GENERAL, OR SPANNING MORE THAN ONE OF THE THREE RELIGIONS

Armstrong, Karen, A History of God : The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. According to Publisher's Weekly, this book is a "searching, profound comparative history of the three major monotheistic faiths."

Friedman, Richard Elliott, Who Wrote the Bible? (Prentice Hall, 1987). Very readable book on the complicated issue of the authorship of the Hebrew Bible.

Gomes, Peter, The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart (NY: William Morrow, 1996). A very thoughtful book by the chaplain at Harvard University. Includes discussion of controversial issues such as the implications of the Bible for attitudes towards homosexuality and towards women.

Miles, Jack. God: A Biography. Description from Amazon.com: "Is it possible to approach God not as an object of religious reverence, but as the protagonist of the world's greatest book -- as a character who possesses all the depths, contradictions, and ambiguities of a Hamlet? How does he depend on the other characters, and how does his relationship with them show his development? Miles provides a learned, original exegesis that will send readers back to the Bible in curious amazement."

Peters, F. E. Children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (1982). A good book to turn to if you'd like to move up a level in the comparative analysis of these religions; the course will give you good background for this book.

JUDAISM

Ehrlich, Elizabeth. Miriam's Kitchen. A memoir of a third-generation American Jew coming to terms with Jewish identity and practice, much of it through the kitchen of her mother-in-law, a Holocaust survivor. Includes good recipes, too.

Eliach, Yaffa. There Once Was a World: A 900-Year Chronicle of the Shtetl of Eishyshok. A chronicle of traditional Jewish life in Eastern Europe, focussing on the early twentieth century and then the cataclysm of the Second World War and its aftermath.

Glückel of Hameln (1746-1724). The Memoirs of Glückel of Hameln. Autobiography of a 17th-century Jewish woman in Germany.

Harris, Lis. Holy Days: The World of a Hasidic Family (1985). Somewhat similar to In Her Own Time (see below under Myerhoff) in that it is a portrait of a Hasidic community (this time in New York) done by a non-observant Jew. The book was originally written as a series of essays in the New Yorker.

Heilman, Samuel. The Gate behind the Wall: A Pilgrimage to Jerusalem (1984). A personal account of this sociologist's stay in Jerusalem.

Heschel, Abraham Joshua. The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man (1951). The concept of the Sabbath is central to Judaism, and this is an extremely thoughtful, moving, introduction to it.

Holtz, Barry (ed.). Back to the Sources. This is an excellent introduction to the textual sources of Judaism (the Bible, midrash, Talmud, Kabbalah, prayerbook, etc.).

Levenson, Jon D. Sinai & Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible. As the title indicates, a good introductory study of teh Hebrew Bible (Tanakh).

Myerhoff, Barbara. Number Our Days. An anthropologist's account of her fieldwork with elderly Jews in Los Angeles.

Myerhoff, Barbara. In Her Own Time. A film about Myerhoff’s fieldwork in a Hasidic community in Los Angeles (traditionally observant Jews). (Knox owns the film.)

Potok, Chaim. Davida's Harp. A novel focussing on issues of Jewish identity.

Zborowski, Mark and Elizabeth Herzog, Life Is With People: The Culture of the Shtetl (1952). Very readable anthropological analysis of small-town Jewish life in Europe before World War II, including analysis of religious life (which pervaded all aspects of life).

CHRISTIANITY

Augustine of Hippo. Confessions. Probably the most famous Christian autobiography, by a man who converted to Christianity as an adult and went on to become one of the most important theologians of the church. This is the story of his conversion.

The Autobiography of St. Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556). Autobiography of the founder of the Jesuit order.

Gager, John G. Kingdom and Community: The Social World of Early Christianity (1975). An analysis of the early development of Christianity, with attention to the social world of early Christians.

Griffiths, Bede. The Golden String. The conversion story of a modern intellectual. Includes a good description of monastic life.

Hampl, Patricia. Virgin Time. A memoir exploring the author's struggle with religious belief and commitment.

