100 Best History Of Religion Books of All Time (Updated for 2026)

1

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Yuval Noah Harari

5.0

100,000 years ago, at least six human species inhabited the earth. Today there is just one. Us. Homo sapiens.

How did our species succeed in the battle for dominance? Why did our foraging ancestors come together to create cities and kingdoms? How did we come to believe in gods, nations and human rights; to trust money, books and laws; and to be enslaved by bureaucracy, timetables and consumerism?

Recommended by Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Reid Hoffman, and 34 others.

Barack Obama

Former USA President

Fact or fiction, the president knows that reading keeps the mind sharp. He also delved into these non-fiction reads. [source]

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

Both Melinda and I read this one, and it has sparked lots of great conversations at our dinner table. Harari takes on a daunting challenge: to tell the entire history of the human race in just 400 pages. He also writes about our species today and how artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and other technologies will change us in the future. Although I found things to disagree with—especially Harari’s claim that humans were better off before we started farming—I would recommend Sapiens to anyone who’s interested in the history and future of our species. [source]

Reid Hoffman

CEO/LinkedIn

A grand theory of humanity. [source]

2

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion

Jonathan Haidt

4.7

Preview Summary

Why can’t our political leaders work together as threats loom and problems mount? Why do people so readily assume the worst about the motives of their fellow citizens? In The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explores the origins of our divisions and points the way forward to mutual understanding.

His starting point is moral intuition—the nearly instantaneous perceptions we all ha

Recommended by A.J. Jacobs, Akin Oyebode, Andrew M. Mwenda, and 3 others.

A.J. Jacobs

All about trying to figure out the gap between the red and blue states – Republican and Democrat – and it’s really interesting. [source]

Akin Oyebode

@eggheader @OnemuVictor1 @JonHaidt Abeg order two. I read Righteous Mind which he also wrote, and that was a very fascinating book. [source]

Andrew M. Mwenda

The best work on this is a book by Jonathan Haidt “The Righteous Mind: Why good People are Divided by Religion and Politics.” He argues that human beings have deeply entrenched moral intuitions which guide their assessment of reality. Facts matter very little if at all. [source]

3

The God Delusion

Richard Dawkins

4.7

Preview Summary

In his sensational international bestseller, the preeminent scientist and outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins delivers a hard-hitting, impassioned, but humorous, rebuttal of religious belief. With rigor and wit, Dawkins eviscerates the arguments for religion and demonstrates the supreme improbability of the existence of a supreme being. He makes a compelling case that faith is not just irrational bu

Recommended by Brian Armstrong, Antonio Eram, Susan Jacoby, and 1 others.

Antonio Eram

This book was recommended by Antonio when asked for titles he would recommend to young people interested in his career path. [source]

Susan Jacoby

Richard Dawkins is very funny. One of the reasons for reading The God Delusion is that it will disabuse you of the idea – which is a common stereotype of atheists – that they are utterly humourless. You hear this over and over again. I’m often invited to college campuses to give lectures, and often they’re religious schools – not fundamentalist schools, but colleges of a historically religious type. And very often I will hear: “Oh I expected you to be small and dark-haired and wear glasses!” The image of the atheist woman is kind of like what the image of the feminist used to be, someone too ugly to get a man. But part of it is also humorlessness. People will often say to me, “Oh you’re so funny.” “Well, yeah!” [source]

Vote Dem For The Planet

@KimBledsoe14 @Goodbye_Jesus @Ian313f There were a lot of rebels and drifters in those days against the repressive regime. They had followers. Have you read “The God Delusion”? Great book. [source]

4

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

J. D. Vance

4.5

Preview Summary

From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, a powerful account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class

Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis—that of white working-class Americans. The decline of this group, a demographic of our country that has been slowly disintegratin

Recommended by Bill Gates, Ryan Holiday, Ben Shapiro, and 2 others.

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

The disadvantaged world of poor white Appalachia described in this terrific, heartbreaking book is one that I know only vicariously. Vance was raised largely by his loving but volatile grandparents, who stepped in after his father abandoned him and his mother showed little interest in parenting her son. Against all odds, he survived his chaotic, impoverished childhood only to land at Yale Law School. While the book offers insights into some of the complex cultural and family issues behind poverty, the real magic lies in the story itself and Vance’s bravery in telling it. [source]

Ryan Holiday

Author

In terms of other surprising memoirs, I found JD Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy to be another well-written gem. [source]

Ben Shapiro

A very well-written book. … The whole thing is a critique of individual decisions. [source]

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5

A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Karen Armstrong

4.5

Why does God exist? How have the three dominant monotheistic religions--Judaism, Christianity, and Islam--shaped and altered the conception of God? How have these religions influenced each other? In this stunningly intelligent book, Karen Armstrong, one of Britain's foremost commentators on religious affairs, traces the history of how men and women have perceived and experienced God, from the time

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6

The Varieties of Religious Experience

William James

4.3

First published in 1905, The Varieties of Religious Experience is a collection of lectures given at the University of Edinburgh in 1901 and 1902. William James was a psychologist, and as such, his interest in religion was not that of a theologian but of a scientist. In these twenty lectures, he discusses the nature and origin of religious belief. The average believer is one who has inherited his r

Recommended by Mark Zuckerberg, John Kaag, Jules Evans, and 1 others.

John Kaag

He said there was the individual self, the social self, but there was also the spiritual self. James was very serious about looking at the spiritual self in as careful a scientific way as possible. [source]

Jules Evans

Still the best book on the subject, a century after it was published. James was a genius. [source]

Lewis Wolpert

It’s not precisely a science book, but James is trying to understand religion in a scientific sort of way. [source]

7

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation

Kristin Kobes Du Mez

4.3

Preview Summary

How did a libertine who lacks even the most basic knowledge of the Christian faith win 81 percent of the white evangelical vote in 2016? And why have white evangelicals become a presidential reprobate's staunchest supporters? These are among the questions acclaimed historian Kristin Kobes Du Mez asks in Jesus and John Wayne, which explains how white evangelicals have brought us to our fractured po

8

Augustine of Hippo: A Biography

Peter Brown

4.3

This classic biography was first published thirty years ago and has since established itself as the standard account of Saint Augustine's life and teaching. The remarkable discovery recently of a considerable number of letters and sermons by Augustine has thrown fresh light on the first and last decades of his experience as a bishop. These circumstantial texts have led Peter Brown to reconsider so

Recommended by Paula Fredriksen and Robin Lane Fox.

