Customer Reviews

What Is Religion: An Introduction

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This is a wonderfully detailed and intense look at Religion.
However, you need to read and study the book before you are
actually ready to read and understand this book!!

Not a beginers book, but an intense journey through the
expressions, pathways, aims and critiques of Religion.
The author sets this book up to merge different points
together to understand the parts of religion and how
they work together to create the terms of a religion.

A wonderful book!!

In "What is Religion" John Haught examines religion from a liberal socio-cultural perspective. I offer the following thoughts for potential readers. Haught is a capable writer - the text is generally well laid-out and quite readable. The book is divided into three primary segments:

- An introduction and brief overview of what he considers to be the primary approaches to religion: primitive, Hinduism, Buddhism and prophetic (Judaism, Christianity and Islam);
- An examination of different types of religious behaviors: silence, mysticism, sacramentalism and action; and.
- A discussion of some of the modern challenges to a religious worldview.

The work appears to be aimed as an introductory text in a religious studies class or comparative religion course. Haught approaches religion from a socio-cultural perspective. The crucial assumption to this tact is that religious beliefs are adaptive evolutionary developments rather than outlooks that possess any inherent truth value. In accordance with this view religion is "true" because we believe it, rather than believing it because it is true. This is certainly a legitimate approach to the history of religion and is quite common amongst nineteenth and early twentieth century commentators within the field of comparative religion.

I found the discussion of religious behavior to be particularly well handled and helpful. Given that the work is intended as an introductory text, however, some qualifying comments at the outset are warranted to identify assumptions and indicate that there are opposing views. Without this type of clarification some of his comments are misleading - Haught is prone to making highly speculative statements without the slightest equivocation or justification. For example, he makes several declarative statements regarding the supposed origins and evolutionary development of religious belief. Though his thesis in this regard is consistent with his worldview it is pure speculation. When all is said and done there is an absence of historic evidence in this regard and we have just don't know a great deal on this topic. In addition to this type of conjecture he often contradicts existing evidence and scholarly opinion without the slightest qualification. For instance, he claims that Judaism was not a clearly monotheistic religion prior to about 500 B.C.E! This opinion is on the fringe of contemporary scholarship. I am not saying that he shouldn't speculate (some of it is quite interesting) just that he should note that these are controversial - a couple of footnotes would suffice.

I agree with the author that there are underlying similarities between the different traditions - e.g. risk of over attachment to the material world. I think, however, that he takes Ecumenicalism too far, seeing agreement where it does not exist, and glossing over many significant differences between the faith traditions.

Overall Haught is not without skill as a writer and with some largely stylistic changes this would not be a bad introductory-level text. As it is, however, the text is too much of a fringe work to be of much help to its intended audience.

I bought it for my teenager and he read it.
We discussed things from the book. Very informative

This was an articulate and easy to understand discourses of comparative religions with deeper insights. Provided clear summaries of religious thought, clearly intended for the lay person.