Look out for ...

One of the things which always fascinates me is the accuracy of what I'll call "received wisdom" ... what we see on TV, hear on the radio, see in the newspapers, etc.

This is kinda consequential to my last post. In hopes that people will stop and think when they hear things like "worst hurricane ever" attached to Katrina, or the continuing bugaboo that somehow religion is for people who don't/can't think, or that Christianity has been destructive for society, etc.

So over the next few weeks I want to look at a couple things.

First will be Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America by John Barry. That one beat Katrina by a country mile.

Next, I came across a provocative title while reading Books & Culture Magazine (one of Christianity Today's titles) - Lamin Sanneh's Whose Religion is Christianity?: the Gospel Beyond the West. Take a look at some of his other titles by clicking here

By the way, the article which quotes from that book is fascinating in and of itself: Saints Rising Is Mormonism the first new world religion since the birth of Islam?

After all that I want to take a look at a couple of sociologist Rodney Stark's books: the provocatively titled For the Glory of God How Monotheism led to Reformations, Science, Witch-Hunts and the end of Slavery and The Victory of Reason How Christianity led to Freedom, Capitalism and Western Success.

The common thread here is that there are alternative views to the "big voices" out there, and we ought to give them serious consideration.