I love reading books about the history of religion. The way it started, the way it’s developed, and all that stuff. Ancient Judaism and the earliest years of Christianity are particular favorite topics of mine, but pretty much anything regarding religious history is interesting.
Can anyone recommend any good books? I’ve already got A History of God, BTW. I’m also just wrapping up Church History in Plain Language, by Bruce Shelley.
Thanks a lot!
Well appropos to current events, Muhammed and the Origins of Islam by F.E. Peters ( 1994, State University Press of New York ), is a concise introduction to pre-Islamic Arabia, the development of Islam and Muhammed as a historical character.
More interesting to me, is The Succesion to Muhammed, A Study of the Early Caliphate by Wilferd Madelung ( 1997, Cambridge University Press ) which takes as its point of departure Muhammed’s death, then traces the evolvingpolitical milieu under the Rashidun ( “Rightly Guided Caliphs” - the first four successors to Muhammed ). Essentially it details the origins of the Sunni/Shi’a split.
If you want to stick with Chritisnity, a few months ago I finished The Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade by Michael Costen ( 1997, Manchester University Press ), about the vaguely Manichaen Christian heresies in 12th and 13th century France. Very interesting.
I’m currently interested in picking up a volume on Pagan Lithuania from 1295 ( the rise of the ‘Lithuanian Empire’ )-1387 ( when Lithuania converted to the Orthodox faith ). But at $80.00, I’m hesitating 
.
Oh, here’s another short one on Islam. Islamic Studies, A History of Religions Approach by Richard C. Martin ( second edition, 1996, Prentice-Hall, Inc. ). It’s sort of an overview of Islam as a practice ( or even a guide to Islam ) from a historical view. Four main sections ( with multiple chapters ):
Part I - Islamic Religion: An Overview
Part II - Islamic History: Periods, Themes and Counterthemes
PartIII -Islamic World Views: Religious Thoughts and Esthetics
Part IV Islamic Rituals and Ethos: Religion and Society
Pretty brief at about 250 pages and a little Sunni-centric, but with some very interesting tidbits. Less of a pure history text than an introduction to the religion itself, so it may not be what you’re looking for.
You might also look up anything by Robin Lane Fox. I have two of his which I’ve referred to over and over for various mailbag articles including The Unauthorized Version and Pagans and Christians.
I recommend The Torch of the Testimony by John W. Kennedy. A summary and excerpts can be found here.
Well then there’s also her latest book, The Battle for God about the rise of fundamentalism (aslo appropo of current events as it deals with Islamic fundamentaism too. She also has a book called Islam, though I haven’t read it.)
There’s all of Elaine Pagels’s book; The Gnostic Gospels, The Origin of Satan, Adam, Eve and the Serpent. Specifically about the development of early Christianity.
And how 'bout The Book of J by Harold Bloom (if you can find it), Who Wrote the Bible by Richard Friedman and Who Killed Jesus by John Crossan?
You could try The Kingdom Of The Wicked by Anthony Burgess.
This is a fictionalised account of the 40 or 50 years immediately following the Crucifixion of Jesus. The story gets a bit disjointed in parts, jumping from one character to another, from Judea to Rome, but it doesn’t lack interest or incident.
There is a review of the book at amazon.com (I tried a link to the specific page but it failed).
Excavating Christ by John Dominic Crossan and Jonathan L Reed. It literally puts Christ in his place.
I attended a lecture by John Dominic Crossan a couple of weeks ago, and it was really amazing. He’s a great speaker and a great writer, and it’s extremely interesting stuff.
More or less anything by Peter Brown is a good place to start: the nice thing about him is that he is a solid scholor–dosen’t mean he can’t be argued with (he certainly can be), but you at least know he has reasons for the things he asserts. Religious history is such a facinating subject that it becomes diffucult at times to know which writers to trust–thier are some serious kooks out there.
Here is a link to the book I would start with, which is out of print but there are used copies starting at $4.50.
Chapter 15 or so of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is also worth checking out, not so much because Gibbon’s theories are on hte cutting edge, but because everyone else you read will have read Gibbons, and many of them will assume you have, too.
Thanks, folks! Keep 'em coming.
Even though I’m Pagan, I’ve always found the history and development of Christianity fascinating. Catholicism, the saints, and the popes are really cool to read about. I also like ancient history, like Greek & Roman mythology, and Ancient Egyptian stuff. The drier, the better, IMHO.
God - A Biography by Jack Miles is a good one. Takes an in depth look at God from the Judeo-Christian standpoint from creation to the present.
On the Judaism front, if you’re interested in reading about it from an (Orthodox) religious perspective, there’s no better (in my opinion) set of books than the triad by Rabbi Berel Wein:
Echoes of Glory (350 BCE - 750)
Herald of Destiny (750 - 1650)
Triumph of Survival (1650 - 1990)
They’re large and a bit expensive, but quite fascinating.
And he has a new book out “Christ:A Crisis in the Life of God”. Or something like that. I haven’t read them. It sounds more like theory than history, but a pretty interesting theory (becoming Jesus is God’s way of apologising to man.)
…you start a thread, then forget that you’ve started it? Gaaah.
The stuff you folks have suggested sounds quite good. I might ask for the books that cmkeller recommended for Christmas (or Hannukah–my mom’s SO is Jewish :D). The rest I’ll see if I can find on my own.