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    Religious Literacy
    Religious Literacy
    Religious Literacy
    Audiobook10 hours

    Religious Literacy

    Written by Stephen Prothero

    Narrated by Stephen Prothero

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    What's Your Religious Literacy IQ? Quick—can you:

    • Name the four Gospels?
    • Name a sacred text of Hinduism?
    • Name the holy book of Islam?
    • Name the first five books of the Hebrew Bible or the Christian Old Testament?Name the Ten Commandments?
    • Name the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism?

    If you can't, you're not alone. We are a religiously illiterate nation, yet despite this lack of knowledge, politicians continue to root public policy arguments in religious rhetoric whose meanings are missed—or misinterpreted—by the vast majority of Americans.

    ""We have a major civics education problem today,"" says religion scholar Stephen Prothero. He makes the provocative case that to remedy this, we should return to teaching religion in the public schools.

    Alongside ""reading, writing, and arithmetic,"" religion ought to become the fourth ""R"" of American education. Many believe that America's descent into religious illiteracy was the doing of activist judges and secularists hell-bent on banishing religion from the public square. Prothero reveals that this is a profound misunderstanding. ""In one of the great ironies of American religious history,"" Prothero writes, ""it was the nation's most fervent people of faith who steered us down the road to religious illiteracy. Just how that happened is one of the stories this audio has to tell."" Religious Literacy reveals what every American needs to know in order to confront the domestic and foreign challenges facing this country today.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateMar 13, 2007
    ISBN9780061262579
    Religious Literacy
    Author

    Stephen Prothero

    Stephen Prothero is the New York Times bestselling author of Religious Literacy and God Is Not One and a professor of religion at Boston University. His work has been featured on the cover of TIME magazine, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, NPR, and other top national media outlets. He writes and reviews for the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, The Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Salon, Slate, and other publications. Visit the author at www.stephenprothero.com or follow his tweets @sprothero.

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    Reviews for Religious Literacy

    3.5/5

    127 ratings22 reviews

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    • 3/5
      (This is a review of the 13 disc CD version.) Took this with us to pass the time on a long 1500 mile car trek. A legal thriller, it was a choice appealing to all of the car's occupants. The narrator was excellent. Would have loved to rank the book higher. But there were too many unintentionally hilarious moments where we found ourselves laughing at the ridiculousness of the main characters' behavior. The plot device (wife prosecutor v. husband defense attorney) was strained and both characters' angst overwrought and leaving us feeling less than sympathetic to their woes. Meltzer's pacing is great and he definitely held our interest. Other reviewers feel this is a lesser work compared to other books. Based on this, I'll definitely read more from Melzer.
    • 3/5
      I had looked forward to reading this book since it was published, but it disappointed. The author stridently bashes us over the head for half of the book making his case that people knew more about religion than they do now. In doing so he bypasses obvious questions which needed to be addressed: teaching children to read in colonial America with catechetical books does not mean that they retained the religious instruction. Does this make them religiously literate? How much did the average American in the late 1700's know about Islam? About Buddhism? Frankly there is just a big disconnect between the author's opening thesis that Americans are woefully ignorant of basic religious facts, and the next 50% of the book which dwells on how we used to know so much about Christianity. Also I cannot totally buy into the implied statement that knowledge of religious facts makes you more religious, and that the move in the past 200 years toward a more feeling, charismatic approach to our relationship with God is a bad thing. The saving grace of the book is a concise, alphabetically organized collection of the basic facts of the world's major religions.
    • 2/5
      The subtitle is somewhat misleading. I thought this would be a kind of Cliff's Notes guide to world religions, combined with real-world examples of current events viewed within a religious context.Prothero could write that kind of book -- in the introduction, he describes the 1993 ATF/FBI raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco as "a case of death by religious ignorance." He speculates that if the FBI or White House had consulted an expert in apocalyptic Christianity, perhaps the siege may not have ended in fire.That kind of analysis does not extend beyond the introduction, though. Prothero spends the majority of the book explaining the history of religious education in America, from the Puritans through the Scopes monkey trial.For me, the most valuable part of the book is the 100-page Dictionary of Religious Literacy, which offers concise yet illuminating definitions on such topics as Shiite Islam vs. Sunni Islam, and the differences between evangelicalism and fundamentalism.
    • 4/5
      I like this author. He is not a formula writer like Grisham. Good fast-paced storyline.
    • 5/5
      Husband-wife attorney's oppose each other in this suspenseful drama.
    • 3/5
      The title is very misleading. It alludes to what we need to know when more than half of the book is spent by Prothero laying the groundwork what we've lost by our American religious illiteracy. When he finally gets down to the basic tenets we should all know it is a rapid-fire, bullet point checklist. There are far too many creative ways he could have worked the material into his thesis. It doesn't help his argument where he states we shouldn't know just the religious facts but also be able work with the teachings and then at the end reduces them to a checklist..
    • 1/5
      At least 75% of this book was just about Christianity; doctrine, scriptures, and history. That's not a very efficient way of teaching religious literacy. The author tries to make the case that since Christianity is dominant in America, we all owe it to ourselves as Americans to steep ourselves in the muck of the Christian faith (I'm paraphrasing and being intentionally mean about it). However, he just comes off as showing favoritism to Christian studies because he is one.

