Top Religion Books Of 2010

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy Thomas Nelson 608 pp. By Eric Metaxas A welcome new biography of one of the 20th century's leading lights. Metaxas magnificently captures the life of theologian and anti-Nazi activist Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), who "thought it the plain duty of the Christian—and the privilege and honor—to suffer with those who suffered." In the finest treatment of the man since Eberhard Bethge's Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Man of Vision, Man of Courage (1970), Metaxas presents a complete, accessible picture of this important figure, whose story is inspiring, instructive, and international in scope.... Metaxas rightly focuses on his subject's life, not his theology, though readers will learn plenty about his theology as well. The author makes liberal use of primary sources, which bring Bonhoeffer and other characters to vivid life. For the most part, Metaxas allows this epic story to play itself out, unhindered by commentary; where he does add his own voice, the conclusions are sage. A definitive Bonhoeffer biography for the 21st century. (Kirkus Reviews) God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World—and Why Their Differences Matter HarperOne 400 pp. By Stephen Prothero Prothero vehemently disagrees with the politically correct notion that all religions are equal. "This is a lovely sentiment, but it is dangerous, disrespectful, and untrue." The idea of religious unity, he maintains, is nothing but wishful thinking. Hence, this book is meant to be—and most definitely is—a bracing dose of realism. Religion is not just a private matter, he continues. Rather, it affects the world from social, economic, political, and military perspectives. Religion has two faces as a force of both good and evil. He discusses what he considers the great religions of the Middle East (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), India (Hinduism and Buddhism), and East Asia (Confucianism and Daoism)—great in this context being contingent on number of adherents and historical significance. As the eighth religion of the subtitle, Prothero includes—which may surprise some—the Yoruba religion of West Africa and its vast diaspora. There is also a brief chapter on atheism. Provocative, thoughtful, fiercely intelligent and, for both believing and nonbelieving, formal and informal students of religion, a must-read. (Booklist) Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India Knopf 304 pp. By William Dalrymple Dalrymple, author of prizewinning works of far-roaming inquiry, including The Last Mughal (2007), knows when to let others speak. Which is what he does with great finesse in this evocative set of portraits of nine spiritual seekers living across India. Nine lives that open doors onto nine of India's many arduous paths to the divine and reveal striking, nearly surreal juxtapositions between the old and the new. There's the haunting tale of a Jain nun who as a girl renounced her life of privilege and the wrenching story of Rani Bai, a devadasi, or servant of the goddess Yellamma, who was forced into prostitution as a girl. Hari Das describes what it feels like "to be taken over by a god" when he performs theyyam, the sacred possession dance of Kerala, only to return to his dangerous work as a prison guard. Dalrymple sets each vivid profile within an intricately drawn history of the ancient and now-endangered tradition each devotee is dedicated to preserving in the escalating battle between holiness and hustle that is transforming India. (Booklist) Revelation of the Magi: The Lost Tale of the Wise Men's Journey to Bethlehem HarperOne 176 pp. By Brent Landau The tale of the Magi, or the Three Wise Men, is one of the most famous stories associated with the birth of Jesus. But as Landau points out, only one brief passage in the New Testament's Gospel of Matthew is actually about the Magi. Even there the details are frustratingly vague: the wise men have no names, nor are their countries of origin indicated. But one source does exist, a lengthy narrative called Revelation of the Magi, which tells the story from the perspective of the wise men themselves. This slim volume is purported to be the first-ever English translation of the elusive tale. Landau, a scholar of ancient biblical languages, discovered the document while doing research at the Vatican Library. Ignored or neglected by contemporary scholars and written in Syriac, a language spoken by ancient Christians in the Middle East and Asia, Revelation of the Magi should be of interest to not only biblical scholars but also students of the Christian story who want to know more about these elusive fellows. (Booklist) American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us Simon and Schuster 688 pp. By Robert D. Putnam and David E. Campbell In recent controversy over the national motto, In God we trust, Putnam and Campbell see a symptom of profound change in the national character. Using data drawn from two large surveys, the authors plumb these changes. The data show that the tempestuous ‘60s shook faith in religion and that the ‘70s and ‘80s incubated a strong resurgence of devotion. But the two most recent decades add another twist, as young Americans have abandoned the pews in record numbers. Still, despite recent erosion of religious commitment, Americans remain a distinctively devout people. And devotion affects life far from the sanctuary: Putnam and Campbell parse numbers that identify religious Americans as more generous, more civically engaged, and more neighborly than their secularly minded peers. But the analysis most likely to stir debate illuminates how religion has increasingly separated Republicans from Democrats, conservatives from progressives. Readers may blame the Christian Right for this new cultural fissure, but survey statistics mark liberal congregations as the most politicized. But whether looking at politics or piety, the authors complement their statistical analysis with colorful vignettes, humanizing their numbers with episodes from the lives of individual Protestants and Catholics, Jews and Mormons. An essential resource for anyone trying to understand 21st-century America. (Booklist) The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam Farrar, Straus and Giroux 336 pp. By Eliza Griswold Griswold may be the first to explain how global warming intensifies religious conflict. For as she travels the climactically vulnerable region near 10 degrees latitude, she sees climate change exacerbating tensions dividing 700 million Muslims and 1.2 billion Christians. These tensions emerge in probing interviews with religious leaders—Christian and Muslim—aflame with spiritual passions now rare in the secular West. Yet Griswold also discovers how the West has helped incubate the region's interfaith hostility. It was, after all, Western colonizers whose arbitrary boundaries helped harden religious differences: in Sudan, for instance, the British established the tenth parallel as a partition between the Islamic north and the Christian south. More recently, it was the U.S.