small sample, feel free to add more on Mythology, Eastern Religions, Comparative Religions or anything else you find interesting!) Also, I recommend downloading the Quran and Torah / Bible as a handy app – the you can bookmark verses and get daily recommended verses.
The Alternative Graduate 