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A Doubter's Guide to World Religions presents each of the world's five major religions and carefully outlines the history, belief systems, and spiritual practices of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam so that the interested and curious doubters can explore their similarities and differences.
About the author
John Dickson (PhD, Macquarie University) serves as the Jean Kvamme Distinguished Professor of Biblical Evangelism and Distinguished Scholar in Public Christianity at Wheaton College. A speaker, historian, and media presenter, John is the author of more than 20 books, two of which became television documentaries. He also cohosted the documentary For the Love of God: How the Church is Better and Worse Than you Ever Imagined. He is an Honorary Research Associate at the University of Sydney, a Visiting Academic in the Faculty of Classics at Oxford University (2016-2021), and Distinguished Fellow in Public Christianity at Ridley College Melbourne. John presents Australia’s no.1 religion podcast, Undeceptions, exploring aspects of life, faith, history, culture, or ethics that are either much misunderstood or mostly forgotten.
Summary
For believers and skeptics alike, A Doubter's Guide to World Religions introduces the five major world religions so that you can explore their similarities and differences in a fair and engaging way.
The world is a very religious place. Wherever you look, people are worshipping, praying, believing, following, even dying for their faith. But what does it mean to be religious? Are all religions the same? Do they all call on the same God simply using different names? Are their beliefs and practices simply cultural expressions of the same spiritual longings?
Written by historian and theologian John Dickson in his characteristically engaging style, this book presents each of the world's five major systems of faith, carefully outlining the history, doctrines, beliefs, and spiritual practices of:
- Hinduism ("The Way of Release")
- Buddhism ("The Way of Enlightenment")
- Judaism ("The Way of the Torah")
- Christianity ("The Way of the Christ")
- Islam ("The Way of Submission")
In his own words, Dickson acts as an art curator in a gallery, presenting each of these "works of art" in their best light and letting each have their say. Along the way, he demonstrates the importance of religion in general—to society and to individual believers—and addresses many of the universal questions that all of these serious and ancient religions ask:
- Who are we?
- What is our worth?
- How should we live?
- Are we alone?
At the end of each section is a bibliography of helpful books and websites for those who are interested in learning even more.
