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This beautifully written book presents not just the basic beliefs and essential teachings of Christianity, but also includes personal stories and anecdotes. The author points out the limitations of secular culture which emphasizes individuality and demonstrates how this distorts our ability to sense the deep connections of all creation. He is quite firm in his criticism of the mistaken assumption that "absence of evidence" is equivalent to "evidence of absence".
Huston Smith is an old man who has loved Christianity his whole life, since he was taught by his parents who were missionaries to China. He has also loved all the world's religions, through which people have contact with the transcendent realm, and learn peace and generosity. Today Smith is distressed to observe that this thing he loves is being disregarded by secular people as backward superstition, in conflict with science, and is being hijacked by religious people who are doing it wrong, and
I bought this book after reading Huston Smith's Why Religion Matters.I was less impressed by this book than than Why Religion Matters, but that may have just been because I read it first and it was just so spectacularly amazing.This was a more dense read. I had to read slowly, especially in part 1; parts 2 and 3 lightened up considerably.I have learned quite a bit about Christianity from this book. It is a good, level-headed report that doesn't shrink from controversy, but rather reports it even...
This is a great book by a scholar who's very familiar with all religions and all the arguments against religion and still holds a powerful and vital Christian faith. It helped me understand the appeal (and the possibility of rehabilitation) of a religion that has exasperated me for a large part of my life.
In an interview with HarperSanFrancisco, Huston Smith says he wrote The Soul of Christianity in response to his friend and former pupil’s book: Marcus Borg’s The Heart of Christianity. Smith accused Borg of having given up too much to Modernism. We could imagine he means Borg’s tendency to discount many of the miraculous stories in both the Old and New Testaments. A self-proclaimed universalist, Smith actually accuses Borg of being too liberal. Yet, Smith became a universalist because he spent h...
A wild mixture of wisdom and woo woo.
A pleasant and challenging read from Huston Smith. A gentleman and a scholar, his prose are both accessible and challenging. A good read for Christians and non-Christians alike. Peace.
I have read several books by Huston Smith and each one has increased my appreciation of his intellect, humor, and ability to discuss religious and spiritual issues with compassion and insight. I happened upon this one in the library and was not disappointed. I need to find a copy to buy for reference. I did need a dictionary by my side for parts of it, because he uses exact theological terms when discussing some of the ideas, but in general he has the gift of simplicity which makes his concepts
A great book for developing an expansive view of the Christian faith in contrast to other faith traditions. Smith is never prejorative towards other faith traditions and is appreciative of their strengths. Mostly he seeks to reveal the wonderful depth of Christianity. So helpful to read in a reactive time.
An idiosyncratic look at the spirit of Christianity, by one of the grand old men of comparative religions. Not as deep or insightful as a specialist might hope, and a little challenging in its choices of illustrations for the ordinary lay reader.
Absolutely splendid book. A worthy, honest read--especially for Christians. Encourages humility, openness and mysticism. The inability to prove something does not mean the something does not exist.
I've only had this book checked out for about 7 weeks. There's just an awful lot in it and I have to take long breaks between passages. It has been enlightening and engaging, a strong reminder that Christians come from a long tradition, shared by ALL who believe in Christ as the Savior of humanity. I may buy this book so I can refer to it. One of the striking things I found, towards the end, was a description of purgatory which I found fascinating: "...a temporary abode where souls are punished
I learned a great deal from this book.Smith accurately points out that human beings are hard-wired for transcendence.That is what we yearn for instinctively.Smith also writes that liberal churches often don't offer transcendence. Instead they offer rallying cries to be good, which ultimately doesn't satisfy. And as a result of this approach many liberal churches are digging their own graves.We need a radically theistic world-view, which is the legacy of the Christian Mystics.An emphasis on justi...
Just a reminder to anyone thinking of reading this book: when Huston Smith writes about world religions (and in this book Christianity in particular), he writes of the "high form" of the religion, that is, what the religion says about God and human existence in the wisest, purest form the religion takes. He very specifically does NOT dwell in the low forms of the religion - e.g., fundamentalism, dogmatism, etc. He is clear about that at the outset. He doesn't deny them; they simply aren't the pu...
For quite some time, I've been looking for a good introduction to Christianity which I can recommend and to which I can refer. This is that book. The author, Huston Smith, wrote the wonderful textbook on world religions many of us have studied, so he is in some ways an old and familiar friend. There are several things I love about this book:Its critique of modernity and the scientific worldview is needed, and I think, solid. He argues that when this worldview leaves no place for God and faith, i...
Huston Smith, who passed away in December 2016, was a tireless seeker after spiritual wisdom. His pathways were many and varied and he wrote about his discoveries for a wide audience but especially the educated layperson. This book is about the essence of Christianity and an extended reaffirmation and argument for the view that secular materialism has simply got it wrong. Typical of his style, the book is well written and vitally important for our times. If you are a seeker as well I also recomm...
Wellspring of philosophy: “the longing to be at home in the world is what keeps most of us from being at peace.”“To be human is to long for release from mundane existence with its confining walls of finitude and mortality.”“If anything characterize modernity it is the loss of the sense of transcendence – of a reality that exceeds and encompasses our every day affairs” – Peter Berger“God is the conventional English name for the Infinite, but Good, True, Real, Almighty, One, etc. are equally accur...
Smith presents an interesting breakdown of Christian theology and theological history in "The Soul of Christianity."I'm not quite sure, however, what I'm walking away from it with. It's a lovely book, but anything he covered was so brief and generic (almost by necessity, really) that I don't feel I gained too much from the book aside from a pleasant reading experience and a bit of new information.It follows the party line a bit too much for my tastes, but that was Smith's desire, I believe.
Smith doesn't really end up making a point, but it can be guessed at. I think he does very well at thinking ecumenically and explains the Roman Catholic, Orthodox and "Protestant" world views as well as anyone has. However, his inferred "Great Tradition" is rather flabby material that can be cut and pasted on almost anything with a spiritual aspect. Lots of empty calories here, folks.
his is the first of Houston Smith's books I have read all the way through, and almost didn't make it through this one. Part One, The Christian Worldview, almost lost me because it is dense and philosophical. I am glad I persisted as I truly enjoyed Part Two, The Christian Story. I lost interest again in Part Three on the Branches of Christianity, as I found it too brief to do justice to the differences. All in all, I appreciate the personal nature of this book as Smith takes a step back from wri...