Jones, W. Paul. The Province beyond the River: The Diary of a Protestant at a Trappist Monastery (1981)

Lewis, C. S. Surprised by Joy. The autobiographical story of Lewis's conversion to Christianity.

Merton, Thomas. Exile Ends in Glory. A biography of Mother Berchmans, a Trappistine (Cistercian) nun who was a missionary in Asia. This book inspired many women to join the Trappist order.

Merton, Thomas. Seven-Storey Mountain. This is the autobiography of a man who grew up with a minimal Protestant background, led the usual college life at Columbia University, but who then converted to Catholicism. He soon became a monk in the Trappist order (Cistercians of the Strict Observance), an order maintaining a monastic life very similar to that practiced during the Middle Ages. This book, first published in 1949, was quickly a best-seller, and it has attracted a great many people to the monastic life.

Norris, Kathleen. Cloister Walk Wonderful essays about living with a spiritual inclination in the material world of modern America.

Pagels, Elaine. The Gnostic Gospels (1979). Analysis of the Gnostic elements within early Christianity, and of some of the texts that didn't make it into the canon of the New Testament.

Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897). Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux. This young French woman was canonized in 1925. Her autobiography has been influential in modern Catholic spirituality.

Warner, Marina. Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and Cult of the Virgin Mary (NY: Knopf, 1976). Interesting and readable analysis of the history of Christian beliefs and practices centering on Mary.

ISLAM

Abouzeid, Leila. Year of the Elephant: A Moroccan Woman’s Journey toward Independence and other Stories (1989) A novella and 8 short stories.

Asad, Muhammad. The Road to Mecca (1954). Autobiography of a German Jew who converted to Islam and rose to high office in Pakistan.

Esposito, John L. Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam (Oxford University Press, 2002). Book written by a prominent scholar of political Islam. The goal of the book is to explain why 9/11 occurred and to put this event within a broader historical/political context.

Fernea, Elizabeth Warnock. Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village (1965) Written by the wife of an anthropologist about her life in the village, particularly amongst the women.

Geertz, Clifford. Islam Observed: Religious Developments in Morocco and Indonesia. By a prominent anthropologist of religion.

Kane, Cheikh Hamido. Ambiguous Adventure. Novel by a French-educated Muslim author from Senegal, about a young African man torn between traditional Muslim ways and the allure of Western education and culture.

Lings, Martin. Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources. Written by a British scholar, based on Arabic sources of the 8th and 9th centuries. The style is an unusual one, with a feel of the ancient sources but crafted for a modern audience. Highly recommended by many who teach courses on Islam as an entry into the life of the Prophet.

Malcolm X, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1966). Includes an account of Malcolm's conversion to Islam.

Mottahedeh, Roy. Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran (1985). Account of the transition from the Shah to Khomeini and after.

Rodinson, Maxime. Muhammad (1961) Biography of Muhammad.

Said, Edward. Orientalism (1978). Very influential book about the representation of the Muslim world in the West.

Shah, Idries. Tales of the Dervishes: Teaching-Stories of the Sufi Masters over the Past Thousand Years. Shah has edited many collections of Sufi stories, of which this is one. Know the story of the blind men who touch an elephant, each of them describing the object in a different way? That's a Sufi story in origin.

The Wisdom of the Prophet: Sayings of Muhammad; Selections from the Hadith, trans. Thomas Cleary (Shambhala Classics, 2001). An eclectic collection of hadith, meant for a popular, non-Muslim audience. The long chain of transmission that always open a hadith have been deleted, leaving a collection of sayings of Muhammad.

Tips for buying books online

www.amazon.com: As you probably already know, this site is good for its vast sweep, for its descriptions of most books on the site, and for its recommendations of related books.

www.abe.com: Great source for used books, including out of print books.

www.bookfinder.com: Also for used books, with more listings that abe.com. Takes a little longer to run a search.

www.semcoop.com: Great academic bookstore. You can become a member of the coop (a one time fee $30 buys you shares) and get 10% off on all purchases.

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