Theo-Maniac

Anyone ever read either of these? The first is a two volume commentary on the Gospels written by Paramhansa Yogananda, and the second is a two volume commentary on the Bhagavad Gita also written by Yogananda. I've read bits and peices of both sitting in Barnes & Noble, but don't own copies of either, although I would absolutely love to.

I was reading through the "Christianity and Buddhism" thread in this section, and I noticed at least one person mention one of my favorite Buddhist authors, Thich Nhat Hanh, so I thought I'd start a thread just for discussing Hanh's works. Personally I'm working on collecting all his books, although I haven't read all the ones I've bought so far, kind of a "so many books, so little time" paradox.

Just realised, I forgot to give the name of my thesis, "Christian Yoga: Eastern Theology in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark", by Frank Martin.

Well, might not be "academic" exactly, but I would invite anyone thats interested who's in Seattle at any time to swing by the Northwest school and check out my Senior thesis on Eastern theology in the Gospels. Its based primarily on works by Yogananda and Kriyananda (as anyone who's read many of my posts on this board probably guessed) and it's bound to piss off the fundamentalist contingent to no end, but I think I bring up some interesting points in it. I might get around to posting it somewhere on the 'net in the future, and if so I'll let you all know, but don't hold your breath. Oh, and anything and everything by Marcus Borg is worth reading over and over until it falls apart.

If I've said it once, I'll say it a million times, Paramhansa Yogananda, and Swami Kriyananda (J Donald Walters) in my opinion, have not written a single thing between them that isn't worth reading. I would recommend their autobiographies (Autobiography of a Yogi, and the Path: Autobiography of a Western Yogi) be the first thing that you read, as they'll give you some really useful insight into the pairs thought processes. Kriyananda is a disciple of Yogananda, who was a Kriya Yoga Guru that came to America back during the second quarter of the 1900's. Yogananda died back in the 40's if I remember correctly, but Kriyananda is still around, producing books like a pair of rabbits makes babies. Heh

I doubt you'll find many here who agree with you. The NIV is a conservative translation that actually manipulates the text of the Holy Scriptures to say what they want. For example, you know all those parts of the NT where Paul talks about sexual practices and it says Homosexual or gay in the NIV? Turns out there's no word that is anything close to gay or homosexual in the origianl languages the NT was written in, so how did they pull that off? As for the KJV, I read it primarily for the Psalms, most of the Psalms I memorize are the KJV version simply because they sound more beautiful to me than any other translation. However I can't make heads nor tales of most of it, so it is not my primary Bible. Not to mention the fact that it has similar problems to the NIV, except in the case of the KJV, verses appear in the english that don't exist anywhere in the original texts.

I second Guns, Germs, and Steel. Haven't read it yet, but heard its excellent. Haven't read it cover to cover, yet, but I'd also recommend "Secrets of the Samurai" to anyone who's interested in feudal Japan. It gets into every aspect, the martial arts, weapons, armor, Bushido, and more. Interesting fact or two to get you interested: "Bushido" means "Art of the warrior", and the Samurai were called "Bushi", which is Japanese for, you guessed it, warrior.

Kind of off topic, but I really don't think the Fundies are burning HP because of supposed "witchcraft", I personally think its more a matter of control, keeping people from being exposed to things that might encourage things such as INDEPENDANT THOUGHT. Sorry for the totally off-topic post, just felt the need to get that out there.

I'm reading "My Utmost for His Highest", which I consider to be quite a good devotional book. However, I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good devotional that comes more from a Progressive bent? Or does such a thing even exist?

I would recommend that when you're reading the OT, no matter what version of the Bible you're reading, you read a copy of the Hebrew Tanakh alongside for comparison. I personally preffer the Jewish Publication Society's translation, but there are a couple different ones out there to choose from. There are some pretty interesting translation discrepancies you'll notice if you do this between the Tanakh and OT of the Bible. Not to mention the fact that I personally trust the Jewish people more when it comes to translating their own Holy texts accurately than my fellow Christians.

Is Phillip Yancey considered a Conservative, Mainline, or Liberal Christian? I found a couple books of his at Barnes & Noble yesterday that I'd like to read (primarily "the Bible Jesus Read" not sure if thats the exact title though) and thought I'd get some opinions from people here before spending any money.

Barnes and Noble normally sells the JPS translation, which is the one I'm reading and would recommend, but you should be able to order a copy from most any bookstore. Unless you want to pay almost forty dollars I'd recommend getting the pocket addition, although the JPS does sell a pretty nice looking, inexpensive, study version.

I have no Jewish roots other than theologically, but I still find it important to study Judaism, as Christianity came from Judaism, and you cannot truly understand the latter, without at least a basic understanding of the former. I have not yet read any noncanonnical Jewish literature, but I just purchased a copy of the Jewish Publication Society translation of the Tanakh, which is the Jewish Bible, and I plan on reading it alongside my copy of the NRSV when reading the Old Testament for comparison.

Does anybody else here read a copy of the Tanakh beside the Old Testament? I just bought a copy of the Jewish Publication Society's translation today and plan on doing just that. I have a couple freinds who are Jewish that recommended I do this, as there are apparently some pretty major translation issues in the Christian version of the Tanakh, aka the Old Testament, that influence some pretty major Christian teachings.

Its good fiction, there's a reason its not in the nonfiction section, but the "Christian Fiction" section of bookstores. The End Times hype has really been amusing me lately. I mean, really, doesn't the Bible say to not try to figure out God's plans for us? And isn't that exactly whats being done? I enjoyed reading the first two or three books in the series, but got bored with it after that. People have been letting themselves be brainwashed by the false prophets on TV, Christ's message wasn't about fearing for your eternal soul, he was teaching about Divine Love and the search for God. He warned us about false prophets 2,000 years ago, and we still let ourselves be suckered by them.