Robert S. Ellwood

strangely erratic, idiosyncratic inquisitorial examination of the careers of three scholars of myth and religion. This reads more like a settling of accounts by another religious scholar who chooses to trade in anecdotes, gossip, and guilt-by-association, rather than an academic engagement. Thankfully, there were a few interesting threads to be disentangled from the overall morass of the text.

Oddly enough, Mircea Eliade (which the author did his graduate work under), who had the clearest, show more historical documented connections to a brutal, right-wing, and fascist organization comes out with the "cleanest" of the three depictions.

Very frustrating trying to follow the author's disjointed and leading argumentation.

On the bright side, it did encourage me to revisit Jung's essays "Wotan" and "After the Catastrophe" (Collected Works Vol X., Civilization In Transition) to see if the author had a clear argument(it was kinda muddled) or, if he was pulling things out of his ass (he kinda was).

Reading those two essays today, it was troubling to see how relevant they appear to be in this current political climate in the U.S. show less

In Finding the Quiet Mind, Robert Ellwood presents a practical starting point for exploring the art of meditation. This isn't a complicated craft, but it's hardly easy. Nor will it be beneficial for everyone who commits to trying it for a while.

As the title suggests, the hardest obstacles for beginners are teaching your body to be still and removing distractions from your mind. Ellwood devotes the majority of the book to this simple process of settling down. And getting to that point is show more certainly a kind of meditation in itself. show less

I'm not a huge Lord of the Rings fan, but I loved this book. I would say this book kicked off my journey of spiritual explortation beyond what I had been raised with. I highly reccommend it!

About the authors: "Robert S. Ellwood . . .is an American academic, author and expert on world religions. He was educated at the University of Colorado, Berkeley Divinity School and was awarded a PhD in History of Religions from the University of Chicago in 1967. He was the Professor of World Religions at the University of Southern California from 1967 until 1997 and is now professor emeritus. He has written many titles on religion" Source: www.wikipedia.org. "[Barbara A. McGraw, J. D., PhD show more is the Director for the Center for Engaged Religious Pluralism and Professor, Social Ethics, Law, and Public Life, School of Liberal Arts and School of Economics and Business Administration, St. Mary's, California] "Dr. McGraw is also an author and speaker on American identity and the role of religious pluralism in public life. . .[She is the author and co-editor on other works.] Source: www.stmarys-ca.edu. About the book: quoting from the book's back cover, "This classic work presents the religions of the world in a way that captures the total human experience in a factual and empathetic manner, helping students gain a sense of each religion's unique characteristics, positive meaning, romance, and beauty, while tackling some of today's most critical religious issues. Written in an engaging style, it comes fully updated--with fresh insights and information on today's new religious movements, the role of women in world religions today. . . and more." This book comes with a CD, has an appendix, extensive chapter notes, a glossary and is well indexed. show less