      The narrative was very dry and the author did a very poor job at teaching anything useful about religion. His idea that religious content should be mandatory in public schools is laughable and self-serving (considering more religious-study majors would be needed ). All-in-all, this was a waste of time with virtually nothing to offer.

      I will end this review with one positive note: the author does a very decent job of presenting other religious with little bias or distortion. Unfortunately, he spends so much time on Christianity that there is little time but to merely gloss over everything else. If this author wrote a more comprehensive book about world religions, I would read it.
    • 4/5
      This book is a must read for everyone. Prothero, a religion professor at Boston University, presents a compelling argument on how the US is one of the most religious countries and at the same time one of the most ignorant nations when it comes to knowing anything about religion. He is a big proponent of mandatory religion education in the US. I was all prepared to disagree with this book. Living in liberal Northern California, I could not believe that the US is at all religious. But the author brought up so many examples of how we do not separate church and state (why do people swear on the Bible when taking an oath? And the least likely minority to get elected to the presidency are atheists!) that he convinced me that knowing and understanding religions is not the same as believing. And in our current environment, having a background knowledge of relgion is an essential part of understanding ourselves and other world cultures. He even offers a quiz about major religions with common answers. My favorite question - 'Who was Joan of Arc? - Noah's wife was a common answer...' My only disagreement is that he has a tendency to be Christian centric. Rather than requiring a literary course on the Bible, a general course on all religions should be mandatory. But, the tough question is what course should be thrown out. Personally, my vote is Physics...
    • 2/5
      A good argument for religious literacy in America, but I'd hoped this book would spend more time filling in the gaps in our understanding on religion rather than pointing them out. It's not a bad book at all, just not the one I'd hoped it would be.
    • 2/5
      I'm little disappointed with this book. Even though the title is Religious Literacy, it really just touch Christianity with brief description of other major religions. This book could be better titled Secularization of American Education. It did went into superb discussion about history of importance of Christianity in the United States public life. It also explains very well how American public education became secular (in short too many different sects couldn't agree on right doctrine to teach so religious instructions was removed all together.) I'm very skeptical of the author's proposal to re-introduce religious studies in public school. While it would be great for all educated citizen to know about Christian past of this country, In my view the challenge of creating a religious studies class without turn to proselytizing Christianity simply cannot be overcome. Even in the author's book we can already see the the bias toward Christianity, with wide coverage of different Christian sects while other religions received less coverage. In short, this is not my favorite book, I probably won't read it again; it still contains a lot of fascinating history of religious education in United States.
    • 4/5
      Everyone should know their religious history. This helps us understand the debate about separation of church and state, teaching religion in public schools, and helps us to know ourselves.
    • 3/5
      Like other reviewers, I started reading this expecting information about the importance of religious studies (which was provided) and information about prominent US religions (other than Christianity, not so much). Despite my expectations not being fully met, I did learn about how the US developed its current religious identity and educational system. I do wish the historical narrative had been better contextualized, though -- it demonstrates the same Anglo-American biases that drove me nuts in all my K-12 US history classes
    • 4/5
      The literacy quizzes are great! Even if you don't wade through the whole book, take the quiz. Better yet, when you read the book you get to take it again....and oops, I had the same wrong answers re: Buddhism as I had the first time around. I just can't keep all the numbers straight...Should be required reading in Seminary, no matter what denomination or religion.
    • 3/5
