Food for the Gods: Vegetarianism & the World's Religions [Paperback]

Rynn Berry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1998

Combines interviews with vegetarian spiritual leaders from each of the world's religions, essays on vegetarianism and selection of vegetarian recipes.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Berry (Famous Vegetarians and Their Favorite Recipes) combines short essays on vegetarianism and the world's religions with interviews of vegetarian religious thinkers--all to little effect. If you're looking to this book for the definitive answer as to whether vegetarianism can be directly tied to spiritual enlightenment, then you're out of luck. Despite his best efforts, Berry can't convince various religious experts--ranging from Zen Buddhist Roshi Philip Kapleau to Franciscan monk Ron Pickarski--to link a vegetarian diet directly with spiritual attainment. The most he gets them to say, in some remarkably frank and disarming interviews, is that following a vegetarian lifestyle is generally a matter of personal choice, albeit one that they felt aided their spiritual growth for ethical reasons. While many Eastern religions do subscribe to and suggest a vegetarian diet, Berry never convincingly illuminates any direct correlation between not eating meat and attaining enlightenment. His book promises more that it delivers. It's much like a vegetarian smorgasbord in which the main dishes, the author's essays, lay heavily on the mind, while the condiments, the interviews, sparkle with genuine insight and sustenance. What Berry has in his favor are the honesty and generosity to print interviews with people who often flatly disagree with him.

Copyright 1998 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Young, Richard Alan. Is God a Vegetarian?: Christianity, Vegetarianism, and Animal Rights.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 374 pages
• Publisher: Pythagorean Books (September 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0962616923
• ISBN-13: 978-0962616921
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,548,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Look at History, April 3, 2000

By 

lindagwen "lindagwen" (Camp Lejeune, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Food for the Gods: Vegetarianism & the World's Religions (Paperback)

Rynn Berry's Food for the Gods does a remarkable job of tracing the vegetarian link in the major religions of Hindiusm, Buddhism, Judaism, and Islam, and Catholicism, but also to the relatively small but intriguing non-violent religions of India's Jainism and the British Order of the Cross. The history of religion will never look the same after reading this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A 'cookbook' for the inquisitive mind!, November 7, 2005

By 

Louis Gedo (Flushing, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Food for the Gods: Vegetarianism & the World's Religions (Paperback)

This book is a remarkable insight into dietary religious morals and philosophy.....it's a 'cookbook' for the inquisitive mind.

If you are a person of faith, this book gives an easy to understand history of how the history of your particular religious faith has been impacted by diet and moral choices of eating habits throughout the ages. Every person of faith restles with matters of principles and moral philosophy....that's why this book is important for you.

If you are not a person of faith but you are intrigued by the issue of a vegan / vegetarian diet and an ethically compassionate life and how this may effect others around you who do follow a religious lifestyle / belief, then it is a very worthwhile book to read and get familiar with. I constantly use this book as a resource in my writing.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Really Good!!!, June 8, 2003

By 

"rkungfumark" (Phoenix, AZ. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Food for the Gods: Vegetarianism & the World's Religions (Paperback)

How much do you know about world religions and veganism? How much do you know about your OWN religion and love of animals? This book will educate you quickly about most religions and the basic tenet of all which is to treat all life as sacred. Quite an interesting read...