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Liked It “This book is well-documented and, as far as I can tell, accurate in its assessments. The first 120 pages survey religious education in America since the founding of the nation. This survey is detailed and insightful in my judgment. |
Didn’t Like It “BORING! BORING! BORING!” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“Ehhhh--not quite what it purports to be. More of a primer on the way that religion has fallen out of favor in school systems in the United States than one on the major religions of the world. Still, an interesting read and a well-argued point.”
Kate L wrote this review Monday, March 30 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“BORING! BORING! BORING! ”
LIsa M wrote this review Thursday, March 26 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)
jasonpettus wrote this review Monday, November 10 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
I had been really looking forward to reading this book ever since first hearing about it; it's a supposed beginner's guide to the world's major religions, explaining to us stupid Americans the basic tenets behind such complicated subjects as the gods of Hinduism, the morality of Islam, the ten commandments of Christianity, etc etc. But it turns out that this book is not that at all; it is instead mostly an insulting and patronizing lecture about what a bunch of morons almost all Americans are, and how we should all be ashamed of ourselves for daring to speak in public about the issue of religion in the first place. And that's...true, don't get me wrong, but was not the book I was expecting to read, nor the kind of book I have any interest in reading; I already get that most Americans are horribly ignorant when it comes to these issues, including myself, which is the whole reason I picked the book up in the first place. And sure, there actually is a section of this book that tries to explain these basic issues about world religions; but not only does it take up less than a third of the entire manuscript, but also follows no logical sense whatsoever, with the author instead merely giving us a series of dictionary entries listed in mere alphabetical order, giving us no sense of how these topics relate to each other but merely spitting out just enough information for us to not look like idiots at cocktail parties. This book is not only worthless from a practical standpoint, but edges on offensive to anyone who dares to bother taking an interest in it; I recommend skipping it altogether, and sticking to Wikipedia when it comes to learning the basics of the world's major religions.”“Good arguments but I can't see mandatory Bible studies ever happening.
Dale B wrote this review Monday, September 1 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
I like the Glossary the best!”
“Here is another book I noticed my last trip to the B&N. I decided it was a must read after the first few pages. The author began with his days in college studying religion and philosophy, in the early 90's, when the whole Branch Davidian fiasco was going down. As he watched the crisis unfold, he realized that the cultists were play-by-play reinacting the book of Revelation, and that the entire compound was about to go into flames. The Branch Davidians were treating this like the end times, but to his horror no one in the government caught this parallel, and the flames that predictably ensued killed most of the cult followers dying in the fire. The author suggests that this happened because Americans have become religiously literate. He goes on to suggest that this basic erosion of America's knowledge of religious tradition continues to exacerbate our dealings with Islam and the Middle East. Interesting. I think I'll read this book.”
LoneB wrote this review Friday, April 25 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“This book is well-documented and, as far as I can tell, accurate in its assessments. The first 120 pages survey religious education in America since the founding of the nation. This survey is detailed and insightful in my judgment.
Chesscoach wrote this review Monday, December 31 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The next part of the book is a plea for two courses of required religious education in high schools (one on the Bible as literature and one on world religions). This won't happen because there isn't room in the curriculum and because religion is not a high priority. Prothero never makes a convincing case for religion classes as a higher priority than, say, foreign languages, music, or art history.
The last 80 pages list religious words and concepts that every American should know along with a paragraph of explanation. The information is accurate and useful but too cursory for the tastes of many and too Christian-centered for the tastes of others. To be fair, Prothero privileges Christianity because of its historic importance in the United States. To fault him for this is to willfully ignore or deny for ideological purposes the history he so persuasively lays out in the first 120 pages.
All in all, this is an excellent and informative book on the place of religion in American history.”
“This was written by one of the professors in my department. I probably would never have read it had he not asked me to read it so that I could help with some of his future research (I was supposed to work as a research assistant for him this past summer but unfortunately it never panned out). It is certainly a book for a broad audience, but very interesting nonetheless. He makes a convincing case for having a more religion courses (world religions, bible, etc. ) taught in American public schools. The book can get a little redundant at times, given that the main point of the book could be conveyed in much less space, but the book is filled with fascinating statistics to keep you reading. The added bonus: a religious literacy quiz, so you can grade yourself and your friends (I won't tell you what my score was). ”
Matt wrote this review Wednesday, December 19 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Not sure what I think. The book opened well, but Prothero's arguments seemed to go off track a bit at the end. While he stated his own personal views up front, and promised that the discussion would not ba about furthering his own views, I kind of think that's where he ended up going.
G Brett Miller wrote this review Sunday, December 16 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The general premise of religious literacy is a good one. I attended a Jesuit-run high school, and aside from Analytical Geometry I have to admit that the classes I enjoyed the most were the philosophy and religion classes. Of course, these were right in line with the goals of the school, but I don't think anything similar would be appropriate for a public school curriculum.
Instead of separate, mandatory religious studies classes, perhaps it would be better to expand the current history texts to include the role that religion has played in history, in much the same way the roles of the political parties and labor unions - or any other powerful groups or individuals - have affected history. The role of religion in history can only be understood in the context of the times being studied. For instance, any discussion of the Protestant Reformation or the Church of England is nearly meaningless without an understanding of the events that caused them to come about.
Also, a nice try at the end with the glossary of terms, but I think he falls short in many of his explanations. It might have been better to use the model of Cultural Literacy, which Prothero cites as a key model for this book, and simply list the things that people should know, letting people learn it for themselves (or give parents a guide to what they should teach their children).