      The most useful thing in this book is the Dictionary of Religious Literacy, which describes terms and titles associated with the major world religions in addition to explaining some of the basic differences between Christian denominations. I found this the most entertaining part. The rest of the book is a good solid discussion of why religious literacy matters in society, with a history of how it came to be and where it went. Turns out we can’t really blame the secular progressives on the left for the expulsion of religious literacy from our public classrooms. Prothero also offers his solution to changing this illiteracy, acknowledging it will be difficult because sometimes the fine line between education about religion and proselytizing can be blurred easily.Prothero’s argument for religious literacy makes sense when we realize that so much of our very language is built upon allusions from scriptures of the world’s religions, especially the Bible (of which there are several versions depending upon the denomination one belongs to). Art, architecture, literature and most especially, history have all been touched by religion and I believe, as Prothero posits, that a more religiously literate society can only mean a more informed citizenry.I would have liked to have seen a bibliography instead of just the footnotes, of which there were several pages. I would also have liked to have seen a more comprehensive “Suggested Reading” list. What I’m really looking for is a good comparative religion/Christian denominations book which delineates the differences and explains the history of each.
    • 3/5
      The title is a bit misleading. It *is* about the things that Americans don't know about religions, but it doesn't spend any time teaching anything. i.e. he states that "we" don't know that Moses wasn't asked to sacrifice his son (but he doesn't clarify what Moses really did, or who actually was asked to sacrifice his son).So, the first half of the book states the multitude of things that Americans (he means Westerners I think) don't know about any given aspect of any given religion (the books of the Bible, the Hindu texts, the tenets of Buddhism) but doesn't enlighten the reader with any answers.The 2nd half of the book is a dictionary of religious terms/items so I suppose this is where you'd go to find out the many things that you were told in the first half that you didn't know.I don't like reading dictionaries as educational material. I'm also not too fond of being given a list of stuff I'm too stupid to already know, without the teller bothering to correct me where I'm wrong.
    • 4/5
      Prothero, a professor of religious studies, argues that the level of knowledge in the U.S. about religions of the world is dangerously low, with an appalling ignorance of how religion has shaped history, religion, and public policy. He traces the history of religion in the U.S. and believes that the lack of knowledge about religious doctrines and beliefs began with the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century, which emphasized feelings over thought, the spiritual experience over religious study, and the direct experience of the believer over the mediation function of clergy. During the latter part of the 19th century, public schools became more secular.The latter part of the book is a dictionary of religious literacy. Prothero doesn't attempt to be comprehensive, but to introduce the aspects of the major world religions that are most often the subject of public debate. I consider myself fairly knowledgeable, but I learned a good bit from the dictionary. Where I fault Prothero the most is that he completely ignores modern Paganism and Wicca. Naturally I'm biased, since I am Pagan, but I do believe that the impact that Paganism, especially Wicca, has had on popular culture, the high degree of misunderstanding about it, and the debates over how it is handled in the military, for example, make it worthy of inclusion.Nevertheless, an interesting and useful book.
    • 5/5
      Can you Name the Four Gospels?"Religious Literacy" is about the paradox that Americans are both deeply religious and profoundly ignorant about religion. Stephen Prothero himself is not religious but is a scholar of religious studies. That is to say, he writes 'about' religion and not 'within' religion.This book is significant because while a majority of Americans consult their religious beliefs in their everyday decision-making, what informs those decisions is a profound ignorance of the doctrines that founded those beliefs. According to Prothero, ignorance leads to dangerous misunderstandings. During the FBI siege on Waco, Prothero argues that had FBI authorities been more knowledgeable in the apocalypse of the end of days, they would have interpreted the Branch Davidions intentions more accurately and perhaps avoided the terrible loss of life.So who, what, and when did Americans lose their religious literacy? Prothero argues that the Puritans who populated America during the 17th century were very well versed