Paula Fredriksen

Brown relates a life story that lets us understand Augustine, sympathise with him and even to like and to respect him. That’s great writing. [source]

Robin Lane Fox

Peter Brown’s immense strength is placing the changes in Augustine’s outlook against the changing tone and social pressures of the eras and locations in which he moved. [source]

9

The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion

Mircea Eliade and Willard R. Trask

4.2

In the classic text The Sacred and the Profane, famed historian of religion Mircea Eliade observes that even moderns who proclaim themselves residents of a completely profane world are still unconsciously nourished by the memory of the sacred. Eliade traces manifestations of the sacred from primitive to modern times in terms of space, time, nature, and the cosmos. In doing so he shows how the tota

Recommended by Cristina Riesen.

Cristina Riesen

First, a word on career paths. In time, I realised that career paths are like one-way streets. Magic happens in unexplored territories. Plus life is how you choose to live every moment, every day. So today, rather than building a career, I prefer to make lateral moves in life, working with great people and being part of ambitious projects impacting the world. There are a few books that got me here: Mircea Eliade “The Sacred and the Profane”. [source]

10

Revolution: The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World

Eric Metaxas

4.2

#1 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BESTSELLER #2 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER#1 AMAZON BESTSELLER#1 BOOKSCAN WEEKLY BESTSELLER#1 BALTIMORE SUN BESTSELLER“Once upon a time there was a REVOLUTION.”There’s never been a nation like the United States of America. It's impossible to imagine the world without it—but do you know the wild and true story of how it came into existence? On our 250th anniversary, the hunger for

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11

The Case for God

Karen Armstrong

4.2

Moving from the Paleolithic age to the present, Karen Armstrong details the great lengths to which humankind has gone in order to experience a sacred reality that it called by many names, such as God, Brahman, Nirvana, Allah, or Dao. Focusing especially on Christianity but including Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Chinese spiritualities, Armstrong examines the diminished impulse toward rel

Recommended by Anthony Seldon.

Anthony Seldon

ut what is God other than a state of total unknowing? One can’t know God with one’s mind. She quotes George Steiner saying one cannot begin to understand intellectually the impact that music has on oneself. And so with experiences of God: it means absolutely nothing at all, it is of absolutely of no consequence, that Richard Dawkins and the whole crew dismiss God. Because God is not an intellectual experience. But it is a human experience, to do with consciousness, an experience of being, not of having. She talks about the attempts of all the various religions to claim God for their own culture and often for their own gender: God is often phallocentric, and very elitist, and often rather elderly. And that is a grabbing hold of and a claiming of something that is only knowable through complete humility and not through acquiring, but rather letting go. And it is something that is so much at one’s very core that it is a journey to the place where you began, but knowing it for the first time, as T S Eliot said ‘The end of all our exploring/Will be to arrive where we started/And know the place for the first time.’ Four Quartets: Little Gidding. [source]

12

The Gnostic Gospels

Elaine Pagels

4.2

The Gnostic Gospels is a landmark study of the long-buried roots of Christianity, a work of luminous scholarship and wide popular appeal. First published in 1979 to critical acclaim, winning the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, The Gnostic Gospels has continued to grow in reputation and influence over the past two decades. It is now widely recognized as one of the mo

13

The Pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages

Norman Cohn

4.2

Recommended by John Gray and Ian McEwan.

John Gray

I first read Norman Cohn back in the sixties. It stayed with me and had a profound effect on me, and emerged in my own work. [source]

Ian McEwan

It’s a historical account of the fanatical millenarian sects that swept across Europe from the 11th to 15th centuries. [source]

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14

A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years

Diarmaid MacCulloch, Photos

4.2

The author of The Reformation returns with the definitive history of Christianity for our time. Once in a generation a historian will redefine his field, producing a book that demands to be read--a product of electrifying scholarship conveyed with commanding skill. Diarmaid MacCulloch's Christianity is such a book. Ambitious, it ranges back to the origins of the Hebrew Bible & covers the world, fo

Recommended by Andrew Gant.

Andrew Gant

He refers back to the Old Testament, and the history of Christianity before Christ. It’s a hugely ambitious book. [source]

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15

Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East

Kim Ghattas

4.2

The bestselling author of The Secretary: A Journey with Hillary Clinton from Beirut to the Heart of American Power tells the gripping story of the real roots of the Middle East Sunni-Shia conflict in the 1979 Iran Revolution that changed the region forever.

Black Wave is a paradigm-shifting recasting of the modern history of the Middle East, telling the largely unexplored story of the rivalry betwe

Recommended by Adam Edelen, Faysal Itani, and Isabella Steger.

Adam Edelen

I love when a book exceeds high expectations. @KimGhattas ”Black Wave” is a book of the year. Her writing is a compelling narrative, relentlessly clear-eyed in its analysis. It recalls @tomfriedman ”Beirut to Jerusalem” as a Middle East primer for the 21st century. Bravo! https://t.co/1qblYyqb7T [source]

Faysal Itani

'Black Wave' by @KimGhattas is such an important and timely book. I'm glad it exists, and it should be required reading for anyone trying to understand how we (Islamic world/Middle east) got were we are. Big historical narratives and fascinating detail as well. [source]

Isabella Steger

i just read it it’s a great book https://t.co/8NWa8ZXkeL [source]

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16

No god but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam

Reza Aslan

4.2

A fascinating, accessible introduction to Islam from the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Zealot

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • A finalist for the Guardian First Book Award

In No god but God, internationally acclaimed scholar Reza Aslan explains Islam—the origins and evolution of the faith—in all its beauty and complexity. This updated edition addresses the events of the past decade, analyzin

Recommended by David Cortright.

