100 Best History Of Religion Books of All Time

We've ranked the best history of religion books using expert recommendations, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. At Shortform, we know books. Our book guides are the best in the world. Learn why.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind book cover1

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?
A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam book cover2

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
The God Delusion book cover3

The God Delusion

Richard Dawkins

4.4
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
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion book cover4

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

Jonathan Haidt

4.4
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
The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism book cover5

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

Jemar Tisby and Lecrae Moore

4.3
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
Augustine of Hippo: A Biography book cover6

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
The Varieties of Religious Experience book cover7

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
The Pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages book cover8

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

Norman Cohn

4.2
The Gnostic Gospels book cover9

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
The Case for God book cover10

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
A History of Religious Ideas, Volume 1: From the Stone Age to the Eleusinian Mysteries book cover11

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
A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years book cover12

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
No god but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam book cover13

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
Dark Agenda: The War to Destroy Christian America book cover14

Dark Agenda: The War to Destroy Christian America

David Horowitz

4.2
The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great book cover15

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
The Reformation: A History book cover16

The Reformation: A History

Diarmaid MacCulloch

4.2
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
The Da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #2) book cover17

The Da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #2)

Dan Brown

4.2
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
Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East book cover18

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
The World's Religions book cover19

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
The Upanishads book cover20

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
The Cross and the Lynching Tree book cover21

The Cross and the Lynching Tree

James H. Cone

4.2
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
The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph & Diversity 200–1000 book cover22

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
The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400-1580 book cover23

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

Eamon Duffy

4.1
The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion book cover24

The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion

Mircea Eliade and Willard R. Trask

4.1
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
Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Beliefs in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century England book cover25

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
Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon book cover26

Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon

Daniel C. Dennett

4.1
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
The Gathering Storm: Secularism, Culture, and the Church book cover27

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
Witchery: Embrace the Witch Within book cover28

Witchery: Embrace the Witch Within

Juliet Diaz

4.1
29

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
30

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
Life after Death: A History of the Afterlife in Western Religion book cover31

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
The Theft of America’s Soul: Blowing the Lid Off the Lies That Are Destroying Our Country book cover32

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
The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason book cover33

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
Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible & Why We Don't Know About Them book cover34

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
Paganism for Beginners: The Complete Guide to Nature-Based Spirituality for Every New Seeker book cover35

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
Paganism: An Introduction to Earth-Centered Religions book cover36

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
The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions book cover37

The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions

Karen Armstrong

4.1
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
A History of the Bible: The Story of the World's Most Influential Book book cover38

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

John Barton

4.1
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
City of God book cover39

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.
Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why book cover40

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
Light on Yoga book cover41

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
Fundamentalism and American Culture book cover42

Fundamentalism and American Culture

George M. Marsden

4.1
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
Through the Eye of a Needle: Wealth, the Fall of Rome & the Making of Christianity in the West, 350-550 AD book cover43

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

Peter Brown

4.1
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
The Religions Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained book cover44

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
Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet book cover45

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"
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth book cover46

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
The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason book cover47

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

Charles Freeman

4.1
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
The Secret Teachings of All Ages book cover48

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
Pagans and Christians book cover49

Pagans and Christians

Robin Lane Fox

4.1
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
God: A Biography book cover50

God: A Biography

Jack Miles

4.1
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
Islam: A Short History book cover51

Islam: A Short History

Karen Armstrong

4.1
The Day is Now Far Spent book cover52

The Day is Now Far Spent

Cardinal Robert Sarah

4.1
I Think You're Wrong (But I'm Listening): A Guide to Grace-Filled Political Conversations book cover53

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

Sarah Stewart Holland, Beth A. Silvers

4.1
“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
A Little History of Religion book cover54

A Little History of Religion

Richard Holloway

4.1
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
The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt book cover55

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
The Myth of the Eternal Return or, Cosmos and History book cover56

The Myth of the Eternal Return or, Cosmos and History

Mircea Eliade, Willard R. Trask

4.1
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
People of the Book book cover57

People of the Book

Geraldine Brooks

4.1
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
The History of the Church: From Christ to Constantine book cover58

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
The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth by Day: The Complete Papyrus of Ani book cover59

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
Ecclesiastical History of the English People book cover60

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
Autobiography of a Hunted Priest book cover61

