Austin Community College Austin, Texas, USA Introduction to Comparative Religion and Introduction to Philosophy Professor: Arthur C. Dechene, Jr., Ph.D.

Recommended Readings

A short list for students who want to learn more.

This list is liable to be changed at any time. It was started in 2004, and this revision is of 10 January 2010.

Note: Out of print books are usually easily available from online sources such as ABE Books (http://www.abebooks.com/), Alibris (http://www.alibris.com/), and Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/). You can also find used and brand new (remaindered) in-print books at these sources at good prices. Also, there are many excellent courses in philosophy, science, religion, literature, history, mathematics, and many other uni- versity subjects, available on CD and DVD from The Teaching Company, at www.teach12.com. Note that all their courses are put on sale at about half price at least once a year. Also, MIT offers a whole bunch of their regular undergraduate and graduate course for free (but not for credit) on the Web; they have a lot of philos- ophy courses.

Creative epistemology, or how to use the Law of Radiation and Attraction.  All the major religions (with the possible exception of Islam) agree that a person creates his own personal sense of what reality is by what he thinks and believes, and that our “manifesting” ability is powerful, but generally out of control (thus manifesting suffering for ourselves and others). The early Greeks sometimes called this process “naming,” and that is what it’s called in poem 1 of Tao Te Ching. I have coined the term “creative epistemology” because epistemology is the study of knowing, and what too few understand is that when we know something we tend to create it. Thus you can know something that appears not to be real yet, and it will become real. This is similar to the “observer effect” principle of quantum physics, and the popular and effective psychotherapy, Cognitive Therapy (Aaron Beck), is essentially the same. Martin Seligman’s Positive Psychology also draws on these ideas.  You can manifest worldly goods by just using disciplined thought, but, more importantly, you can manifest just plain feeling good (or feeling even better), physically and emotionally, and your spiritual good, and even, as the Ashtavakra Gita (chap. 1, verse 11) teaches, enlightenment itself. The American New Thought religious movement is a disciplined “way” of reconnecting with God and your worldly good by using the principles of the law of attraction throughout the day and in all aspects of your life. Many New Thought books have been published since Warren Felt Evans’ The Mind Cure in 1869 (full text available on the Web), and here are some of the best. The first four would be considered representative of the New Thought movement.  Florence Scovel Shinn, The Game of Life and How to Play It. Originally published in 1925 and now available in several paperback editions, and on our website. Don’t let its naïve style put you off, it’s full of solid principles on how to improve your life by replacing thoughts of what you don’t want with thoughts of what you truly desire.  Neville, The Power of Awareness (DeVorss, 1992—be sure to get this edition, which has been ex- panded with Neville’s own notes on his copy of the original 1952 edition). Neville Goddard was a mystic and a life-long student of mental manifesting. He wrote ten books, all good ones, and this might be the best. There is a Neville Goddard website, with links to many other New Thought au- thors.  Just two pages long, and a classic of the New Thought movement: The Golden Key, by Emmet Fox. Whenever negative thoughts keep troubling you, just “golden key” them.  Less than one page! And summarizing the whole idea of how your thoughts create your reality: The Umpire. In a baseball game it doesn’t matter whether the pitch is over the plate or not, it mat- ters what the umpire calls it. In the game of life, you’re the umpire.  Barry Zito, currently a pitcher for the San Francisco Giants and one of the all-time greatest pitchers in baseball, used the New Thought principles, especially as taught by Ernest Holmes, to perfect his game. Read about it here.  Lynne McTaggert, The Intention Experiment: Using Your Thoughts to Change Your Life and the

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World. Summarizes scientific studies of “mind over matter” and spiritual healing and invites the reader into a large-scale experiment she and others are currently conducting. This is also a good introduction to some implications of quantum physics. See ref. to her book The Field, below.  This article of mine shows how the idea of mental manifesting originated in ancient times, and de- scribes and contrasts the basic New Thought and Christian Science methods. Note the quotation from William James, who knew that New Thought actually worked.  The DVD movie You Can Heal Your Life (2007) is an outstanding introduction to practicing the New Thought or Law of Attraction principles. Be sure to get the expanded version, which has ten ex- tended interviews that are very helpful.

Meditation and reconnecting with reality.  When you clear your mind of all thoughts and just rest in alert stillness, you are manifesting, then and there, enlightenment.  Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now, A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment (New World Library, 2004). Very good for understanding “Being” and meditation. His A New Earth, Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (Penguin, 2005), may be even better on the same subjects—I haven’t made up my mind yet.  Ram Das, Journey of Awakening: A Meditator’s Guidebook (Bantam, 1990).  Article on what meditation is and how to do it, on our Web site.

