Why So Many Gods?

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 384 pages
• Published by: Thomas Nelson April 1, 2002
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0785247637
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0785247630
• Book Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Weighs: 1 pounds

Product Description


Did you watch The Matrix and think it had to be something more than just an action flick? Do you wonder what Madonna's henna tattoos mean?

This book covers over 100 world religions, secular worldviews, cults, and occult practices from a Christian viewpoint with tolerance and civility. It tells the basic beliefs, short history, important aspects, and it identifies the religions in pop culture-all in a teen-magazine style of writing. The goal of this book is to educate teens to be able to identify the religions they come in contact with daily. All content has been reviewed by experts in Christian theology.

Reader Reviews
First of all this book is for the teenagers and should not be criticized as an adult book that try to explain all religions in detail-even if it can ever be done. Second, this is a book for Christian teens from Protestant-Christian point of view to address a need among young people living in a confusing pluralistic society. Any religious book addressing other religions could often be found offensive to people from those religions. Thirdly, for Christians, this book is quite moderate, so it will offend both fundamental and liberal Christians. The fundamentalists would be surprised by its inclusiveness of the Roman Catholics, and the liberals would think it too fundamentalistic. This book is an excellent tool for a `good teacher' that needs an attractive material to get the teenagers' attention. By that I mean any religious book can be misused by a bad teacher. Even a Christian church can be cultic, depending on what the leader of that church teaches. No surprising that so many cults came out of Christianity. Some reviewers here are not happy with their religion being put in the category of cults in this book. Unfortunately, the book doesn't give an extensive explanation as to what makes a cult. And again, this is not a book for adults. A detail definition like that would kill the kids. For the information of wu8604, a previous reviewer who thought the book was wrong when it says that the Moonies (Unification Church) has its geographic center in Japan, the book is correct. `Geographic center' is not equal to its originating region. A great deal of Moonies' money comes from Japan and some of them were said to be war criminals. The Moonies in my town (Paramus, New Jersey) that I have seen so far are mostly Japanese women. They had tried very hard to recruit me, but now they gave up on me. But, thanks to Wu for his sharp eyes to catch the spelling errors. It seems to make the book more for the kids! Maybe the authors themselves are kids. This book plus your objective knowledge of other religions will make a good teaching tool for the curious kids. It will stir up some discussions between you and the kids, until they become mature enough to read more sophisticated books.