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Gods in the Global Village: The World's Religions in Sociological Perspective
In an era plagued by religious conflict, the Second Edition of Gods in the Global Village directly responds to issues of social problems prevalent in the world today. Using an engaging, though-provoking style, author Lester R. Kurtz focuses on the relationship among the major faith traditions that inform the thinking and ethical standards of most people in the emerging global social order.
352 pages, Paperback
First published March 6, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 14, 2021
The textbook used for my Religion and Society class. It is a definite textbook and it expects you to know a bit about the basics of sociology going in but it isn’t difficult to catch up with in a few chapters. While I had taken both Western and Eastern religions classes I still learned quite a bit from this book
May 3, 2020
Good overview of basic religious tenants of major religions and overlap of their beliefs, philosophy, ways of connecting with the world, and more; pretty textbook-y, overall content helpful to be educated world citizen and informative even if a little dry at times.
April 11, 2021
Very interesting read for a textbook. I definitely learned a good bit, without falling asleep while reading.
December 31, 2022
Decent textbook, but could attribute a lot more to Indigenous religions.
August 7, 2016
This book compares major religions and talks about how they interact in modern society. This is spurred by current events in recent years related to violence and terrorism. By understanding religions and how they can be manipulated to support violence, the author hopes to promote peace.
The first chapter defines sociology terms that will be used. This is written in an academic tone. People who don’t have an interest in sociology may not like this chapter. Although the definitions are important, there are only a couple terms that are essential for understanding the later parts. If someone gets bored reading the first chapter, they might be able to skip it without losing too much.
The next few chapters give backgrounds about the major religions. It reminded me of what anyone would learn from a college course on Introduction to Religions.
The last chapters focus on aspects of religions that can be used to promote violence. The author finds examples in each major religion of how sacred texts can be read in a way that says it is okay to be violent. However, he points out that the majority of each one is about peace. In order to believe that the texts allow outright violence, the reader of those texts would have to take out of context what they were reading. Special attention is given to Islam. Kurtz shows how the vast majority of its adherents see it as a religion of peace.
A major connecting theme is that Kurtz feels religions are still growing and changing over time. Sociological and anthropological evidence supports this. Kurtz says this is positive because it means that in international relations, people should adjust and become more peaceful.
Also, Kurtz has an interesting look at cults.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in religions that isn’t reluctant to deal with sociological terms. However, the first chapter needs a broadened focus with more examples or case studies.
The first chapter defines sociology terms that will be used. This is written in an academic tone. People who don’t have an interest in sociology may not like this chapter. Although the definitions are important, there are only a couple terms that are essential for understanding the later parts. If someone gets bored reading the first chapter, they might be able to skip it without losing too much.
The next few chapters give backgrounds about the major religions. It reminded me of what anyone would learn from a college course on Introduction to Religions.
The last chapters focus on aspects of religions that can be used to promote violence. The author finds examples in each major religion of how sacred texts can be read in a way that says it is okay to be violent. However, he points out that the majority of each one is about peace. In order to believe that the texts allow outright violence, the reader of those texts would have to take out of context what they were reading. Special attention is given to Islam. Kurtz shows how the vast majority of its adherents see it as a religion of peace.
A major connecting theme is that Kurtz feels religions are still growing and changing over time. Sociological and anthropological evidence supports this. Kurtz says this is positive because it means that in international relations, people should adjust and become more peaceful.
Also, Kurtz has an interesting look at cults.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in religions that isn’t reluctant to deal with sociological terms. However, the first chapter needs a broadened focus with more examples or case studies.
July 10, 2014
Although I certainly found this book informative and interesting, I couldn’t help but feel that it tried to cover too much ground. It showed a lot of different views and analysis of religion but without dwelling on them for any decent period of time. I feel that this book would certainly benefit from dropping some of the less important names and expanding on those with interesting ideas.
May 2, 2016
I read this book for my Sociology of Religion course. It provides a good overview of the sacred canopy and religious influence on society. It does get a little boring but it was still good to read.
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May 20, 2017This is really more of a textbook on the sociology of religion than anything else. As such, it is not particularly conducive to summation (too many topics; too much information).
However, there are two things worth noting about the contents. First, the book goes to great lengths to look at religion from a global perspective, which I found to be invaluable and informative, especially considering how uncommon it is to do so. The second point is similar - the book doesn't focus on just Christianity or U.S. religion. The book compares, contrasts, and examines all of the major world religions- Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. There isn't really more emphasis on one than another; they pretty much receive equal treatment, which is also unusual.