Introductions to philosophy.  Introducing Philosophy, A Text with Integrated Readings (Harcourt College Publishers, 7th ed., 2001), by the late Robert Solomon (d. 2007), who taught at the University of Texas at Austin, is an excellent textbook that combines the history of philosophy approach with the topical approach. Also be aware of Solomon and Kathleen M. Higgins, A Short History of Philosophy (Oxford, 1996) and their A Passion for Wisdom, A Very Brief History of Philosophy (Oxford, 1997).  A classic by the famous British philosopher of the mid-twentieth century, Bertrand Russell, is The History of Western Philosophy (Simon and Schuster, 1945). Some parts are especially beautifully written and in- sightful (e.g., the first two pages, on what philosophy is, and the section on Plotinus).  Doubt, A History, by Jennifer Michael Hecht (HarperOne, 2004), is an excellent history of various philoso- phers, scientists, and other writers, Eastern and Western, religious and secular, on this important topic.  One of the best teachers on philosophy and religion, and especially eastern religious philosophy, is the late Alan Watts (1915-73). There are several good books by him in print, and there are several recordings of talks or lectures he gave. Take a look at alanwatts.com.  There are excellent philosophy resources on the Web, and this one, at Oxford, links many of them togeth- er.

Quantum physics and its implications for religion and philosophy.  All these books are remarkably well written, especially considering the often difficult concepts they have to deal with. Some are getting a bit old, but I have not seen better.  On the history, development and basic concepts of quantum physics.  Nick Herbert, Quantum Reality, Beyond the New Physics (Random House, 1985). Very well written.  On the basic concepts of quantum physics and how they relate to Hinduism, Buddhism, and Chi- nese thought.  Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics, An Exploration of the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism (Shambhala, 1975, 1999). A classic, very readable. I used to use it as a textbook in my Introduction to Philosophy classes, and students loved it.  On quantum physics and religious and philosophical monism.  Amit Goswami, The Visionary Window, A Quantum Physicist’s Guide to Enlightenment (Quest, 2000). Goswami is a theoretical nuclear physicist and member of The University of Oregon Institute for Theoretical Physics, and he knows Hindu Advaita Vedanta well.

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 On the science of the “Zero Point Field,” and quantum physics’ discoveries about oneness, a very well written book for the intelligent layperson is Lynn McTaggart, The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe (Harper, 2001). See mention of her The Intention Experiment, above.  Very good on describing the nature of reality as described by quantum physics, especially the no- tion that reality blinks on and off.  Deepak Chopra, Life After Death, The Burden of Proof (Harmony, 2006). The second part of the book is about 60 pages long, and is mainly on quantum physics.  A very good short piece from Caltech on the Internet describing “zero point energy and the zero point field.” I recommend the introduction, the rest gets pretty technical.

On belief and religion in general.  UCLA fMRI study of belief, showing its “hedonic” nature. Published 12/10/2007 in the Annals of Neurology. “Functional Neuroimaging of Belief, Disbelief, and Uncertainty,” by Sam Harris, Sameer A. Sheth, Mark S. Cohen. Summary, with link to the full study.  Why Bad Beliefs Don’t Die. Good short piece on the nature of belief.

Understanding the Bible in general.  Hector Avalos, The End of Biblical Studies (Prometheus Books, 2007). Clearly describes the almost total ir- relevance of the Bible for humanity today and how Bible studies of all kinds are supported for their own sakes—i.e., to keep biblical scholars and publishers employed. Avalos is one of those leading biblical scho- lars. He also points out that absolutely all bible translations have a religionist agenda and that, conse- quently, none can be relied on for what the bible actually says in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek; and that biblical archeology has come up empty-handed (see the article by Dee, below), indicating that the major events of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament are fictions.

Understanding Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible) and Judaism.  Marc Zvi Brettler, How to Read the Bible (Jewish Publication Society, 2005), is excellent.  You can get an idea of what Brettler and his book are about in this audio.  James Dee, “The Devout Face a Dilemma.” An op-ed piece from the Austin American-Statesman describing how biblical archeology has shown that there is almost no historical and archeological evidence for puta- tive historical events in the bible.  David S. Ariel, What Do Jews Believe? The Spiritual Foundations of Judaism (Schocken, 1995).

Understanding the Christian New Testament and the question of the historical .  An excellent place to start is ’s “The Jesus Puzzle”. There are plenty of articles there. Browse around the Website first.  An excellent introduction to how scholars investigate the , especially when looking for evidence of an , is Robert M. Price, The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man, How Reliable is the Tra- dition? (Prometheus Books, 2003).  Price was born into and became a minister of the Baptist religion, and is now an Episcopalian priest, but he is an independent thinker, with no theological axe to grind. And he writes well and is funny.  Watch out when going to books on Christianity, and especially on the gospels and the questions of the : most authors do have a theological axe to grind and will twist the evidence to make it support some traditional Christian orthodoxy. The mendacity of orthodox “scholars” is a scandal (but there is a lesson here: the religions can’t stand unfettered scholarship, i.e., free en- quiry—they know their traditions are based on lies and will be exposed). On this see the book by Avalos, recommended above.  One great benefit of this book is that it starts out by showing what principles rationalistic biblical scholars use. That is quite interesting in itself.  Earl Doherty, The Jesus Puzzle (go to his Web site where you can order an autographed copy—he fills or- ders quickly—or order it from amazon.com). Page 3 of 5

 There are many good short studies on how early Christianity developed by Doherty on his website “The Jesus Puzzle: Was there no Historical Jesus?”  I recommend you read the Price book first. And, if you’re really keen on the historical Jesus issue, go on to Price’s Deconstructing Jesus (Prometheus Books, 2000).  I also recommend you read these books several times, they are so full of information it’s too much to comprehend in one reading.  You should be familiar also with the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas.  There are many editions of Thomas, which is probably the earliest collection of Jesus-sayings. I recommend the version in Gary Renard’s Your Immortal Reality (Hay House, 2006), pages 162-171, which purports to be the original author’s own, shorter version.

