The author of one of the famous religious books, God is Not One, is Stephen Prothero. He wrote the book with the emotions of spreading knowledge about different important religions of the world to the audience. The main purpose of the book is to enlighten the audience about the fact that God is present, and people, especially Americans, should have the knowledge to understand the fact that they should have the deep understanding about the religious knowledge. Religions are fundamentally the same is the main primary theme that is rejected by the author with the explanation that religions are different and the religious differences matters a lot.
Prothero wants to explain that many important and notable scholars in the world have failed to explain the difference between the world’s important religions, and all religions are not fundamentally the same. Prothero states, “This [belief that all religions are fundamentally the same] is a lovely sentiment, but it is dangerous, disrespectful, and untrue. For more than a generation, we have followed scholars and sages down the rabbit hole into a fantasy world on which all gods are based. The idea of religious unity is wishful thinking, and it has not made the world a safer place. In fact, this naive theological groupthink – call it Godthink – has made the world more dangerous by blinding us to the clashes of religion that threaten us worldwide.” (2-3)
It shows that according to the audience, this thought to consider the religions as fundamentally the same is dangerous as well as not true at all. The ideas and concept that makes the people belief that religions are same never made the world a safe place or peaceful one to live. So, Prothero decided to take the initiative to provide valid differences between the different notable and important religions of the world in his book. The purpose of the book is simply to spread important information about different religions to the audience and make them able to understand that religions are different from each other and people should have religious knowledge.
Islam, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Yoruba, Judaism, Daoism, and Atheism are all the religions that are targeted by the authors, and he attempted to provide all the significant details about each religion. According to the author, it is not easy to understand the religions and the fact that these could transform people. The author believes that the belief that the world is not a home for humans, and they are stuck between right and wrong deeds that impact the present and the afterlife. Christians want to develop saints, Buddhism wants to make Bodhisattvas, and Hinduism makes their own gods with their hands. Prothero’s attempt to provide great details about the notable religions is no doubt very effective, but there are certain weaknesses in the book as well.
The title of the book is offensive and based on some kind of negative assertion that provides nothing but offensiveness. The religions are truly not the same fundamentally, but giving a book named “God is Not One” is simply against some religious concepts, such as Christians and Muslims’ beliefs that God is only one. The title is not only offensive and against the true nature of the book but also nonsensical. Prothero targeted all religions by providing great details about each one, but many times, the work of the author is filled with inaccuracies. The inaccuracies are humorous as well as trivial. In the case of the religion of Christianity, Prothero claimed that the Protestants who are against the Bible always make some claims with explanations. It is a declaration that needs to be judged and verified by the Protestant Bible Bookstores.
Some other considerable flaws of the book are also present such as the declaration of Prothero about the concept of Christians “Soft Monotheism” which is not the same one and against the “hard monotheism” that are presented by Islam and Judaism. It’s an attempt that failed to engage the literature in a pattern of Trinitarianism. The pattern of the concept of “encounter” linked with the Athanasian Creed provides the readers with much information when they want to understand the values and beliefs of Christianity, and the author devoted deep knowledge towards this understanding pattern. The pattern of Prothero seems a little different when it comes to the explanation of Christianity, which includes the important section of the book, “Brown Christians.’ It relates to the concept of growth of modern Pentecostalism that exists in the Third World.
This pattern needed more clarification and deep understanding. The relative explanation of different substantive and durable developments that occurred and lasted within the religion of Christianity should be targeted by the author. There are several other aspects that are targeted by the author in an inadequate way,y including Eastern Orthodoxy and its relation with the Latin Church, as well as the implications of different and multiple differences based on the Reformation concepts. Overall, the entire book is effective in understanding the basic patterns and understanding of different religions that are notable in today’s world.
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