in the catechism of the Christian faith. But the revivals, specifically the Second Great Awakening weakened that knowledge through their emphasis on morality and orthopraxy. The postwar evangelical movements, the second Vatican Council, all contributors to the overall de-emphasis on catechism and reliance on faith alone. This all culminated in the rise of the so-called "culture wars" between the secular humanists and the fundamentalists.Though I agree with most of Prothero's anti-intellectual argument, along the lines of Richard Hofstadter. I think that he tends to dismiss the reasons behind and the powerful impulse of the many religious populist movements including revivalism and contemporary evangelicalism. The rise of the Christian Coalition, Moral Majority, is precisely the result of a rejection of the elitism, snobbery of traditional institutionalized religion. This is the same reason why revivalists of the Second Great Awakening rebelled against the divinity schools of Harvard and Yale, they focused on the experiential and conversion elements instead of dogma and theology. The "circuit riders" knew little about theology but knew how to sell religion to the public. Megachurches are precisely so popular today for the same reason. Why would the average person want to listen to their Pastors and Priests recite verses from the Bible ad nauseum, they could go back to school if they wanted that. In other words, religion has become popular again precisely due to the reasons why Prothero objects to. Dumbing down religion is what made it popular again. An injection of intelligence is likely only to push people away.True to his word, Prothero includes an extended glossary, 100 pages worth explaining such terms like Exodus, Sermon on the Temple Mount, Hadith, and Orthodox Judaism. It is a great reference, and is reason alone to buy the book.Overall, I think Prothero makes some very interesting obvervations about the role of religious education in today's society. From a literary perspective, religious references are used by almost every writer, a basic knowledge would obviously be crucial in understanding such references and parallels. Definitely recommend "Religious Literacy" for anyone wanting to learn more about the world's five major religions.
    • 4/5
      This is a good book for discussion; not so good a book for reading. You have to read it to discuss it, but it is awkward, repetitious reading. The ideas and history presented, however, are well worth discussing, even debating.
    • 4/5
      Excellent book on the downfall of America's religious literacy. There could have been more on the solution to this problem in the book, but I feel the author leaves that vague because he understands that a solution would need to be tailored to the community.
    • 4/5
      A concise treatment of current American religious illiteracy (and problems associated with it), a detailed history of American religion and suggestions for improvement. At the end is a glossary of important world religious terms.
    • 3/5
      Prothero favors rote memorization over and against "touchy-feeling" discussions on religious matters. He believes the emphasis on morality when teaching religion is one reason for the decline in religious knowledge in America. The glossary that the book provides is very helpful.
    • 5/5
      Despite being one of the most religious countries in the world, Americans know pitifully nothing about their religions. Not only do they not understand the tennents that they base their faith on, Americans don't know enough about other religions to understand world politics, enough about Christianity to understand political statements, our own history, or literary allusions (the entire time, I kept thinking about my college roommate who had to ask me (a Pagan) who Job is). He emphisizes, rightly, that the Supreme Court has, time and time again, reminded teachers that, while they cannot promote or preach religion, they are allowed to teach it.While I agree completely with Prothero's dismaying statements about the woeful lack of understanding of the various religions out there, I don't view his solution as practical. Having a full year of religion education (one semester of the Bible, one semester of world religions) would be great, except for the fact that he glosses over the lack of time, funding, or ability to teach it properly. If religion is taught in classrooms, I am not afraid that all teachers will suddenly start prosletysing to students. I am afraid that all the interest and intrigue will be yanked out of religious study the same way it has been squeezed from the study of history in high schools (see Lies My Teacher Told Me)-or literature, or math, or evolution, or any other topic that is so facinating and important that gets the guts ripped out or gets taught to the lowest intellegence level in the classroom.