David Cortright

For me, this is the best introduction to Islam. I think all of us in the West are trying to learn more about Islamic culture and religion. Aslan writes so beautifully about what Islam represents – its theological, cultural and economic dimensions. It’s the most eye-opening and illuminating book I’ve read on the subject. It gave me a sense of respect for Islamic culture and the great scientific and cultural contributions of its past. [source]

17

Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person's Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleec

John Fugelsang

4.2

18

The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine

Ilan Pappe

4.2

Since the Holocaust, it has been almost impossible to hide large-scale crimes against humanity. In our communicative world, few modern catastrophes are concealed from the public eye. And yet, Ilan Pappe unveils, one such crime has been erased from the global public memory: the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians in 1948. But why is it denied, and by whom? The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine offers

Recommended by Robin Yassin-Kassab.

Robin Yassin-Kassab

Pappe has written a great historical work on the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1947/8 and he shows that it was organised and planned, called Plan D, or plan Dalit, and he has exploded the myths that were current until his work. [source]

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19

A History of Religious Ideas, Volume 1: From the Stone Age to the Eleusinian Mysteries

Mircea Eliade and Willard R. Trask

4.2

"No one has done so much as Mr. Eliade to inform literature students in the West about 'primitive' and Oriental religions. . . . Everyone who cares about the human adventure will find new information and new angles of vision."—Martin E. Marty, New York Times Book Review

20

The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism

Jemar Tisby and Lecrae Moore

4.2

An acclaimed, timely narrative of how people of faith have historically--up to the present day--worked against racial justice. And a call for urgent action by all Christians today in response.

The Color of Compromise is both enlightening and compelling, telling a history we either ignore or just don't know. Equal parts painful and inspirational, it details how the American church has helped create

21

The Upanishads

Eknath Easwara

4.2

The Upanishads, the earliest of which were composed in Sanskrit between 800 and 400 bce by sages and poets, form part of the Vedas - the sacred and ancient scriptures that are the basis of the Hindu religion. Each Upanishad, or lesson, takes up a theme ranging from the attainment of spiritual bliss to karma and rebirth, and collectively they are meditations on life, death and immortality. The esse

Recommended by Caterina Fake.

22

The World's Religions

Huston Smith

4.2

The World’s Religions, by beloved author and pioneering professor Huston Smith (Tales of Wonder), is the definitive classic for introducing the essential elements and teachings of the world's predominant faiths, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, as well as regional native traditions.

This revised and updated edition provides sympathetic descriptions o

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23

Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon

Daniel C. Dennett

4.2

An innovative thinker tackles the controversial question of why we believe in God and how religion shapes our lives and our future.

For a growing number of people, there is nothing more important than religion. It is an integral part of their marriage, child rearing, and community. In this daring new book, distinguished philosopher Daniel C. Dennett takes a hard look at this phenomenon and asks why

Recommended by Jerry Coyne and Julian Baggini.

Jerry Coyne

He calls it Breaking the Spell for a reason. He thinks there is this sanctity about religion which prevents people from asking, “Where did it come from in the first place?” It’s a human construct, after all, it wasn’t given to humanity by God. It couldn’t have been, because we have thousands of different religions. So even religious people recognize the human contribution to religion. At the beginning of the book he says it could be real. We could be worshipping a real divine being. But we still want to know where this system of beliefs and practices and ceremonies came from — and it’s not off limits. That’s the importance to me of that book. [source]

Julian Baggini

If people want to read a New Atheist book, they should read this one. [source]

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24

The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great

Ben Shapiro

4.2

In 2016, Ben Shapiro spoke at UC Berkeley. Hundreds of police officers were required from 10 UC campuses across the state to protect his speech, which was -- ironically -- about the necessity for free speech and rational debate.

He came to argue that Western Civilization is in the midst of a crisis of purpose and ideas. Our freedoms are built upon the twin notions that every human being is made in

Recommended by Ravi Zacharias.

Ravi Zacharias

@benshapiro @RZIMhq @realDailyWire May I recommend very highly @benshapiro's latest book, The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great. It stands in the tradition of the late historian Russell Kirk who wrote The Roots of American Order. https://t.co/hZFd2bLkKk [source]

25

The Dragon's Prophecy: Israel, the Dark Resurrection, and the End of Days

Jonathan Cahn

4.2

26

The Nag Hammadi Library

Marvin W. Meyer

4.1

The Nag Hammadi Library was discovered in 1945 buried in a large stone jar in the desert outside the modern Egyptian city of Nag Hammadi. It is a collection of religious and philosophic texts gathered and translated into Coptic by fourth-century Gnostic Christians and translated into English by dozens of highly reputable experts. First published in 1978, this is the revised 1988 edition supported

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27

The Reformation: A History

Diarmaid MacCulloch

4.1

At a time when men and women were prepared to kill—and be killed—for their faith, the Protestant Reformation tore the Western world apart. Acclaimed as the definitive account of these epochal events, Diarmaid MacCulloch's award-winning history brilliantly re-creates the religious battles of priests, monarchs, scholars, and politicians—from the zealous Martin Luther and his Ninety-Five Theses to th

Recommended by Jerry Brotton.

Jerry Brotton

MacCulloch is fascinated by the key moment where many scholars would say that the Renaissance ends. [source]

28

Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion

Allie Beth Stuckey

4.1

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29

Dark Agenda: The War to Destroy Christian America

David Horowitz

4.1

30

The History of the Church: From Christ to Constantine

Eusebius, Andrew Louth, G. A. Williamson

4.1

Eusebius's account is the only surviving historical record of the Church during its crucial first 300 years.

