Recommended Authors and/or Books/Blogs/Magazines/Journals/etc

[kentauros]

This discussion thread is pinned.

This thread could eventually be pinned, as I feel we can fill it with plenty of recommended authors or other sources to read. I will admit I'm not a big reader, yet there are still authors I admire and do recommend.


Richard Smoley
I was first introduced to this man as the editor of the long-defunct publication "Gnosis". One of the few magazines I've subscribed to over the years that I truly miss. It taught me plenty about beliefs across the globe.

Robert Thurman
I'm not sure where I first learned of him, though it may have been through Gnosis, or hearing excerpts of his talks on the radio (likely our local Pacifica station, KPFT.) He did have a show on HayHouse Radio for about a year, and dropped out of it to write another book. He's great to listen to, and I've seen plenty of his talks on YouTube. I have yet to read his books, even as I'd like to (once I get through all of the others piled up or waiting on my Kindle...)

Alan Watts
I first heard his teachings, again, on KPFT, and I still seek out those recordings from time to time. They are on YT and likely the Internet Archive. At one time even ZBS had recordings for sale on their site, though I see no evidence of them now. They do, however, have recordings available for Ram Dass. (ZBS is a great group of creative people making thoroughly enjoyable and esoteric radioplays.) Truly, Alan Watts was an insightful man and speaker!

[hrmjustin]

1. Diarmaid MacCulloch is a great author.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diarmaid_MacCulloch

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

10. I can certainly recommend his book on the Protestant Reformation

I would just suggest that you have a fairly decent grasp of European history of that time before you start. For example, he expects you to know who Cardinal Richelieu was without his having to tell you.

His biography of Thomas Cranmer is also well worth reading.

[cbayer]

2. Great idea and support pinning this and leaving it open for replies.

My go-to website is http://www.religiondispatches.org . They have some really great contributors and post interesting pieces related to current politics.

Joanna Brooks is my favorite. She is a Mormon, a feminist, pro-GLBT rights and very tough on the Mormon bureaucracy.

They also have atheist writers, Muslim writers and faculty from progressive theological programs.

Religion News Service - http://www.religionnews.com - is a good site that accumulates stories from other sources and covers a wide range of topics. They do some editorial work and have contributors from both theist and atheist sources and everything in between.

The Huffington post has a good religion section, although they often have articles that may be too controversial for this group and would be considered flamebait here. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/religion

[bananas]

3. Roy Tuckman on KPFK

For people who don't like to read...

Roy plays Alan Watts at 8-8:30 am on Sundays,
his main show is midnight-6am weeknights,
on Monday and Thursday nights he plays Alan Watts, Krishnamurti, and many others,
on Tuesday and Wednesday nights he does health and politics.

His radio show is called "Something's Happening with Roy of Hollywood",
you can find the hours at http://kpfk.org/programs/programschedule.html

The show is archived for 60 days for streaming,
but not for downloading due to copyrights.
The audio archives are at http://archive.kpfk.org/

Playlist with links at http://www.somethingshappening.com

[locks]

4. Wade Davis

I'd like to recommend Wade Davis' books. He is National Geographic's Explorer-in-Residence. An ethnographer and anthropologist, he has traveled the world living with traditional peoples. He speaks and writes on the wisdom of our ancient ancestors as they explored what it means to be human and alive and how they ordered their world through religion. In the wonder of the diversity of indigenous cultures he believes we can find guidance on our spiritual journeys. Light at the Edge of the World, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Spirit of the Mask, The Wayfinders, and others.

[pinto]

5. 'The Children of Jihad' - Jared Cohen

The Children of Jihad

A young American's travels among the youth of the Middle East.

Author's Wiki profile -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Cohen

[okasha]

6. Elizabeth Cunningham's

Maeve/Mary Magdalen tetralogy.

[Princess Turandot]

7. Rocco Palmo's Whispers in the Loggia blog...

It's got a bit of an 'inside baseball" feel to it sometimes regarding the Vatican's machinations, especially when there's a major event going on. (He's a former religion reporter.) It's hard not to like a guy who late Sunday tweeted 'Christ is Risen! Play Ball!' (Major League Baseball's season got underway on Monday.)

http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/

[wryter2000]

8. Bishop John Shelby Spong

http://www.amazon.com/John-Shelby-Spong/e/B000APLGFS/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1364944141&sr=1-2-ent

A great writer of liberal Christianity. My confirmed atheist husband loved Bishop Spong's books.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

11. Bishop Spong, a truly lovely man

has theological views that are, shall I say, outside the mainstream of Christian thought.

[wryter2000]

12. They correspond to my church

And I would guess most Episcopal churches. That's why I went back to church after 40 years away.

[okasha]

19. I just finished his Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World.

His comments on the canonical gospels as liturgical documents meant to be read in the synagogue through the Jewish religious year are eloquent and thought-provoking.

[kentauros]

9. Here are some other great sources:

The Internet Sacred Text Archive
This site is a freely available archive of electronic texts about religion, mythology, legends and folklore, and occult and esoteric topics. Texts are presented in English translation and, where possible, in the original language.


