"Abraham's Curse: The roots of violence in Judaism, Christianity and Islam," by Bruce Chilton.
Review / order it
Bruce Chilton discusses the story in Genesis 22 that describe's
Abraham's intent to commit a ritual sacrifice of his son. He shows how some
extreme radical fundamentalist groups within modern-day Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam have interpreted this passage as a justification for their violence
and martyrdom.
July's selection:
"With or without God: Why the way we live is more important
that what we believe" by Gretta Vosper
This book promotes a progressive view of Christianity that might
just reverse the gradual decline of mainline Christianity into irrelevance.
Unfortunately, as of April Fools Day in 2008, it is listed by neither Amazon.com
or BarnesandNoble.com. See Amazon's Canadian outlet at
Amazon.ca for a description.
August's selection:
"The New Testament: A historical introduction to the
early Christian Writings," by Bart Ehrman. Review / order it
This book is rather expensive. However, inexpensive used
copies are available through Amazon Marketplace.
From Amazon.com's book description:
"Bart Ehrman's highly successful introduction approaches the
New Testament from a consistently historical and comparative perspective,
emphasizing the rich diversity of the earliest Christian literature. Rather
than shying away from the critical problems presented by these books, Ehrman
addresses the historical and literary challenges they pose and shows why
scholars continue to argue over such significant issues as how the books of
the New Testament came into being, what they mean, how they relate to
contemporary Christian and non-Christian literature, and how they came to be
collected into a canon of Scripture. ... [It] is an accessible, clearly
written introduction that encourages students to consider the historical
issues surrounding these writings.
