I had been really looking forward to reading this book ever since first hearing about it; it's a supposed beginner's guide to the world's major religions, explaining to us stupid Americans the basic tenets behind such complicated subjects as the gods of Hinduism, the morality of Islam, the ten commandments of Christianity, etc etc. But it turns out that this book is not that at all; it is instead mostly an insulting and patronizing lecture about what a bunch of morons almost all Americans are, and how we should all be ashamed of ourselves for daring to speak in public about the issue of religion in the first place. And that's...true, don't get me wrong, but was not the book I was expecting to read, nor the kind of book I have any interest in reading; I already get that most Americans are horribly ignorant when it comes to these issues, including myself, which is the whole reason I picked the book up in the first place. And sure, there actually is a section of this book that tries to explain these basic issues about world religions; but not only does it take up less than a third of the entire manuscript, but also follows no logical sense whatsoever, with the author instead merely giving us a series of dictionary entries listed in mere alphabetical order, giving us no sense of how these topics relate to each other but merely spitting out just enough information for us to not look like idiots at cocktail parties. This book is not only worthless from a practical standpoint, but edges on offensive to anyone who dares to bother taking an interest in it; I recommend skipping it altogether, and sticking to Wikipedia when it comes to learning the basics of the world's major religions.

Out of 10: 2.5 ( )

I gave up on this book about halfway through, which probably means I read most of it, because - as I understand - much of the actual text of the book consists of a glossary of important terms in religion.

While Prothero's book offers a number of interesting factoids and cringe-inducing anecdotes about American ignorance of religion, I am not sure it amounts to as much as he'd like it to. He cites a lot of statistics about American religious belief that strike me as unbelievable - 40% of Americans claim to be born-again Christians - and that don't jive with numbers I've read elsewhere. I actually checked with some friends who work in public opinion research & they thought many of his numbers did not correspond to research they had been involved in. This doesn't mean that Prothero's data is wrong, but it made me question the way he presented it, which was often out of context. I would have liked to have more information about the specific polls in question presented in the body of the book, rather than just as footnotes (which are really hard to access on the Kindle version of the book....). Another irritating aspect of his use of polling data and statistics was how often Prothero resorted to using the word "many" - "many" self-described observant Christians cannot name the four cannonical Gospels, "many" of his students could not name a single Hindu text - I have no idea what "many" means in these contexts. Prothero wants to indicate trends, but he doesn't present the data in a transparent way, which makes it much less convincing.

The quick and dirty history of the role of religion in America - which is meant, I believe, to demonstrate that we can't truly understand anything that happened without understanding the religious beliefs of those involved & thereby support the argument that learning about religion is important - amounts to basically nothing more than a series of assertions that a particular stream of religious belief was really really central to this significant social movement or that major turning point in American history. I understand that Prothero is not writing a history of religious belief in America & the intersection of religion and social-political movements, but this entire section seemed really slapdash. No footnotes, no references to secondary literature. Just assertion after assertion after assertion.

Perhaps I am a nitpicky ass, but I am extremely skeptical of a book that claims that Americans lack the most basic knowledge of religions but refers to the Torah as the "Hebrew Bible" and asserts that religion doesn't count for much in Holland or France, two countries that have seen increasing conflict over religion in public life for at least the last 2 years (the book was published in 2007, so I use that as a frame of reference). Prothero is a professor of religion at a good university & I assume he's a respected scholar, so it is irritating to me that things like this slipped through either due to ignorance or sloppy editing.

Ultimately, I didn't want to bother finishing this book. ( )

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. ( )

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. ( )

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. ( )