Bishop Eusebius, a learned scholar who lived most of his life in Caesarea in Palestine, broke new ground in writing the History and provided a model for all later ecclesiastical historians. In tracing the history of the Church from the time of Christ to the Great Persecution at the beginning

31

Son of Hamas

Mosab Hassan Yousef

4.1

Since he was a small boy, Mosab Hassan Yousef has had an inside view of the deadly terrorist group Hamas. The oldest son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a founding member of Hamas and its most popular leader, young Mosab assisted his father for years in his political activities while being groomed to assume his legacy, politics, status . . . and power. But everything changed when Mosab turned away from t

Recommended by Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Yes. That is the good thing about it. I always get these accusations, ‘Oh, but you are just from Somalia’, your case is not representative. There are many memoirs, but again, if you tell me to reduce it to just one, I pick his. I read a review of this book and it made me buy it instantly. What I liked about it is that it is by a man. It is the story of a man who grew up as the son of a prominent person in Hamas, immersed in the doctrine and the suicide killings. But he ends up living in a US suburb and completely adopting American values. [source]

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32

The Da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #2)

Dan Brown

4.1

An ingenious code hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci.

A desperate race through the cathedrals and castles of Europe.

An astonishing truth concealed for centuries . . . unveiled at last.

While in Paris, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is awakened by a phone call in the dead of the night. The elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum, his body covered in baffling symbol

Recommended by Ev Williams and Neal O'Gorman.

Neal O'Gorman

Certainly, a previous non-business book which I really enjoyed (along with many other people) was the Da Vinci Code. I was living in the States at the time, and it was a rare occasion to be on a plane and not see someone reading it. [source]

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33

The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph & Diversity 200–1000

Peter Brown

4.1

This book offers a vivid, compelling history of the first thousand years of Christianity. For the second edition, the book has been thoroughly rewritten and expanded. It includes two new chapters, as well as an extensive preface in which the author reflects on the scholarly traditions which have influenced his work and explains his current thinking about the book's themes.

New edition of popular ac

34

Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible & Why We Don't Know About Them

Bart D. Ehrman

4.1

Picking up where Bible expert Bart Ehrman's New York Times bestseller Misquoting Jesus left off, Jesus, Interrupted addresses the larger issue of what the New Testament actually teaches—& it's not what most people think. Here Ehrman reveals what scholars have unearthed:
•The authors of the New Testament have diverging views about who Jesus was & how salvation works
•The New Testament contains books

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35

The Religions Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained

DK

4.1

Surveying the world's religions, from Buddhism to Zoroastrianism, and providing succinct yet thought-provoking insight into the philosophy and practices of each, The Religions Book is ideal for anyone seeking to gain a better understanding of the world's religions. With intriguing artwork, flow charts, and diagrams, complex world religions are made accessible in this comprehensive guide. The Relig

36

Paganism for Beginners: The Complete Guide to Nature-Based Spirituality for Every New Seeker

Althaea Sebastiani

4.1

Embark on the path to Paganism with this essential modern guide

Embrace a spiritual journey to commune with nature, rediscover wonder in the world, and reconnect with yourself. Paganism for Beginners is your guide to exploring the diverse magick of modern Paganism. The up-to-date handbook introduces you to a breadth of Pagan traditions and core beliefs―welcoming you to this inclusive movement with

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37

The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400-1580

Eamon Duffy

4.1

Recommended by Andrew Gant.

Andrew Gant

This book is, in a phrase that he uses, a description of the funeral rites of Catholic England. [source]

38

City of God

Augustine of Hippo, Henry Bettenson

4.1

No book except the Bible itself had a greater influence on the Middle Ages than Augustine's City of God. And since medieval Europe was the cradle of modern Western society, this work is vital for understanding our world and how it came into being.

Recommended by Ellen Wayland-Smith.

Ellen Wayland-Smith

Augustine’s City of God created the distinction between the ‘City of God,’ which is perfect, and the earthly city, where we live day-to-day. [source]

39

Light on Yoga

B. K. S. Iyengar

4.1

Light on Yoga has become the bible for hundreds of thousands of people who practice Yoga daily with the Iyengar method, for exercise, meditation, or simply relaxation. With more than 600 photographs depicting all the postures and breathing exercises, it remains the fullest, most practical, and most profusely illustrated guide by the world's foremost yoga teacher. Light on Yoga is a comprehensive a

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40

Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century England

Keith Thomas

4.1

Astrology, witchcraft, magical healing, divination, ancient prophecies, ghosts, and fairies were taken very seriously by people at all social and economic levels in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England. Helplessness in the face of disease and human disaster helped to perpetuate this belief in magic and the supernatural. As Keith Thomas shows, England during these years resembled in many ways

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41

The Gathering Storm: Secularism, Culture, and the Church

R. Albert Mohler Jr.

4.1

The president of Southern Seminary reveals how secularism has infiltrated every aspect of society and how Christians, equipped with the gospel of Jesus Christ, can meet it head on with hope, confidence, and steadfast conviction.

A storm is coming. Western civilization and the Christian church stand at a moment of great danger. The storm is a battle of ideas that will determine the future of Western

42

Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith

J. D. Vance

4.1

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERFrom the bestselling author of Hillbilly Elegy—an intimate account of why Vice President JD Vance strayed from the Christianity of his youth and what led him back to faith.Communion is a spiritual exploration of what it means to be a Christian in all the seasons of life JD Vance has experienced—as a child, a young man, a husband, a father, and a leader.Picking up in som

43

Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why

Bart D. Ehrman

4.1

For almost 1,500 years, the New Testament manuscripts were copied by hand––and mistakes and intentional changes abound in the competing manuscript versions. Religious and biblical scholar Bart Ehrman makes the provocative case that many of our widely held beliefs concerning the divinity of Jesus, the Trinity, and the divine origins of the Bible itself are the results of both intentional and accide

44

Paganism: An Introduction to Earth-Centered Religions

River Higginbotham and Joyce Higginbotham

4.1

A comprehensive guide to a growing religious movement

If you want to study Paganism in more detail, this book is the place to start. Based on a course in Paganism that the authors have taught for more than a decade, it is full of exercises, meditations, and discussion questions for group or individual study.

