Customer Reviews

Sacred Origins of Profound Things: The Stories Behind the Rites and Rituals of the World's Religions (Compass)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am a Catholic seminarian who spends a lot of time wondering "how it all connects" -- which I believe it does. This little handbook helps to initiate further study into the religious customs of Catholic Christianity and the fundamental links they might have to other religons. The book is biased to Catholic ritual and spirituality, but one need simply to jump off that starting point to examine deeper roots that reveal a wider human experience.

The author admits that this book is slanted towards Catholocism -- you have been warned. He spends most of his time analyzing the Catholic Church, then Protestants, then Jews, and -- if there's time -- any other religious group. Panati discusses all manner of religious practices, stories, and rituals without beating around the bushes. The text suggests as many questions as it answers, but it is a very thought provoking read. Although I wouldn't accept all of his discourse at face value, this book has motivated me to pursue further study of several of the topics that he covers.

An extraordinary read. Though I didn't see eye-to-eye with all the author believes, he does raise significant issues, nearly always backed with historical fact. Sure to shake your religious beliefs to its very foundations (as often really needs to be). Personally, I was appreciative of such a book as being brought up Catholic as a child, falling away, and returning as an adult only to find that what was being preached by the Catholic church (to my adult ears) was NOT in sync to what my adult eyes were reading in the Bible.

Devout Catholics will find this book sacriledge, whereas open-minded Christians of any denomination may benefit from the historical facts and origins to search their souls for truth and enlightenment, instead of blindly being led by religious leaders.

I'll read other books by Panati (with an open-mind but not blindly).

Not only did I read this book to satisfy my thirst for trivia, but also, to be enlightened on the more strange and mysterious rituals and practices of different religions. Although the cover says '..of the World's Religions', I personally think that this book focuses more on Christianity. But still, this book is very, very interesting -for me- because the author describes in colorful detail every information he has about a subject.
Even though I really like this book, I rate it 4 stars only because sometimes, the explanations are long and somewhat irrelevant. I still recommend it to others, though!

Informative in an entertaining way about familiar and obscure practices of familiar and obscure religions alike. A factual but not too serious read that you can stop/start reading...but will find fascinating.

I was thoroughly engrossed in with the information in this book. But I think the title is too broad because the topics were mostly on Christianity, Judaism and Islam and the other world religions were barely touched. Mr. Panati did warn that he is Catholic and is coming from that perspective. Being a Catholic myself, I think this is an excellent sourcebook for Catholics but be warned that some of Mr. Panati's explanations may make you doubt what you learned in catechism. What I did come away with is a better understanding of the connections between the three major world religions and how they are related to one another.

The title is somewhat inappropriate as it dedicates more time to explaining why Catholics believe the way they do, although on occasion the author does get past the traditional reasoning and apologetics.

It is easy to read and does cover a wide variety of topics within Christianity. There are a few references to Judaism and Islam, but almost nothing of the other world religions.

This book may be helpful for those who have read little or nothing regarding the history of religions, especially the Catholic faith. However, a superior book on the origins of Christian practices would be *Two Babylons or the Papal Worship* by Alexander Hislop.

I am a devout Catholic and a CCD teacher. I did not find this book offensive. It is a good resource for understanding a little about all different types of religion and how they are connected. You can't believe every author's interpretation of everything -- you can't be afraid of the truth either.

LOVE IT. I have thoroughly enjoyed both this book, and "extraordinary origins of everyday things", by the same author. If you dig the whens and whys of where we get our beliefs, this book is where it's at.

As an incurable trivia nut, this book helped delve into areas that are normally avoided. There is a lot of fascinating information and the author does a great job of looking across more than just Christianity to includee Judiasm and Islam, emphasizing the common roots of all three. Every so often I would come across one part and find myself saying "wow, I never knew that." Soemtimes, well you have to take the author's word on things; I would find his explination reasonable just not what I thought to be true. My vocabulary expanded as I finally learned what a number of things are called. It is a good book to peruse in bursts - reading a bit here, then putting it down to return a day or two later. A welcome counterpoint to the more dense or philosophical writings about religion.