Reading List

June 16, 2010

Religions of the World: A Latter-day Saint View by Spencer J. Palmer, Doug Sull Choi, Roger R. Keller, James A Toronto

An interesting choice, wouldn't you agree. This is actually a text book used at BYU – an updated text book. Erica took this class during her school career and it intrigued me. I got the book and it was just sitting there, so I decided to have a go. I am glad I did. It is not an in depth discussion of the religions, but an overview that gives a basic, objective look at how the major religious groups of the world came about and what they believe. In addition, in each section there is a couple of topics – views on family and women – a Latter Day Saint perspective – that add more insite on how their beliefs and ours coincide – or not.


The religions discussed are:

South Asian Religions

    Hinduism

    Jainism

    Buddism

    Sikhism

            Eastern Asian Religions

                Taoism

                Confucianism

                Shinto

            Southwest Asian Religions

                Zoroastrianism

                Judaism

                Christianity

                Islam

It was harder to read, but worthwhile. I learned a lot of new things – and I forgot a lot of new things. I can't recommend it as light reading. I can recommend it as a way for LDS people to get a better understanding of what others believe.

And - I now know where the term "avitar" comes from.