Autobiography of a Hunted Priest

John Gerard

4.1
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
Letters and Papers from Prison book cover62

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
The Circle of the Way: A Concise History of Zen from the Buddha to the Modern World book cover63

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

Barbara O'Brien

4.0
جدد حياتك book cover64

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
Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew book cover65

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
The Battle for God: A History of Fundamentalism book cover66

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
The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness book cover67

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
The Trump Prophecies: The Astonishing True Story of the Man Who Saw Tomorrow...and What He Says Is Coming Next: UPDATED AND EXPANDED book cover68

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
A History of Religious Ideas, Volume 2: From Gautama Buddha to the Triumph of Christianity book cover69

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.
No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith book cover70

No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith

Fawn M. Brodie

4.0
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.
Shadowland: From Jeffrey Epstein to the Clintons, from Obama and Biden to the Occult Elite: Exposing the Deep-State Actors at War with Christianity, Donald Trump, and America's Destiny book cover71

Shadowland: From Jeffrey Epstein to the Clintons, from Obama and Biden to the Occult Elite: Exposing the Deep-State Actors at War with Christianity, Donald Trump, and America's Destiny

Thomas Horn

4.0
The Christian Tradition 1: The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition 100-600 book cover72

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
The Viking Spirit: An Introduction to Norse Mythology and Religion book cover73

The Viking Spirit: An Introduction to Norse Mythology and Religion

Daniel McCoy

4.0
The Viking Spirit is an introduction to Norse mythology like no other. As you'd expect from Daniel McCoy, the creator of the enduringly popular website Norse Mythology for Smart People (Norse-Mythology.org), it's written to scholarly standards, but in a simple, clear, and entertaining style that's easy to understand and a pleasure to read. It includes gripping retellings of no less than 34 epic No
The Daniel Prayer: Prayer That Moves Heaven and Changes Nations book cover74

The Daniel Prayer: Prayer That Moves Heaven and Changes Nations

Anne Graham Lotz

4.0
Bestselling author Anne Graham Lotz will teach you how to pray effectively for your nation, for your families, and for yourself.

Many people today find that their prayers don’t “work.” And like a broken cell phone, DVD player, or TV remote, they throw prayer out as unnecessary “clutter” in their busy lives. Anne Graham Lotz has found that while prayer does work, sometimes the “pray-ers” don’t. So s
75

The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth

ROBERT GRAVES

4.0
The definitive edition of one of the more extraordinary and influential books of our time

This labyrinthine and extraordinary book, first published more than sixty years ago, was the outcome of Robert Graves's vast reading and curious research into strange territories of folklore, mythology, religion, and magic. Erudite and impassioned, it is a scholar-poet's quest for the meaning of European myths
The Pre-Nicene New Testament: Fifty-four Formative Texts book cover76

The Pre-Nicene New Testament: Fifty-four Formative Texts

Robert M. Price

4.0
In this monumental work, Professor Price offers an inclusive New Testament canon with twenty-seven additional sacred books from the first three centuries of Christianity, including a few of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammadi writings. Price also reconstructs the Gospel of Marcion and the lost Gospel according to the Hebrews. Here, for the first time, is a canon representing all major factions of
77

Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery

Mark Charles

4.0
You cannot discover lands already inhabited.

Injustice has plagued American society for centuries. And we cannot move toward being a more just nation without understanding the root causes that have shaped our culture and institutions.

In this prophetic blend of history, theology, and cultural commentary, Mark Charles and Soong-Chan Rah reveal the far-reaching, damaging effects of the "Doctrine of Di
The Book of Enoch (Ethiopian) book cover78

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
The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the World's Largest Religion book cover79

The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the World's Largest Religion

Rodney Stark

4.0
Over 40% of people today are Xians. Their number grows more rapidly than that of any other major faith. In The Triumph of Xianity, religious & social historian Stark explains how an obscure Jewish sect became the largest, most thriving religion in the world. In his The Rise of Xianity, he examined the early success of Xianity & how it conquered Rome. Now he tells a more extensive story, beginning
80

A History of Christianity

Paul Johnson

4.0
First published in 1976, Paul Johnson’s exceptional study of Christianity has been loved and widely hailed for its intensive research, writing, and magnitude—“a tour de force, one of the most ambitious surveys of the history of Christianity ever attempted and perhaps the most radical” (New York Review of Books).

