Thank you for highlighting Walsh's work. I'm too busy to listen hour-long lectures without a more specific idea of the essential point that would make me spend that time. I read the Fox translation of the Five Books of Moses because the recommender essentialized the specific value I would find in it. It was worth it.
Blanket recommendations without specifics are great for college students, but not appropriate for all audiences on substack. Thanks again for the recommendation. I'll be on alert for the name. If I run across a recommendation with specifics that are of interest, I'll have you to thank for making me aware of him.
Thanks for the recommendation, although I haven’t yet been able to get into A History of Christianity by Paul Johnson, one of your previous recommendations. For 12 bucks used I’ll give Walsh a try though.
I grew up Hindu, now am an obligate agnostic because I haven't yet been able to believe what the established religions believe but would like to. I think I'm in that phase of my life when I'll finally get into religious studies because I have some Christian friends who are eager to speak with me about politics, philosophy, society, and of course religion. I'll check these out and see how it modifies my outlook. Thanks!
Most Hindus are woefully unaware of the basics of Hinduism. It's not entirely their fault; the education system in India is heavily biased against the dharmic traditions. Fortunately for the English-language educated Hindus, there's a good deal of easily understood content on the web, particularly on YouTube. I recommend Alan Watts. His lectures are as delightful as they are instructive. Also, for a good understanding of Advaita Vedanta (one of the major branches of Hinduism), I recommend Swami Sarvapriyananda (of the Vedanta Society of New York.)
If you want help being convinced of the truth of Christianity, read my book: The Grand Coherence: A Modern Defense of Christianity https://a.co/d/1lUn62f
Wow thank you for sharing. I grew up very evangelical and it was fascinating to hear a non mythologized history of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
The part that stood out to be the most was his brief analysis of why religions with primitive elements continue to capture more minds than modern religions (think Unitarianism). To paraphrase what he says
These religions appeal more because they promise more and threaten more, they appeal to unresolved childhood trauma, and they tie us to ethnic and ancestral identities.
The above statement alone is enough to explain the vast influence of religion in history and made the 3 hours listening to the two lectures well worth it.
I have no religious faith as such but often wish I had. It is a tragic irony that militant Western atheism has advanced during the course of my lifetime in tandem with various secular pseudo-religions-by-another-name. Atheists make the huge error of failing to notice that - like it or not - in all of human history the evidence is clear: religion is hard-wired into the human condition. To ignore this fact makes discussions about a fairy-tale world free of religion ultimately vacuous. As Chesterton (probably) said "When a man stops believing in God he doesn’t then believe in nothing, he believes anything".
If you'd like to learn more about Christianity, take a look at my book, *The Grand Coherence: A Modern Defense of Christianity.* And subscribe to my Substack! I'm planning to run a discussion series on it, chapter by chapter. Jump in and take your best shot! Try to prove it's all "mumbo jumbo!" :)
Islam claims that the Koran is the literal word of God dictated to a single illiterate incapable of writing his own book. On the other hand, there are also the hadiths which are supposed to be sayings of Muhammad (the aforementioned illiterate), but compiled by many observers of him. The Book of Mormon is recent enough that we can plausibly say it was written by just one guy (although he claimed he found magic tablets or whatever).
You could, although the Book of Mormon is not the only addendum to the traditional Biblical text that the LDS church uses, and their full scripture (“the quad”) incorporates a variety of influences from Sidney Rigdon to Brigham Young to Joseph F. Smith – not to mention additional interpretation of the Bible.
It’s more of a small group project to add some minor component to a much larger historical juggernaut – a Windows 11, if you will.
Thank you for highlighting Walsh's work. I'm too busy to listen hour-long lectures without a more specific idea of the essential point that would make me spend that time. I read the Fox translation of the Five Books of Moses because the recommender essentialized the specific value I would find in it. It was worth it.
Blanket recommendations without specifics are great for college students, but not appropriate for all audiences on substack. Thanks again for the recommendation. I'll be on alert for the name. If I run across a recommendation with specifics that are of interest, I'll have you to thank for making me aware of him.
Thanks for the recommendation, although I haven’t yet been able to get into A History of Christianity by Paul Johnson, one of your previous recommendations. For 12 bucks used I’ll give Walsh a try though.
My favorite so far on this topic is Richard Holloway. His book, A Little History of Religion is excellent. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0300228813/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=
And his YouTube videos are very thoughtful.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b5FFd4ezYLw
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LEIkAG5sBfM
I grew up Hindu, now am an obligate agnostic because I haven't yet been able to believe what the established religions believe but would like to. I think I'm in that phase of my life when I'll finally get into religious studies because I have some Christian friends who are eager to speak with me about politics, philosophy, society, and of course religion. I'll check these out and see how it modifies my outlook. Thanks!
Most Hindus are woefully unaware of the basics of Hinduism. It's not entirely their fault; the education system in India is heavily biased against the dharmic traditions. Fortunately for the English-language educated Hindus, there's a good deal of easily understood content on the web, particularly on YouTube. I recommend Alan Watts. His lectures are as delightful as they are instructive. Also, for a good understanding of Advaita Vedanta (one of the major branches of Hinduism), I recommend Swami Sarvapriyananda (of the Vedanta Society of New York.)
All the chapters are available as MP3 audio files as well.
If you want help being convinced of the truth of Christianity, read my book: The Grand Coherence: A Modern Defense of Christianity https://a.co/d/1lUn62f
Thank you!
You're welcome!
Wow thank you for sharing. I grew up very evangelical and it was fascinating to hear a non mythologized history of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
The part that stood out to be the most was his brief analysis of why religions with primitive elements continue to capture more minds than modern religions (think Unitarianism). To paraphrase what he says
These religions appeal more because they promise more and threaten more, they appeal to unresolved childhood trauma, and they tie us to ethnic and ancestral identities.
The above statement alone is enough to explain the vast influence of religion in history and made the 3 hours listening to the two lectures well worth it.
I am excited to listen to the other two.
I have no religious faith as such but often wish I had. It is a tragic irony that militant Western atheism has advanced during the course of my lifetime in tandem with various secular pseudo-religions-by-another-name. Atheists make the huge error of failing to notice that - like it or not - in all of human history the evidence is clear: religion is hard-wired into the human condition. To ignore this fact makes discussions about a fairy-tale world free of religion ultimately vacuous. As Chesterton (probably) said "When a man stops believing in God he doesn’t then believe in nothing, he believes anything".
If you'd like to learn more about Christianity, take a look at my book, *The Grand Coherence: A Modern Defense of Christianity.* And subscribe to my Substack! I'm planning to run a discussion series on it, chapter by chapter. Jump in and take your best shot! Try to prove it's all "mumbo jumbo!" :)
https://a.co/d/1lUn62f
Islam claims that the Koran is the literal word of God dictated to a single illiterate incapable of writing his own book. On the other hand, there are also the hadiths which are supposed to be sayings of Muhammad (the aforementioned illiterate), but compiled by many observers of him. The Book of Mormon is recent enough that we can plausibly say it was written by just one guy (although he claimed he found magic tablets or whatever).
You could, although the Book of Mormon is not the only addendum to the traditional Biblical text that the LDS church uses, and their full scripture (“the quad”) incorporates a variety of influences from Sidney Rigdon to Brigham Young to Joseph F. Smith – not to mention additional interpretation of the Bible.
It’s more of a small group project to add some minor component to a much larger historical juggernaut – a Windows 11, if you will.
Religious mumbo jumbo of any kind?
Not interested.