God is not One – a review

God is not One is a new book by Stephen Prothero, and I was delighted to be asked to review it by TLC Book Tours.

Prothero, who is professor of religion at Boston University, has written a thoroughly interesting book.

Its premise is that in our attempts to look at different religions as separate paths up the same mountain, we gloss over the differences and attempt unity without ever understanding just how fundamentally different the religions are from each other. Our perspective is dangerously skewed.

The book has been described as controversial, something that always makes me a bit suspicious, as it seems to warn of claims made and phrases used in the service of publicity, not writing.

I needn’t have worried, it’s a delight. Well structured, knowledgeable, written with elegance, wit and humanity. I hadn’t heard of Prothero before this book, and I’m really pleased to have discovered him.

Structure

The structure of the book, after a scene-setting introduction, is to cover each of the “eight rival religions that run the world” in a factual way. Each gets its own chapter (with a brief afterword on atheism). I like the way in which Prothero gives us a one-line focus for each religion:

• Islam: the way of submission
• Christianity: the way of salvation
• Confucianism: the way of propriety
• Hinduism: the way of devotion
• Buddhism: the way of awakening
• Yoruba: the way of connection
• Judaism: the way of exile and return
• Daoism: the way of flourishing

Image by kanegan

One of the things I love most in this life is learning, and some of the religions (the word is used to encompass belief systems that may not in the strictest sense be religions) described here are new to me.

I had, for example, no idea that Confucianism is still a contemporary way of life (and is indeed undergoing a resurgence), I’d never heard of Yoruba, I had only the haziest notion about Daoism.

Pre-conceptions

I tried, and failed miserably, to approach the book with no pre-conceived notions. But of course I was brought up Catholic in the days when the following joke was doing the rounds:

A Protestant dies and is shown around Heaven by St Peter. Their walk through this beautiful place full of happy Christian souls takes them toward an area enclosed by a high wall. St Peter puts his finger to his lips. “Ssshh”, he says, “be quiet while we walk past.” “Why?” whispers the Protestant. “Because that’s where the Catholics are and they think they’re the only ones up here.”

One of the great gifts of this book for me was to challenge that ingrained perspective in many different ways. For example:

One of the most common misconceptions about the world’s religions is that they plumb the same depths, ask the same questions. They do not. Only religions that see God as all good ask how a good God can allow millions to die in tsunamis. Only religions that believe in souls ask whether your soul exists before you are born and what happens to it after you die. And only religions that think we have one soul ask after “the soul” in the singular. (p24)

History

Prothero does not shy away from the difficult questions, for example the verses in both the Bible and in the Qu’ran that appear to incite violence. But neither does he sensationalise them. The book is very balanced.

Image by alicepopkorn

He provides just enough historical biography of each religion to give context, understanding and a pathway to recognising how today’s practice has arisen. This is particularly interesting in documenting the inevitable splits that seem to occur once a religion’s founder is dead: Shia and Sunni Muslims, the different Buddhist schools, the Catholic/Orthodox/Protestant divides and many more.

Style

Prothero uses a couple of devices to ensure the book is never dry or boring.

One is to throw in fascinating snippets of information. For example, when talking about the wisdom of Confucianism, which promotes respectful behaviour such as listening rather than speaking, he tells us “the character for sage in Chinese is a large ear and a small mouth”.

The other device is something I didn’t spot until I’d nearly finished the book. Prothero inserts regular references to his students. For example:

In my introduction to religion courses I ask my students to invent their own religions. They form groups and dream up new religions. They then pitch their religious creations online and in class.

This is clever in two ways: it very subtly reinforces Prothero’s qualifications for writing the book, and it draws the reader in, giving both visual and imaginative reference points.

Conclusion

I especially like the way all the strands of the book are spun together in the conclusion into our common humanity:

Even in traditions of escape from the sin and suffering of this world, religion works not so much to help us flee from our humanity as to bring us home to it. “The glory of God,” wrote the second-century Catholic bishop Irenaeus of Lyons, “is a human being fully alive.” Or, as a contemporary Confucian puts it, “We need not depart from our self-hood and our humanity to become fully realised.”

I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone wanting a grounding in these major religions and some thoughtful reflection on how we can come together while celebrating our differences,  rather than trying to ignore them.

You can watch Prothero talking about his book in this video.

Elsewhere:

You will find other reviews of the book at Diamonds in the Sky with Lucy, at Knowing the Difference, and at Church for Starving Artists.