-led invasion of distant Afghanistan that triggered bloody clashes between Muslim and Christian mobs in the Middle Belt of Nigeria. And in Indonesia, Griswold listens to angry jihadists certain that the spread of fast-food restaurants signals a threatening Christian onslaught. Here and elsewhere Griswold teases out the threads of a complex fabric of religious doctrine, capitalist economics, ethnic pride, and power politics. Despite the complexities, Griswold retains her hope that authentic faith can yet transcend theological differences and foster peace. A compelling portrait of embattled human communities yearning for more-than-human succor. (Booklist) The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life HarperOne 432 pp. By James Martin, S.J. For over 500 years, the Jesuit Order of Catholic priests, founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola, have enjoyed a well-deserved reputation as a society of scholars, educators, free-thinkers, and activists. In this digestible account of all things Jesuit, James Martin, S.J., encapsulates the uniquely Ignatian concept of spirituality. Translating the essence of the Jesuit philosophy into layman's terms, he uses both traditional stories and personal anecdotes to vividly illustrate the Jesuit approach to God, friendship, social justice, decision-making, prayer, simplicity, obedience, and self-actualization. Martin's engaging, intimate tone will appeal to anyone interested in understanding the history, the efficacy, and the universality of the Jesuit mission and way of life. Martin, the author of My Life with the Saints (2006), has a way of popularizing serious religious issues without trivializing their impact and significance. (Booklist) The Great Oom: The Improbable Birth of Yoga in America Viking 416 pp. By Robert Love Few Americans practicing hatha yoga today will have heard of Pierre Bernard, the "first American yogi." Journalist Love only found out about the notorious mystic and chimerical genius nicknamed the Great Oom when he and his wife moved to Nyack, New York, and discovered that they were living on what was once part of Bernard's lavish country club-cum-ashram. Love diligently researched the forgotten tale of how yoga, once demonized as obscene and dangerous in the States, became a popular path to health, while retrieving the rollicking story of a true American original. Born in Iowa in 1876, the future guru found the unlikeliest of mentors, a yoga master from Calcutta. Once he became adept at yoga's most dramatic practices, Bernard, a brilliant, charismatic, and fearless entrepreneur, weathered scandals, legal battles, and jail to create a Jazz Age empire that attracted the rich and famous. Yoga was the magnet, but Bernard's upscale bohemian commune also offered semipro baseball, theatrical productions, circuses, and sexual freedom. Bernard concurrently managed banks, became an "aviation czar," broke hearts, and made enemies. Love writes with all the zest, wit, and empathy his protean subject deserves as he tells this dazzling tale of a self-made man of holistic convictions and archetypal flaws. (Booklist) Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years Viking 1184 pp. By Diarmaid MacCulloch MacCulloch signals the parameters of his prodigious scholarship when he brackets the Resurrection as a riddle no historian can resolve, then marvels at how belief in the Risen Lord has transformed ordinary men and women into martyrs—and inquisitors. Despite his refusal to affirm the faith's founding miracle, MacCulloch demonstrates rare talent for probing the human dynamics of Christianity's long and complex evolution. Even when examining well-known episodes—such as the Church Fathers' fight against Gnosticism or the stunning conversion of Constantine—this capacious narrative opens unexpected perspectives. Readers encounter, for instance, surprising connections between Christian doctrine, on the one hand, and ancient Greek philosophy interlaced with Roman politics on the other. As the chronicle fractures into Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant strands, MacCulloch exposes unfamiliar but unmistakably human personalities who have shaped the worship of the divine. Readers meet, for instance, Gudit, a savagely anti-monastic Ethiopian queen, and Filofei, an irrepressibly ambitious Russian monk. Much closer to our time, we confront Christian enthusiasms that militarists harnessed in World War I, Christian hatreds that Nazis exploited in World War II. Concluding with the perplexities of evangelists facing an implacably secular world, MacCulloch leaves readers pondering a problematic religious future. A work of exceptional breadth and subtlety. (Booklist) Spiritual Envy: An Agnostic's Quest New World Library 264 pp. By Michael Krasny The contention between the "new" atheists and the devout is causing a resurgence in agnostic studies. Krasny (Off Mike) is a public radio host and a self-declared agnostic, maintaining a position that "stands open to verification of either side of the God question." Deftly balancing biography and literary scholarship, the book is both a personal examination of agnosticism and a balanced voice in the complex debate over faith's role in society. Krasny grew up a strong believer in his Jewish faith, until adolescent questioning led him to declare he just wasn't sure. Despite a lost connection with God, the young Krasny continued to seek a divine presence, even admitting to feelings of envy toward those possessing "the consolation of faith." In this book, agnosticism is a tool to philosophically engage with various manifestations of faith including organized religion, spiritual-but-not-religious sentiments, and even paranormal theories. Readers expecting a late chapter conversion will be disappointed; Krasny remains agnostic to the end, even while declaring his respect for the benefits religion can bring to believers. (Publishers Weekly)

Top Religion Books of 2010