This book presents the basic fundamentals of Paganism. It explores what Pagans are like; how

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45

The Theft of America’s Soul: Blowing the Lid Off the Lies That Are Destroying Our Country

Phil Robertson

4.1

It’s time to take back what the devil has stolen and put God back into our culture. The Theft of America’s Soul is a prophetic wake-up call for all who desire to see our nation thrive, challenging readers to exchange these ten lies for truths that will bring peace of mind, harmony, and prosperity back to our country—an invitation to experience the life-giving, peace-filling, wholly-transforming lo

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46

Witchery: Embrace the Witch Within

Juliet Diaz

4.1

Recommended by Deborah Harkness.

Deborah Harkness

Today was a magical day. Great sleep after a lovely evenino, great writing inspired by the Welsh hills, a timely message, & a new book from @SophiaMyles that has just delighted my witchy soul (@awitchspurpose’s WITCHERY). #gratitude for my tribe and this journey we are on. ♥️🙏🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 https://t.co/CNd9IIqhbK [source]

47

Ecclesiastical History of the English People

Bede, D. H. Farmer, Ronald Latham, Leo Sherley-Price

4.1

Starting with the invasion of Julius Caesar in the fifth century, Bede recorded the history of the English up to his own day in 731 A.D. A scholarly monk working in the north-east of England, Bede wrote the five books of his history in Latin. The Ecclesiastical History is his most famous work, and this edition provides the authoritative Colgrave translation, as well as a new translation of the Gre

Recommended by Diarmaid MacCulloch.

Diarmaid MacCulloch

Bede is writing about 130 years after the English had first experienced Christianity. [source]

48

Islam: A Short History

Karen Armstrong

4.1

49

The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason

Sam Harris

4.1

In The End of Faith, Sam Harris delivers a startling analysis of the clash between reason and religion in the modern world. He offers a vivid, historical tour of our willingness to suspend reason in favor of religious beliefs—even when these beliefs inspire the worst human atrocities. While warning against the encroachment of organized religion into world politics, Harris draws on insights from ne

Recommended by Antonio Eram, Dr. Andrew Weil, and Evan Carmichael.

Antonio Eram

This book was recommended by Antonio when asked for titles he would recommend to young people interested in his career path. [source]

Dr. Andrew Weil

One of the books that I have commonly given out to people. [source]

Evan Carmichael

His first book, The End of Faith, spent 33 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list. He's one of the most sought after speakers in the world. He's Sam Harris and here's my take on his Top 10 Rules for Success! #Believe #EvanCarmichael #SamHarris #entrepreneur #valueyourtime https://t.co/ZL0iUlqCOT [source]

50

The Secret Teachings of All Ages

Manly P Hall

4.1

A classic since 1928, this masterly encyclopedia of ancient mythology, ritual, symbolism, and the arcane mysteries of the ages is available for the first time in a compact "reader's edition."

Like no other book of the twentieth century, Manly P. Hall's legendary The Secret Teachings of All Ages is a codex to the ancient occult and esoteric traditions of the world. Students of hidden wisdom, ancient

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51

Letters and Papers from Prison

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

4.1

One of the great classics of prison literature, Letters and Papers from Prison effectively serves as the last will and testament of the Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a young German pastor who was executed by the Nazis in 1945 for his part in the “officers’ plot” to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
This expanded version of Letters and Papers from Prison shifts the empha

52

The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt

Richard H. Wilkinson

4.1

Worshipped for over three-fifths of recorded history, Egypt’s gods and goddesses are among the most fascinating of human civilization. The lives of pharaohs and commoners alike were dominated by the need to honor, worship, and pacify the huge pantheon of deities, from the benevolent to the malevolent. The richness and complexity of their mythology is reflected in countless tributes throughout Egyp

53

Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet

Karen Armstrong

4.1

A fresh, evenhanded biography of the founder of Islam by the author of "A History of God." "Portrays Muhammad as a passionate, complex, fallible human being."-- "Publishers Weekly"

54

I Could Be Wrong, But I Doubt It: Why Jesus Is Your Greatest Hope on Earth and in Eternity

Phil Robertson

4.1

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55

Life after Death: A History of the Afterlife in Western Religion

Alan Segal

4.1

A work of social history, Life After Death illuminates different ways ancient civilizations grappled with the question of what exactly happens to the dead. Segal weaves together biblical & literary scholarship, sociology, history & philosophy. A scholar, he examines the maps of the afterlife found in Western religious texts & reveals not only what various cultures believed but how their notions re

Recommended by Stephen Cave.

Stephen Cave

In a way the Segal book is the perfect accompaniment to reading Gilgamesh, because he so brilliantly puts this into a broader context. This book covers the ancient history of the near East, and the origins of the Abrahamic tradition of Western religion up until the beginnings of Islam. We tend to see religions as very monolithic, having a set doctrine that sprang from the earth or was handed down from the heavens. Segal is extremely good at showing us how the history of religion is the history of humans encountering each other and the common sets of problems among different traditions, and how they all intermingle and evolve in trying to find solutions to them. He does that in particular by looking at afterlife beliefs. [source]

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56

The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth by Day: The Complete Papyrus of Ani

Ogden Goelet, Raymond Faulkner, et al.

4.1

Maybe the most stunning presentation of this book in 3300 years: For the first time in 3,300 years, The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth by Day: The Papyrus of Ani is showcased in its entirety in seventy-four magnificent color pages.

Egyptian mythology: Upon death it was the practice for some Egyptians to produce a papyrus manuscript called the Book of Going Forth by Day or the Bo

57

Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda

Megan Basham

4.1

58

An Unholy Alliance: How Progressivism Brought About an Islamist Invasion

Michael Youssef

4.1

Across Western universities, newsrooms, and halls of government, an unholy alliance has been forged between secular progressivism and political Islamism— two ideologies united by their shared rejection of Judeo-Christian civilization.In An Unholy Alliance, Dr. Michael Youssef— a cultural anthropologist trained at Emory University and raised in Egypt under Islamic socialism— exposes the "Red-Green"

59

The Josiah Manifesto

Jonathan Cahn

4.1

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60

Infiltration: The Plot to Destroy the Church from Within

Taylor Marshall

4.1

It took nearly two millennia for the enemies of the Catholic Church to realize they could not successfully attack the Church from the outside. Indeed, countless nemeses from Nero to Napoleon succeeded only in creating sympathy and martyrs for our Catholic Faith.