In a highly readable companion to books on faith and history, the scholar and author Jo
The Origin of Satan: How Christians Demonized Jews, Pagans and Heretics book cover81

The Origin of Satan: How Christians Demonized Jews, Pagans and Heretics

Elaine Pagels

4.0
From the religious historian whose The Gnostic Gospels won both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award comes a dramatic interpretation of Satan and his role on the Christian tradition. With magisterial learning and the elan of a born storyteller, Pagels turns Satan's story into an audacious exploration of Christianity's shadow side, in which the gospel of love gives way
Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer book cover82

Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Charles Marsh

4.0
In the decades since his execution by the Nazis in 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor, theologian, and anti-Hitler conspirator, has become one of the most widely read and inspiring Christian thinkers of our time. Now, drawing on extensive new research, Strange Glory offers a definitive account, by turns majestic and intimate, of this modern icon.

The scion of a grand family that rarely w
Evolution of the Word: The New Testament in the Order the Books Were Written book cover83

Evolution of the Word: The New Testament in the Order the Books Were Written

Marcus J. Borg

4.0
By presenting the New Testament books in the order they were written, bestselling Bible scholar Marcus Borg reveals how spiritually and politically radical the early Jesus movement began and how it slowly became domesticated. Evolution of the Word is an incredible value: not only are readers getting a deeply insightful new book from the author of Speaking Christian and Jesus, but also the full-tex
Saint Thomas Aquinas book cover84

Saint Thomas Aquinas

G. K. Chesterton

4.0
G.K. Chesterton's brilliant sketch of the life and thought of Thomas Aquinas is as relevant today as when it was published in 1933. Then it earned the praise of such distinguished writers as Etienne Gilson, Jacques Martain, and Anton Pegis as the best book ever written on the great thirteenth-century Dominican. Today Chesterton's classic stands poised to reveal Thomas to a new generation.

Chestert
Rock and Sand: An Orthodox Appraisal of the Protestant Reformers and Their Teachings book cover85

Rock and Sand: An Orthodox Appraisal of the Protestant Reformers and Their Teachings

Archpriest Josiah Trenham, Fr. Michael Monos, Nitsa McClatchey

4.0
This book has been written for three purposes. First, to provide the Orthodox reader with a competent overview of the history of Protestantism and its major traditions, from its beginnings in the 16th century to the present day. This overview relies heavily upon the Reformer's own words as well as the creeds of various Protestant faiths, in order to avoid misrepresentation and caricature. Second,
Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt book cover86

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
Thou Shalt Not Be a Jerk: A Christian's Guide to Engaging Politics book cover87

Thou Shalt Not Be a Jerk: A Christian's Guide to Engaging Politics

Eugene Cho

4.0
According to Eugene Cho, Christians should never profess blind loyalty to a party. Any party. But they should engage with politics, because politics inform policies which impact people.

In Thou Shalt Not Be a Jerk: A Christian’s Guide to Engaging Politics, Cho encourages readers to remember that hope arrived—not in a politician, system, or great nation—but in the person of Jesus Christ.

With deter
Scandalous Witness: A Little Political Manifesto for Christians book cover88

Scandalous Witness: A Little Political Manifesto for Christians

Lee C. Camp

4.0
Christian identity is in moral and political crisis, scandalized by the many ways in which it has been coopted and misrepresented. Addressing this painful reality, Lee Camp writes that Christianity in America has been made into a bad public joke because of “our failure to rightly understand what Christianity is.” From this provocative claim, Camp’s manifesto makes the convincing case that a renewe
The Golden Legend: Readings on the Saints, Volume I book cover89

The Golden Legend: Readings on the Saints, Volume I

Jacobus de Voragine, William Granger Ryan

4.0

Depicting the lives of the saints in an array of both factual and fictional stories, "The Golden Legend" was perhaps the most widely read book, after the Bible, during the late Middle Ages. In his new translation, the first in modern English of the complete text from the Graesse edition, William Granger Ryan captures the immediacy of this rich, image-filled work, and offers an important guide for
90

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
God and the Atlantic: America, Europe, and the Religious Divide book cover91

God and the Atlantic: America, Europe, and the Religious Divide

Thomas Albert Howard

4.0
Since the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, the United States and Western Europe's paths to modernity have diverged sharply with respect to religion. In short, Americans have maintained much friendlier ties with traditional forms of religion than their European counterparts. What explains this transatlantic religious divide?
Accessing the topic though nineteenth and early twentieth-century Europea
Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity book cover92

Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity

Elaine Pagels, Karen L. King

4.0
The two leading, bestselling experts on the Gnostic Gospels weigh in on the meaning of the controversial newly discovered Gospel of Judas.

