Tag: religion
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BR305) “The Black Church” Book Review
The Black Church: This is Our Story, This is Our Song by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. 3/5 rating. 220 pages. Book #21 of 2023. Read June 18, 2023. This book talks all about the Black Church. It is no monolith and is many things in today’s America, but it has had a huge impact on…
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BR300) “The Flag, The Cross, and The Station Wagon” Book Review
The Flag, The Cross, and the Station Wagon: A Graying American Looks Back at His Suburban Boyhood and Wonders What the Hell Happened by Bill McKibben. 4/5 rating. 217 pages. Book #16 of 2023. Read May 14, 2023. This book talks about the three largest areas of change in America in the last 50 years:…
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BR191) “Buddhism” Book Review
Buddhism: A Concise Introduction by Huston Smith and Philip Novak. 3/5 rating. 256 pages. Book #27 of 2021. Read April 4, 2021. This is an overview of Buddhism and its many forms. If that doesn’t necessarily sound like the most riveting book ever, you kinda got the gist. It wasn’t bad, and was interesting in…
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BR141) “God” Book Review
God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction by Dan Barker. 4/5 rating. 303 pages. Book #66 of 2020. Read September 26, 2020. This was a completely eye-opening book! Dan has extensive knowledge of the bible from his nineteen years of being an evangelical Christian, and eventually a pastor. He became disillusioned and now uses…
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BR128) “21 Lessons for the 21st Century” Book Review
21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari. 4/5 rating. 303 pages. Book #53 of 2020. Read August 7, 2020. Yuval really is one of the great luminaries of our day through his writings on humanity, culture, religion, politics, and technology. His books have had a deep impact on the way that I…
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BR122) “A History of God” Book Review
A History of God: The 4,000 Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam by Karen Armstrong. 2/5 rating. 399 pages. Book #47 of 2020. Read July 19, 2020. I was super excited to read this book because anthropological looks at religion are some of my favorite books (wow, writing that sounds like a joke, but…
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BR84) “Siddhartha” Book Review
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. 4/5 rating. Book #9 of 2020. Read February 19, 2020. I absolutely loved this book! It is a novel telling Siddhartha (the Buddha) ‘s journey towards enlightenment. The journey takes many turns as Siddhartha originally leaves his home to become an ascetic. After becoming disillusioned with this life and his teachers,…
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BR83) “Confessions” Book Review
Confessions by Saint Augustine. 2/5 rating. Book #8 of 2020. Read February 17, 2020. I do not understand the hype for this book at all! I have read religious books which are beautiful and bring up some good points; this book did neither. The first half of the book I would have considered a 1/5…
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BR52) The Evolution of God Book Review
The Evolution of God by Robert Wright. 4/5 rating. Book #127 of 2019. Read November 12, 2019. This fascinating book takes an anthropological view of religion’s history: tracing the path from hunter-gatherer shamanic religions to the three Abrahamic world religions of today. It first discusses the importance of religion as an arbiter of morality during…
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BR42) god is not Great Book Review
god is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens. 3/5 rating. Book #117 of 2019. Read October 9, 2019. This book is great for anyone who has ever had any questions about the efficacy or reach of religion. Hitchens, a strident (though usually more respectful of people’s views than they of his) atheist,…