Early Christianity.  The first third of the movie (on the Web) is excellent on the importance of zodiacal themes in Christianity. Be sure to notice the interactive notes.  Another outstanding book by Robert M. Price is The DaVinci Fraud, Why the Truth is Stranger than Fiction (Prometheus Books, 2005). It is much more than just a critique of Dan Brown’s silly novel (The Da Vinci Code), it is a complete introduction to early Christianity, and well written, as everything by Price is. The chapter on is especially excellent.  Charles Freeman, The Closing of the Western Mind, The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason (Knopf, 2003).  Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy, The Jesus Mysteries: Was the “Original Jesus” a Pagan God? (Random House, 1999). Argues that there is no evidence for an historical Jesus, and that the Jesus story is a rewriting of Pagan myths. Their Jesus and the Lost Goddess: The Secret Teachings of the Original Christians (Harmo- ny, 2001) argues that the Jesus story encodes a Gnostic wisdom teaching.

Gnosticism (both Christian and non-Christian).  Tobias Churton, The Gnostics (Barnes and Noble, 1997 [1987]), is an outstanding treatment of three forms of gnosticism.  The Christian gnosticism revealed especially in the Nag Hammadhi documents.  The gnosticism of the Hermes Trismegistos tradition.  And Renaissance gnosticism centering in 15th century Florence, especially around the figures of Marcilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. This book is no longer in print but is easily avail- able from the online used book sources noted above..  An outstanding short piece on Christian gnosticism is in Price’s The DaVinci Fraud, noted above.

Introduction to Eastern philosophy and religion.  A very well done book is The Best Guide to Eastern Philosophy and Religion, by Diane Morgan (Renaissance Books, 2001). Covers Indian and Chinese religions, and Zoroastrianism and Shinto.  See reference to Alan Watts, earlier.  An excellent and inexpensive reference to the Eastern and South Asian religions is The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Taoism, Zen, Hinduism, published by Shambhala.

Indian religion/philosophy (especially Brahmanism and Buddhism).  Huston Smith’s chapters on Hinduism and Buddhism in our textbook, The World’s Religions, plus the re- quired readings, Ashtavakra Gita and the Buddhist Heart Sutra, are an excellent beginning for understand- ing Indian religion and philosophy. Check Smith’s “Suggestions for further reading” at the end of the chap- ters on Hinduism and Buddhism. I can also recommend the following.  Eknath Easwaran’s three volume set that includes the Buddhist Dhammapada, the Hindu Bhagavad Gita, and a good selection from the Hindu Upanishads, all with excellent explanatory commentaries.  Perhaps better for the first-time reader are the Sky Light Illuminations (SkyLight Paths Publishing) versions of Dhammapada and Bhagavad Gita.  Barbara Stoller Miller’s Bhagavad Gita is also a good translation.

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 Shankara’s Crest Jewel of Discrimination or Crest Jewel of Wisdom. The very good translation of John Ri- chards is here and also on our Website (prints out to 40 pages).  Along with the Ashtavakra Gita the Crest Jewel is the clearest statement of the view that freedom (enlightenment) comes only from the realization of the oneness of Being and the developed ability to discriminate between what is real and what is illusory.  Prabhavananda and Isherwood’s translation, with commentary, is also very good.  The Ashtavakra Gita is the best document of Hindu Vedanta—and of religious metaphysics from any tradi- tion. Read this if nothing else. As one student said, “It’s all downhill from here.”  An anthology of hymns from The Rig Veda, collected, translated, and annotated by Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty of the U. of Chicago.  Heinrich Zimmer, Philosophies of India, is a scholarly but readable classic covering all the Indian philoso- phies, not just Brahmanism and Buddhism.

The argument that popular religion as such is evil.  Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (Twelve, 2007).  Sam Harris, Letter to a Christian Nation (Vintage, 2008). Ten recommended readings at the end.  Sam Harris, The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason (W.W.Norton, 2004).  Gregory Paul study (published by a Roman Catholic University) of statistical evidence of the relation be- tween popular religion and social dysfunction in 18 developed nations. Paul advances minimal interpreta- tion in this article, as the statistics speak for themselves, showing that wherever religious observance is strong (i.e., in the USA and, in the USA, in the Bible Belt), in contrast to more secular societies (e.g., Euro- pean countries and northeastern America), rates of social dysfunction (such as homicides, abortions, drug use, etc.) are correspondingly high, suggesting that popular religion as such should be considered a social dysfunction.  This November 2008 Slate.com article by Paul Bloom (author of Descartes’ Baby) is helpful on whether re- ligion is good for society or not.

Copyright © 2004-2010, Arthur C. Dechene, Jr. Revised Sunday, January 10, 2010.

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