When the Gospel of Judas was published by the National Geographic Society in April 2006, it received extraordinary media attention and was immediately heralded as a major biblical discovery that rocked the world of scholars and laypeople alike. Elaine Pagels an
Mormonism and White Supremacy: American Religion and the Problem of Racial Innocence book cover93

Mormonism and White Supremacy: American Religion and the Problem of Racial Innocence

Joanna Brooks

4.0
To this day, churchgoing Mormons report that they hear from their fellow congregants in Sunday meetings that African-Americans are the accursed descendants of Cain whose spirits--due to their lack of spiritual mettle in a premortal existence--were destined to come to earth with a "curse" of black skin. This claim can be made in many Mormon Sunday Schools without fear of contradiction. You are more
Skepticism and American Faith: from the Revolution to the Civil War book cover94

Skepticism and American Faith: from the Revolution to the Civil War

Christopher Grasso

4.0
Between the American Revolution and the Civil War, the dialogue of religious skepticism and faith shaped struggles over the place of religion in politics. It produced different visions of knowledge and education in an "enlightened" society. It fueled social reform in an era of economic transformation, territorial expansion, and social change. Ultimately, as Christopher Grasso argues in this defini
Psychology and Religion book cover95

Psychology and Religion

Carl Gustav Jung

4.0
In this book, Dr. Jung, who has been the author of some of the most provocative hypotheses in modern psychology, describes what he regards as an authentic religious function in the unconscious mind. Using a wealth of material from ancient and medieval gnostic, alchemistic, and occultistic literature, he discusses the religious symbolism of unconscious processes and the possible continuity of relig
The Kids Book of World Religions book cover96

The Kids Book of World Religions

Jennifer Glossop and John Mantha

4.0
By gaining a greater understanding of the cultures and beliefs of people around the world, children build respect and tolerance for the differences that make each of us unique.

With objectivity and accessibility, this title in the Kids Book of series looks at the histories, scriptures, places of worship, religious leaders, gods and major festivals that are the foundations of many of the world's rel
The Golden Bough book cover97

The Golden Bough

James George Frazer

4.0
A world classic. "The Golden Bough" describes our ancestors' primitive methods of worship, sex practices, strange rituals and festivals. Disproving the popular thought that primitive life was simple, this monumental survey shows that savage man was enmeshed in a tangle of magic, taboos, and superstitions. Revealed here is the evolution of man from savagery to civilization, from the modification of
The Lost 116 Pages: Reconstructing the Book of Mormon's Missing Stories book cover98

The Lost 116 Pages: Reconstructing the Book of Mormon's Missing Stories

Don Bradley

4.0
On a summer day in 1828, Book of Mormon scribe and witness Martin Harris was emptying drawers, upending furniture, and ripping apart mattresses as he desperately looked for a stack of papers he had sworn to God to protect. Those pages containing the only copy of the first three months of the Joseph Smith’s translation of the golden plates were forever lost, and the detailed stories they held forgo
How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee book cover99

How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee

Bart D. Ehrma

4.0
New York Times bestselling author and Bible expert Bart Ehrman reveals how Jesus’s divinity became dogma in the first few centuries of the early church.

The claim at the heart of the Christian faith is that Jesus of Nazareth was, and is, God. But this is not what the original disciples believed during Jesus’s lifetime—and it is not what Jesus claimed about himself. How Jesus Became God tells the st
The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future book cover100

The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future

Vali Nasr, Fleet Cooper, et al

4.0

“Historically incisive, geographically broad-reaching, and brimming with illuminating anecdotes.” —Max Rodenbeck, New York Review of Books


One of America’s leading commentators on current events in the Middle East, Iranian-born scholar Vali Nasr brilliantly dissects the political and theological antagonisms within Islam in this “smart, clear and timely” book (Washington Post). Still essential and s