That all changed in the mid-19th century, when clandestine societies populated by Modernists and Marxists hatched a plan to subvert the Ca

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61

No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith

Fawn M. Brodie

4.1

The first paperback edition of the classic biography of the founder of the Mormon church, this book attempts to answer the questions that continue to surround Joseph Smith. Was he a genuine prophet, or a gifted fabulist who became enthralled by the products of his imagination and ended up being martyred for them? 24 pages of photos. Map.

62

Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

Reza Aslan

4.1

From the internationally bestselling author of No god but God comes a fascinating, provocative, and meticulously researched biography that challenges long-held assumptions about the man we know as Jesus of Nazareth.

Two thousand years ago, an itinerant Jewish preacher and miracle worker walked across the Galilee, gathering followers to establish what he called the “Kingdom of God.” The revolutionar

63

The Pagan Threat: Confronting America's Godless Uprising

Lucas Miles

4.1

Pastor Lucas Miles, bestselling author of Woke Jesus: The False Messiah Destroying Christianity, delves into the alarming resurgence of pagan ideologies within the United States, posing significant threats to the church, the nation, and the world. Unveiling the complex interplay between ancient beliefs and modern society, Pagan Threat meticulously exposes the inherent dangers that challenge the co

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64

Through the Eye of a Needle: Wealth, the Fall of Rome & the Making of Christianity in the West, 350-550 AD

Peter Brown

4.0

Jesus asserted it's easier for a camel to go thru the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. Yet by the fall of Rome, the church was becoming rich beyond measure. Thru the Eye of a Needle is a sweeping intellectual & social history of the vexing problem of wealth in Christianity in the waning days of the Roman Empire, written by the world's foremost scholar of late antiquity.
Brown e

65

The Cross and the Lynching Tree

James H. Cone

4.0

The cross and the lynching tree are the two most emotionally charged symbols in the history of the African American community. In this powerful new work, theologian James H. Cone explores these symbols and their interconnection in the history and souls of black folk

66

A History of Religious Ideas, Volume 2: From Gautama Buddha to the Triumph of Christianity

Mircea Eliade, Willard R. Trask

4.0

In volume 2 of this monumental work, Mircea Eliade continues his magisterial progress through the history of religious ideas. The religions of ancient China, Brahmanism and Hinduism, Buddha and his contemporaries, Roman religion, Celtic and German religions, Judaism, the Hellenistic period, the Iranian syntheses, and the birth of Christianity—all are encompassed in this volume.

67

Your Daily Phil: 100 Days of Truth and Freedom to Heal America's Soul (A 100-Day Devotional)

Phil Robertson

4.0

68

Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt

Geraldine Pinch

4.0

From stories of resurrected mummies and thousand-year-old curses to powerful pharaohs and the coveted treasures of the Great Pyramids, ancient Egypt has had an unfaltering grip on the modern imagination. Now, in Egyptian Mythology, Geraldine Pinch offers a comprehensive introduction that untangles the mystery of Egyptian Myth.

Spanning Ancient Egyptian culture--from 3200 BC to AD 400--Pinch opens a

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69

A History of the Bible: The Story of the World's Most Influential Book

John Barton

4.0

A literary history of our most influential book of all time, by an Oxford scholar and Anglican priest

In our culture, the Bible is monolithic: It is a collection of books that has been unchanged and unchallenged since the earliest days of the Christian church. The idea of the Bible as "Holy Scripture," a non-negotiable authority straight from God, has prevailed in Western society for some time. A

Recommended by Nicholas King.

Nicholas King

Yes. It came out earlier this year and it is a general introduction for the non-specialist reader (though that does not mean that it has nothing for members of the academic guild). He calls it a ‘history of the Bible’. He’s well aware that the Bible evolves over thousands of years and that’s important for a modern reader to understand, if they’re going to cope with reading it. He knows his subject intimately; and he covers a whole range of different topics with immense skill. He never puts a foot wrong. [source]

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70

The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions

Karen Armstrong

4.0

In the ninth century BCE, the peoples of four distinct regions of the civilized world created the religious and philosophical traditions that have continued to nourish humanity to the present day: Confucianism and Daoism in China, Hinduism and Buddhism in India, monotheism in Israel, and philosophical rationalism in Greece. Later generations further developed these initial insights, but we have ne

71

Pagans and Christians

Robin Lane Fox

4.0

Fox recreates the period from the 2nd to the 4th century, when the Olympians lost their dominion & Christianity, with Constantine's conversion, triumphed in the Mediterranean world.
List of Maps
Preface
Pagans & Christians
Pagans & their cities
Pagan cults
Seeing the gods
Language of the gods
The spread of Christianity
Living like angels
Visions & prophecy
Persecution & martyrdom
Bishops & authority
Sinners

Recommended by Nassim Nicholas Taleb and Tom Holland.

Tom Holland

We tend not to think of Christianity as being an expression of Roman civilisation but in so many ways it is, even though it radically transformed the empire. Robin Lane Fox’s book is the best modern account that I can think of which will give people the sense of how this remarkable revolution took place. [source]

72

The Book of Enoch (Ethiopian)

Enoch

4.0

R. H. Charles provides a definitive translation of one of the most noted apocalyptic works still in existence. Often described as "the lost book" of the Bible, The Book of Enoch seems to have been written in Palestine by several different authors in the first and second centuries B.C. For hundreds of years it was accepted by the early church fathers, but it was rejected by the council of Laodicea

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73

Fundamentalism and American Culture

George M. Marsden

4.0

Many Americans today are taking note of the surprisingly strong political force that is the religious right. Controversial decisions by the government are met with hundreds of lobbyists, millions of dollars of advertising spending, and a powerful grassroots response. How has the fundamentalist movement managed to resist the pressures of the scientific community and the draw of modern popular cultu

74

Letters to a Young Contrarian

Christopher Hitchens

4.0

From bestselling author and provocateur Christopher Hitchens, the classic guide to the art of principled dissent and disagreement

In Letters to a Young Contrarian, bestselling author and world-class provocateur Christopher Hitchens inspires the radicals, gadflies, mavericks, rebels, and angry young (wo)men of tomorrow. Exploring the entire range of "contrary positions"--from noble dissident to grat

Recommended by Fabrice Grinda and Guy Raz.

