Beginner Book Recommendations?

[whylago]

Hello world. Long time listener. First time caller.

 

New to the community. I've been reading some articles and the email blasts enthusiastically. I'd like to check out the books, but I'm wondering what folks thought would be a good place to begin. I know this question is a tad nebulous. Just wanted to see what folks thought.

 

Cheers!

[PaulS]

Whylago,

 

Are you looking for books about progressive Christianity, about biblical scholarship, about the historical Jesus, or about religion in general?

 

Not knowing specifically what you're after, I'll suggest some of my favoured authors anyway:

• Marcus Borg
• John Shelby Spong
• Elaine Pagels
• Bart Erhman
• Philip Gulley
• Dianna Butler Bass
• Karen Armstrong
• Richard Dawkins

...to name a few.

 

Cheers

Paul

Edited March 20, 2014 by PaulS

[romansh]

Joseph Cambell is a must.

[buck]

Ummmm... I've read the Masks of God volumes and watched Mythos 1 & 2 a couple times, but Joseph Campbell's a bit deep, n'est ce pas?

[romansh]

Ummmm... I've read the Masks of God volumes and watched Mythos 1 & 2 a couple times, but Joseph Campbell's a bit deep, n'est ce pas?

Alors, mais oui

 

I have read several of Campbell's books .. My favourite is Power of

Myth ... available from library interlibrary loans as a DVD.

Having said that preferred the book .. glossy coffe table version.

 

close runner ups are:

Myths of Light and Pathways to Bliss

[Dude Abides]

Ummmm... I've read the Masks of God volumes and watched Mythos 1 & 2 a couple times, but Joseph Campbell's a bit deep, n'est ce pas?

Campbell was an academic and those books you mention here aregeared toward that audience, if I remember correctly.

 

Have you tried "Myths to Live By"? I remember it being a lot more accessible.

 

There's also the book version of "Power of Myth." That was the first book I got by Campbell (and Bill Moyers). It's basically the transcript of their interview with lots of amazing illustrations.

[buck]

Hi Romansh and Dude.

 

I first became aware of Campbell through the Bill Moyers interviews (I was very young at the time). I read The Power of Myth & Myths to Live By a few years ago, and I watched the Power of Myth DVD as well.

 

I hold Campbell with a tremendous amount of respect, and not only for his academics. The Mythos DVD sets are a collection of his lectures to a group of people attending the lecture. He sits himself up onto a chair on the stage and then simply begins to talk. No notes in the hand, no que cards. He just talks, and it's difficult to stop listening to him. I wish my command of the language -- and the stuff I need to talk to others about -- was such that I could speak that well!

[whylago]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. I guess I should have been more specific. Where in the John Shelby Spong repertoire would be a good place to start. There are so many it seems.

[romansh]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. I guess I should have been more specific. Where in the John Shelby Spong repertoire would be a good place to start. There are so many it seems.

 

I can't recommend Jesus for the non religious. As an agnostic I found the book tedious ... a disection of Biblical quotes that supported a non traditional interpretation.

 

Whoever this book was aimed at ... I did not fit the bill.

[romansh]

Ummmm... I've read the Masks of God volumes and watched Mythos 1 & 2 a couple times, but Joseph Campbell's a bit deep, n'est ce pas?

 

Something I find with Campbell ... his oral work that has been transcribed I find much more accessible than his purely academic writing. The Hero with a Thousand Faces, I got to page 27 and turned to the last page.

[KayB]

I enjoyed Spong's book, "Jesus for the Non-Religous" although I can understand how the first 18 chapters can be viewed as tedious. Basically, he spends the first 18 chapters telling us what Jesus wasn't - debunking the myths with historical fact and study. Some need this, but I didn't.

 

But when I got to chapter 19, Spong started talking about what Jesus was, what he is to Spong and what I can take away Jesus' life and ministry and I found it to be a life changer for me.

[Pete]

Welcome Whylago. I started with "The Call to Heresy" by Robert Vande Weyer and onto Spong's book "Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism" and went on from there. Once I got the idea that the Bible was a development rather than a static work from the beginning all sorts of questions came to my mind. I also recommend "How Jesus became Christian" by Barry Wilson.

 

Welcome my friend and I hope your journey is fruitful.

Edited May 5, 2014 by Pete

[murmsk]

Marcus Borg's "Reading the Bible AGAIN for the first time" and "Hearth of Christianity" to be good understandable primers for open progressive thought. I introduces the thoughts that the traditional view of Christianity is not convincing for a large number of us and provides a framework around which a person can follow their heart to a new understanding of faith.

 

Also the "Living the Questions" DVD is a series of 20 minute lessons on progressive faith.

 

steve