Theoi Greek Mythology
Welcome to the Theoi Project, a site exploring Greek mythology and the gods in classical literature and art. The aim of the project is to provide a comprehensive, free reference guide to the gods (theoi), spirits (daimones), fabulous creatures (theres) and heroes of ancient Greek mythology and religion.


The Kybalion


The first two links also have excellent Links pages worth exploring

[kwassa]

13. Robert Thurman is also Uma Thurman's dad.

Aside from his expertise in Tibetan Buddhism.

[u4ic]

14. Two authors and websites:

Gretta Vosper , minister at West Hill United Church near Toronto. Friends had attended there for years before they moved to my city and were absolutely smitten with her (they now attend a UU congregation). The United Church and the UUs sometimes partner together on social justice and environmental issues in Canada, they are generally a very progressive church.

http://www.amazon.ca/Without-God-Gretta-Vosper/dp/1554682282
http://www.amazon.ca/Amen-Prayer-World-Beyond-Belief/dp/1554686474/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1365210846&sr=1-1

Tom Harpur is another one: http://www.amazon.ca/Pagan-Christ-Recovering-Lost-Light/dp/0887621953/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1365210891&sr=1-3&keywords=tom+harpur

www.religioustolerance.org
http://www.standingonthesideoflove.org/

[locks]

15. Good read

Sarah Vowell's The Wordy Shipmates is a good exploration of the Puritans, their journey to America, their great political and philosophical enterprise, the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
We can learn from their trials and triumphs, the good and the bad.

[kentauros]

16. Patheos

A few others around here have been posting nice articles from this site, so I thought it best to make a direct link for those that want to explore:

Patheos - Hosting the Conversation on Faith

[Manifestor_of_Light]

17. Joseph Campbell and Parabola.

I have some Joseph Campbell DVDs which are taken from films of his lectures at Vassar College. Introduced by Susan Sarandon.

He expanded on Jungian archetypes and is best known for The Hero's Journey.

Parabola is a quarterly magazine organized around a theme for each issue. There are articles from ALL major faiths...yes, really, not just spouting words about ecumenism, but publishing many different viewpoints. The Abrahamic religions, plus Sufism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Gurdjieff, and so on. They recently published their 150th issue.

www.parabola.org

[kentauros]

18. I remember the PBS series,

though I only saw a few episodes. It's also an excellent means of seeing more Bill Moyers

Parabola reminds me of Gnosis in a way. I'll have to look for an issue.

I do miss Gnosis, and I may have to gather my scattered issues to see what I'm missing. Here's their order page if you want to have a look. They're all out of print (it went out of business in the late 90s.) Each issue link there gives the contents page, so you know what to expect from that issue

Thanks for the link to Parabola

[Htom Sirveaux]

20. Philosophy has been the biggest help to me.

Why Does the World Exist? by Jim Holt: The Question of Questions, and a variety of answers, some of them surprising. I had no idea that Platonism was still viable, but I found this book's discussion very influential.

A Brief History of Thought by Luc Ferry: His discussion of Nietzsche pushed me to begin considering the nature of time.

Buddhism as Philosophy by Mark Siderits: Could there in fact be no absolute anything? The Buddha and some of the schools he influenced may have thought so. Professor Siderits examines their views and the arguments that other Indian schools made against them.

The Experience of God by David Bentley Hart: God is not always the old white bearded guy in the sky you've been shown in pop culture. Here's a classical view of God as pure being, one that cuts across religious boundaries according to Hart.

Is God a Delusion? by Eric Reitan: does a good job of explaining, among other things, the cosmological and ontological arguments. It's been awhile, I should probably revisit it.

The Authenticity of Faith: Varieties and Illusions of Religious Experience by Richard Beck: is faith always a terrified reaction to the knowledge of eventual death? No, but sometimes it is. Beck discusses the research that proves that Freud was on to something, but fear of death isn't everything.

The Philosophy of Hebrew Scriptures by Yoram Hazony: Excellent, if sometimes slightly repetitive look at whether the writers/compilers of the Hebrew scriptures may have been examining the big questions like early Greek philosophers, and using the story of Israel's history do it.

Culture and the Death of God by Terry Eagleton: how the cultural elite of Europe broke away from personally believing in Christianity, but were anxious to find a replacement for God and to preserve the beliefs of the masses as much as possible to avoid revolution. Puts the modern history of philosophy in a new light.

[kentauros]

21. Here's one from the audio section of the Internet Archive:

Spirituality & Religion

I was listening to Buddhist chants the other day. Nice recording made available for free

[thucythucy]

22. Excellent thread.

Always happy to learn more. Thanks!

[kentauros]

23. You're welcome!

And this reminds me to make a new post on this thread, for something I posted and linked earlier this year.

[kentauros]

24. Rupert Sheldrake - Audios

His audio recordings cover the gamut of multiple series, clips, and full lectures/seminars/dialogues. Should be ideal for people who love podcasts

Bio (more at the link.)
Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and author of more than 80 scientific papers and ten books. He was among the top 100 Global Thought Leaders for 2013, as ranked by the Duttweiler Institute, Zurich, Switzerland's leading think tank.

[kentauros]

25. Interfaith Org

Interfaith Org is another excellent source of religious & spiritual writings. There is likely already plenty of overlap between it and the Sacred Texts Archive, but it's still worth looking over. Plus, the formatting is easier to read.