Fabrice Grinda

I have lots of books to recommend, but they are not related to my career path. The only one that is remotely related is Peter Thiel’s Zero to One. That said here are books I would recommend. [source]

Guy Raz

I don’t think there is a better journalist than Hitchens writing in English. The power of his arguments – they’re so crisply written, they’re so forceful that, if you are on the other side, they almost strangle you. There’s nobody more compelling to read. Every time I read him, I learn something from him. His arguments are so tight, they’re hermetic. It’s very difficult to take them apart. I certainly don’t agree with him a lot of the time, but you can’t but be in awe of the way he can build an argument. [source]

75

Waiting for God

Simone Weil

4.0

Emerging from the thought-provoking discussions and correspondence Simone Weil had with the Reverend Father Perrin, this classic collection of essays contains the renowned philosopher and social activist's most profound meditations on the relationship of human life to the realm of the transcendent. An enduring masterwork and "one of the most neglected resources of our century" (Adrienne Rich), Wai

Recommended by A N Wilson.

A N Wilson

She died of anorexia and chain-smoking. I love her. I’m actually sort of in love with Simone. [source]

76

Secrets of the Book of Revelation Revealed: The Sealed Book has Been Opened With the Full and Entire Truth---Our Lady in Her Own Words

Ted Flynn

4.0

Fatima, Akita, Japan, LaSalette, France, Quito, Ecuador, Marie Julie-Jahenny, Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, Saint John Bosco, Malachi Martin, Sister Lucia. Servant of God Father Stefano Gobbi provide insight to the times in which we are living. the concept of where our safety lies is addressed in detail as well as the long history in the Scriptures, and the Church there will always remain a REM

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77

The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason

Charles Freeman

4.0

A radical and powerful reappraisal of the impact of Constantine’s adoption of Christianity on the later Roman world, and on the subsequent development both of Christianity and of Western civilization.

When the Emperor Contstantine converted to Christianity in 368 AD, he changed the course of European history in ways that continue to have repercussions to the present day. Adopting those aspects of t

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78

I Think You're Wrong (But I'm Listening): A Guide to Grace-Filled Political Conversations

Sarah Stewart Holland, Beth A. Silvers

4.0

“Sarah and Beth are an absolute gift to our culture right now. Not only do they offer balanced perspectives from each political ideology, but they teach us how to dialogue well, without sacrificing our humanity.”

—Jen Hatmaker, New York Times bestselling author, speaker, and founder of Legacy Collective

“Sarah from the left and Beth from the right serve as our guides through conflict and complexity

Recommended by Linz Defranco.

Linz Defranco

I really enjoy this book. Puts a lot into perspective. Quick, easy, and impactful read. (There are some religious undertones, which I don’t really care for, BUT they do not distract from the message and aren’t too overwhelming) https://t.co/VAjegv4uAJ [source]

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79

God: A Biography

Jack Miles

4.0

Miles shows us God in the guise of a great literary character, the hero of the Old Testament. In a close, careful, and inspired reading of that testament - book by book, verse by verse - God is seen from his first appearance as Creator to his last as Ancient of Days. The God whom Miles reveals to us is a warrior whose greatest battle is with himself. We see God torn by conflicting urges. To his ow

Recommended by Paula Fredriksen.

Paula Fredriksen

This is not a book of theology or a book of biblical criticism – it’s a brilliant literary and psychoanalytically informed thought experiment. Miles treats the arc of biblical writings in their Jewish sequence (the order of books in the Christian Old Testament is different). He reads from Genesis to Second Chronicles, interpreting these texts as if they formed one continuous narrative tracing the trajectory of “God’s” personality development. As “God” interacts with humanity in general, and with Israel in particular, his “personality” grows and changes in startling ways. [source]

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80

The Myth of the Eternal Return or, Cosmos and History

Mircea Eliade, Willard R. Trask

4.0

This founding work of the history of religions, first published in English in 1954, secured the North American reputation of the Romanian emigre-scholar Mircea Eliade (1907-86). Making reference to an astonishing number of cultures & drawing on scholarship published in no less than half a dozen European languages, Eliade's "The Myth of the Eternal Return makes both intelligible & compelling the re

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81

The Day is Now Far Spent

Cardinal Robert Sarah

4.0

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82

A Little History of Religion

Richard Holloway

4.0

For curious readers young and old, a rich and colorful history of religion from humanity’s earliest days to our own contentious times

In an era of hardening religious attitudes and explosive religious violence, this book offers a welcome antidote. Richard Holloway retells the entire history of religion—from the dawn of religious belief to the twenty-first century—with deepest respect and a keen com

83

When God Was a Woman

Merlin Stone

4.0

Here, archaeologically documented, is the story of the religion of the Goddess. Known by many names--Astarte, Isis, Ishtar, among others--she reigned supreme in the Near and Middle East. Beyond being worshiped for fertility, she was revered as the wise creator and the one source of universal order. Under her, women's roles differed markedly from those in patriarchal Judeo-Christian cultures. Women

84

Bearing False Witness: Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History

Rodney Stark

4.0

As we all know, and as many of our well-established textbooks have argued for decades, the Inquisition was one of the most frightening and bloody chapters in Western history, Pope Pius XII was anti-Semitic and rightfully called "Hitler's Pope", the Dark Ages were a stunting of the progress of knowledge to be redeemed only by the secular spirit of the Enlightenment, and the religious Crusades were

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85

جدد حياتك

محمد الغزال

4.0

نبذة الناشر:
اتجه العلماء– من مختلف الدوائر العلمية وتحت تأثيرات متعددة – إلى الإجابة عن تساؤلات مثيرة، وهي:
-كيف نشأ الدين في الأغوار السحيقة من تاريخ البشر؟
- وعلى أي صورة لاح المقدس الغيبي في طفولة الفكر الإنساني؟
- ومتى عانى الإنسان القديم هذه التجربة الروحية العجيبة؟
وذلك في محاولة لتحديد الدين الأول في نقائه وروعته؛ فظهرت نظريات ومذاهب منذ نهاية القرن الثامن عشر حتى الآن –تحاول تحديد تلك الصو

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86

The Circle of the Way: A Concise History of Zen from the Buddha to the Modern World

Barbara O'Brien

4.0

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87

Autobiography of a Hunted Priest

John Gerard

4.0

Truth is stranger than fiction. And nowhere in literature is it so apparent as in this classic work, "The Autobiography of a Hunted Priest." This autobiography of a Jesuit priest in Elizabethan England is a most remarkable document and John Gerard, its author, a most remarkable priest in a time when to be a Catholic in England courted imprisonment and torture; to be a priest was treason by act of

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88

People of the Book

Geraldine Brooks

4.0

From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of March, the journey of a rare illuminated manuscript through centuries of exile and war

In 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, which has been rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jew

89

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

Max Weber, Talcott Parsons, R.H. Tawney

4.0

The Protestant ethic — a moral code stressing hard work, rigorous self-discipline, and the organization of one's life in the service of God — was made famous by sociologist and political economist Max Weber. In this brilliant study (his best-known and most controversial), he opposes the Marxist concept of dialectical materialism and its view that change takes place through "the struggle of opposit

Recommended by Liam Martin and Will Davies.

Liam Martin

Max Weber Protestant Ethic, and Karl Marx's Capital had a huge impact on me. If you read Marx with a critical critique you can see that he's laid out a fantastic framework on how capitalism works, I do disagree with his core premise (capitalism being bad) so I took it as a great way to understand how I could operate inside of a capitalist economy. Weber on the other hand shows you exactly how to get ahead in the world and was critical to me understanding how we reward value creators in western society. [source]

Will Davies

One of the most famous and influential works of sociology ever written and one of the founding texts of economic sociology. I’ve always found it inspirational. [source]

90

Black Boy

Richard Wright

4.0

A special 75th anniversary edition of Black Boy, Richard Wright's powerful and eloquent memoir of his journey from innocence to experience in the Jim Crow South. At once an unashamed confession and a profound indictment, Black Boy is a poignant and disturbing record of social injustice and human suffering.

When Black Boy exploded onto the literary scene in 1945, it caused a sensation. Orville Pres

91

Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth

Bart D. Ehrman

4.0

92

The Book that Made Your World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization

Vishal Mangalwadi

4.0

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93

Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew

Bart D. Ehrman

4.0

The early Christian Church was a chaos of contending beliefs. Some groups of Christians claimed that there was not one God but two or twelve or thirty. Some believed that the world had not been created by God but by a lesser, ignorant deity. Certain sects maintained that Jesus was human but not divine, while others said he was divine but not human.

In Lost Christianities, Bart D. Ehrman offers a fa

94

Unearthed (Unearthed, #1)

Israel Finkelstein

4.0

When Earth intercepts a message from a long-extinct alien race, it seems like the solution the planet has been waiting for. The Undying's advanced technology has the potential to undo environmental damage and turn lives around, and Gaia, their former home planet, is a treasure trove waiting to be uncovered.

For Jules Addison and his fellow scholars, the discovery of an alien culture offers unpreced

95

The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ: From the Visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich

Anne Catherine Emmerich, Abbe De Cazales

4.0

The book that inspired the blockbuster film, The Passion of the Christ. Faithful to the Biblical account of the Passion, it fills in many hitherto unknown details. Edifying, inspiring, surprising, and heart-rending, Emmerich's descriptions of our Lord's Passion will melt a heart of stone. This book is the best on the Passion we have seen. It also wonderfully portrays the Blessed Mother's role in o

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96

The Battle for God: A History of Fundamentalism

Karen Armstrong

4.0

In our supposedly secular age governed by reason and technology, fundamentalism has emerged as an overwhelming force in every major world religion. Why? This is the fascinating, disturbing question that bestselling author Karen Armstrong addresses in her brilliant new book The Battle for God. Writing with the broad perspective and deep understanding of human spirituality that won huge audiences fo

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97

The Trump Prophecies: The Astonishing True Story of the Man Who Saw Tomorrow...and What He Says Is Coming Next: UPDATED AND EXPANDED

Mark Taylor

4.0

In November of 2016, the world witnessed the impossible. Nearly every household in America was tuned in to the election feeds, and every update pointed to a loss for the Republican Party. But when the map of the states flipped red in the final hour, there were a select few who werent surprised. They had always known Trump was going to win. He was chosen for such a time as this. The prophecy had sa

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98

The Christian Tradition 1: The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition 100-600

Jaroslav Pelikan

4.0

s/t: A History of the Development of Doctrine
In this five-volume opus--now available in its entirety in paperback--Pelikan traces the development of Christian doctrine from the first century to the twentieth.
"Pelikan's The Christian Tradition [is] a series for which they must have coined words like 'magisterial'."--Martin Marty, Commonweal

99

Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn

Daniel Gordis

4.0

Winner of the Jewish Book of the Year Award

The first comprehensive yet accessible history of the state of Israel from its inception to present day, from Daniel Gordis, "one of the most respected Israel analysts" (The Forward) living and writing in Jerusalem.

Israel is a tiny state, and yet it has captured the world’s attention, aroused its imagination, and lately, been the object of its opprobrium.

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100

The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness

Karen Armstrong

4.0

In 1962, at age seventeen, Karen Armstrong entered a convent, eager to meet God. After seven brutally unhappy years as a nun, she left her order to pursue English literature at Oxford. But convent life had profoundly altered her, and coping with the outside world and her expiring faith proved to be excruciating. Her deep solitude and a terrifying illness–diagnosed only years later as epilepsy–mark