Comments:
The fact that the book looks at all of the major world religions rather than focusing on just Christianity, which is early on outlined as the book's objective (a global perspective), is refreshing and likely very informative for students in the U.S. who typically are somewhat ignorant of life outside of their country.
It is also nice that the author, Lester Kurtz, reveals his personal religious biases to begin with. His wife and kids are Jewish, but as a family they predominantly worship at Quaker worship services. His interest in the Quaker religion is revealed, to a degree, by his treatment of Gandhi. Not only is the treatment quite extensive, but Gandhi is idolized for his peaceful tactics (not that I disagree with this approach, I just found it revealing of the author's biases). Also, the final chapter, though well-written and not particularly overt, is definitely Kurtz's attempt to spread a message of peace. He doesn't necessarily attack religions for their history of justifying violence, but he definitely hopes this history is nearing its end.
Despite being well-written and offering an informative global perspective, there are a couple of problems with the book. First, there is only minimal treatment of secularization. Lacking is a discussion of neo-secularization (Chaves 1994), though admittedly much of this was happening while Kurtz was writing the book. Also, though the debate continues, there is definitely much more evidence for the existence of secularization in the U.S. than is presented in the text.
I also found the author's usage of scripture, the Bible in particular, hard to follow at times. He goes in and out of using the Bible as historical and metaphorical and never specifically states which perspective he is employing at any given point. For instance, Kurtz uses the story of Moses coming to power as the leader of the Children of Israel to make a point about religions generally, but also seems to conclude that the story is historically accurate. Whether he really believes it is or not isn't clear.
Finally, the author has a tendency to drift off onto theoretical tangents that, at times, are more rambling than coherent. These occurrences are few and far between, but when they do happen you find yourself wondering how you arrived where you are.
Overall, I highly recommend this book as a text for a course on the sociology of religion. The book is for the most part accurate, well-written, and clear (I know he missed one point with Mormons, but I didn't find many other flaws). The book isn't without its problems, but they are truly minimal compared to the synthesis of a global perspective on religions he has produced in writing this book.
However, there are two things worth noting about the contents. First, the book goes to great lengths to look at religion from a global perspective, which I found to be invaluable and informative, especially considering how uncommon it is to do so. The second point is similar - the book doesn't focus on just Christianity or U.S. religion. The book compares, contrasts, and examines all of the major world religions- Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. There isn't really more emphasis on one than another; they pretty much receive equal treatment, which is also unusual.
Comments:
The fact that the book looks at all of the major world religions rather than focusing on just Christianity, which is early on outlined as the book's objective (a global perspective), is refreshing and likely very informative for students in the U.S. who typically are somewhat ignorant of life outside of their country.
It is also nice that the author, Lester Kurtz, reveals his personal religious biases to begin with. His wife and kids are Jewish, but as a family they predominantly worship at Quaker worship services. His interest in the Quaker religion is revealed, to a degree, by his treatment of Gandhi. Not only is the treatment quite extensive, but Gandhi is idolized for his peaceful tactics (not that I disagree with this approach, I just found it revealing of the author's biases). Also, the final chapter, though well-written and not particularly overt, is definitely Kurtz's attempt to spread a message of peace. He doesn't necessarily attack religions for their history of justifying violence, but he definitely hopes this history is nearing its end.
Despite being well-written and offering an informative global perspective, there are a couple of problems with the book. First, there is only minimal treatment of secularization. Lacking is a discussion of neo-secularization (Chaves 1994), though admittedly much of this was happening while Kurtz was writing the book. Also, though the debate continues, there is definitely much more evidence for the existence of secularization in the U.S. than is presented in the text.
I also found the author's usage of scripture, the Bible in particular, hard to follow at times. He goes in and out of using the Bible as historical and metaphorical and never specifically states which perspective he is employing at any given point. For instance, Kurtz uses the story of Moses coming to power as the leader of the Children of Israel to make a point about religions generally, but also seems to conclude that the story is historically accurate. Whether he really believes it is or not isn't clear.
Finally, the author has a tendency to drift off onto theoretical tangents that, at times, are more rambling than coherent. These occurrences are few and far between, but when they do happen you find yourself wondering how you arrived where you are.
Overall, I highly recommend this book as a text for a course on the sociology of religion. The book is for the most part accurate, well-written, and clear (I know he missed one point with Mormons, but I didn't find many other flaws). The book isn't without its problems, but they are truly minimal compared to the synthesis of a global perspective on religions he has produced in writing this book.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews