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

by Stephen Prothero

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061571282
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/03/2011
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	388
Sales rank:	209,019
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Stephen Prothero is the New York Times bestselling author of Religious Literacy and God Is Not One and a professor of religion at Boston University. His work has been featured on the cover of TIME magazine, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, NPR, and other top national media outlets. He writes and reviews for the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, The Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Salon, Slate, and other publications. Visit the author at www.stephenprothero.com or follow his tweets @sprothero.

Table of Contents

A Note on Dates and Diacriticals ix

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 Islam: The Way of Submission 25

Chapter 2 Christianity: The Way of Salvation 65

Chapter 3 Confucianism: The Way of Propriety 101

Chapter 4 Hinduism: The Way of Devotion 131

Chapter 5 Buddhism: The Way of Awakening 169

Chapter 6 Yoruha Religion: The Way of Connection 203

Chapter 7 Judaism: The Way of Exile and Return 243

Chapter 8 Daoism: The Way of Flourishing 279

Chapter 9 A Brief Coda on Atheism: The Way of Reason 317

Conclusion 331

Acknowledgments 341

Notes 343

Index 375

What People are Saying About This

Rodney Stark

“An urgently needed and very nicely done corrective to politically correct nonsense.”

Miroslav Volf

“A very much needed book!”

Eboo Patel

“Stephen Prothero has done it again. This is a powerfully-written, paradigm-shifting book. How religious differences can be a bridge of cooperation rather than a bomb of destruction is one of the most important challenges of our era, and Prothero is as good a guide as you will find.”

Harvey Cox

“This book could well be the most highly readable, accurate, and up-to-date introduction to the world’s major religions.”

Editorial Reviews

enormously timely, thoughtful and balanced” — Los Angeles Times

“God is Not One is 2010’s must-read for anyone religiously illiterate….Don’t know much about the world’s faiths? Get a copy now.” — The Daily Beast

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

“An urgently needed and very nicely done corrective to politically correct nonsense.” — Rodney Stark, author of Discovering God: The Origins of the Great Religions and the Evolution of Faith

“Stephen Prothero has done it again. This is a powerfully-written, paradigm-shifting book. How religious differences can be a bridge of cooperation rather than a bomb of destruction is one of the most important challenges of our era, and Prothero is as good a guide as you will find.” — Eboo Patel, founder and executive director of Interfaith Youth Core and author of Acts of Faith

“This book could well be the most highly readable, accurate, and up-to-date introduction to the world’s major religions.” — Harvey Cox, Hollis Research Professor of Divinity, Harvard University, and author of The Future of Faith

“A very much needed book!” — Miroslav Volf, Professor, Yale University, and author of Exclusion and Embrace

From the Publisher

enormously timely, thoughtful and balanced

|Los Angeles Times

This book could well be the most highly readable, accurate, and up-to-date introduction to the world’s major religions.

Harvey Cox

God is Not One is 2010’s must-read for anyone religiously illiterate….Don’t know much about the world’s faiths? Get a copy now.

The Daily Beast

An urgently needed and very nicely done corrective to politically correct nonsense.

Rodney Stark

A very much needed book!

Miroslav Volf

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

Booklist

enormously timely, thoughtful and balanced

Los Angeles Times

Expressing his astonishment, Prothero (Religious Literacy) arrives late at the party that has been celebrating for years the diversity and plurality of the world's religions. Although he is correct in asserting that an entire generation of scholars, teachers, and interested readers have claimed in the interest of religious tolerance that the world's religions were simply different paths to the same one God, such a claim functions as little more than a red herring in what is otherwise a useful introduction to the world's religions. Once past that assertion, Prothero sets up a helpful model for examining each religion on its own terms: he explores a problem that dominates the religion, the religion's solution to the problem, the technique the religion uses to move from problem to solution, and the exemplar who charts a path from problem to solution. For example, in Buddhism the problem is suffering; the solution is nirvana; the technique is the Noble Eightfold Path; and the exemplars are the arhats, bodhisattvas, and lamas. Despite his naïveté about contemporary interreligious dialogue, Prothero's survey is a useful introduction to eight of the world's great religions.
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Publishers Weekly

Stephen Prothero has done it again. This is a powerfully-written, paradigm-shifting book. How religious differences can be a bridge of cooperation rather than a bomb of destruction is one of the most important challenges of our era, and Prothero is as good a guide as you will find.

Eboo Patel

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

Booklist