All in all, a great book. It may not give you actual Religious Literacy, but it lets you know what you need to know and gives you a good first step on the journey.”
“Really good in the beginning, but towards the end it began to list information and it loses its power. The religious literacy quiz they have is pretty fun, and its cool to see how the history of a lot of things connect.
SeeingRed wrote this review Sunday, October 14 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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“I haven't read this book yet, but here's the NYTimes review of it (I would have bought the book anyway, even if I'd seen this first):
Artemis_98 wrote this review Thursday, June 14 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
June 10, 2007
Knowing Not
By MARK OPPENHEIMER
RELIGIOUS LITERACY
What Every American Needs to Know — and Doesn’t.
By Stephen Prothero.
296 pp. HarperSanFrancisco. $24.95.
Decline-and-fall books, like E. D. Hirsch Jr.’s “Cultural Literacy” and Allan Bloom’s “Closing of the American Mind,” can leave the reader torn between depression and elation: by detailing how stupid everyone else is, the authors leave us feeling better about ourselves. (“I know which has more members, the Supreme Court or the Supremes!”) So it was with smug anticipation that I opened “Religious Literacy,” Stephen Prothero’s jeremiad about declining religious knowledge. Most Americans “cannot name one of the four Gospels,” Prothero writes, “and many high school seniors think that Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife.” Religious illiteracy cuts across generations, and the devout scarcely know more than the secular do. In one survey of high school students, most evangelicals did not recognize that “Blessed are the poor in spirit” is from the Sermon on the Mount.
Alas, unlike Jay Leno humiliating an audience that can’t name any of the Twelve Apostles, Prothero, a professor of religion at Boston University and author of “American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon,” does not simply let us enjoy this intellectual condescension. After all, he wants us to remember, it’s the rare world crisis that is not at least partly rooted in religion — consider Sudan, Iraq, Israel. And because domestic controversies, like those over intelligent design or gay marriage, are also often bound up with religion, Prothero writes, “you need religious literacy in order to be an effective citizen.” Raising the stakes further, he argues (as other scholars have before him) that the 1993 conflagration that killed the Branch Davidians at Waco might have been averted had the F.B.I. better understood David Koresh’s apocalyptic theology.
Prothero’s corrective proceeds in two parts. First, he offers a diagnosis: a 100-page précis of American religious history that tells a familiar story, from the Puritans to today’s pluralism, remarkably well. He also argues, persuasively, that both conservatives and liberals are to blame for American religious illiteracy. Beginning with 19th-century Unitarians, liberal Christians dropped Bible learning for good deeds and progressive politics. But conservatives have also turned away from religious study. From Charles Finney in the Second Great Awakening to contemporary megachurch preachers, evangelicals have won converts by advocating enthusiastic faith at the expense of religious study. For most American Christians, Prothero laments, catechisms, confessions and even reading the Bible itself are often Sunday-school afterthoughts.
Conservative evangelicals, uniting in pursuit of political influence, played down old denominational differences. “Family values” became for the right what “justice” or “peace” was for the left — a catchphrase that obviates the need for religious literacy. The specifics of Prothero’s thesis are not new, but his formulation makes the culture wars seem more misguided than ever. Left, right, ecumenical, evangelical — we all abandoned the Bible.
I say “the Bible” because although Prothero gives generous space to Islam and other world religions, he is adamant, against multicultural pieties, that Americans most need to know Christianity. Prothero also risks angering liberals by dismissing popular writers like Karen Armstrong and Huston Smith, who “in the name of pluralism” have furthered the view “that all religions were different paths up the same mountain.” Prothero’s admirably old-fashioned opinion is that to rebuild core knowledge we must resist comforting ecumenical myths. He calls for requiring that all high schoolers take both a Bible class and a world religions class.
The second half of the book is a glossary of religious terms that “Americans need to know.” Prothero’s judicious selection includes descriptions of the major world religions, the largest Christian denominations, key figures from the Bible (Abraham, Judas Iscariot, the prodigal son), various concepts (nonviolence, jihad) and several living figures (Billy Graham, the Dalai Lama). For a sense, here are the contents of a pair of facing pages, chosen at random: hijab, Hinduism, Holocaust, Holy Communion.
I would have omitted Billy Graham, who’s irrelevant today, and given Rick Warren his own entry. And I’d have avoided the cultural trivia: Hanukkah need not be defined with reference to Adam Sandler’s “Hanukkah Song,” and Moses does not, in fact, “figure in” William Faulkner’s “Go Down, Moses.” But the bigger problem is with Prothero’s premise, that deeper religious knowledge would produce saner, wiser public discourse. Would wider knowledge of the Baltimore Catechism or New Testament stories really advance debates on, say, stem-cell research? Or would people find new reasons to cling to their old opinions?
George W. Bush did say that Jesus Christ was his “favorite philosopher,” but Susan Sontag was correct to point out that “Bush didn’t mean, and was not understood to mean, that ... his administration would actually feel bound by any of the precepts or social programs expounded by Jesus.” Americans have crafted a religiosity that is more an idea of religiosity; together we have largely agreed to forgo its content. Prothero, raised Episcopal, loves doctrine and Scripture, and I sympathize. But with some exceptions — a grasp of the Sunni/Shia distinction comes to mind — religious knowledge is not necessary to be a good citizen. It’s just necessary if one wants to be an educated person. It enriches our lives. That’s blessing enough.
Mark Oppenheimer is the author of “Knocking on Heaven’s Door: American Religion in the Age of Counterculture.””
