God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World (66 page)

Virgin Mary, 80, 81

Vishnu (Hindu sustainer god), 132, 137, 152

Vivekananda, Swami, 166, 167

Vrat Katha
tradition (Hinduism), 159

Wadud, Amina, 55

Wahhabism (Islamic theology), 53–54

Wallace, David Foster, 323

Wallis, Jim, 86

Wang Chongyang, 309

Wang Yang-ming, 121–22

Warren, Rick, 93

Way of Heaven (Confucianism), 116–17

Way of Orthodox Unity (
Zhengyi dao
),
308, 310

Weber, Max, 102

Weil, Simone, 140–41

Wesley, Charles, 82

Wesley, John, 82

White Cloud Monastery (Beijing), 310

Whitman, Walt, 23, 134, 300

The Whole Earth Catalog,
276

Wicca, 15

Wiesel, Elie, 9, 249, 262

Wilde, Oscar, 250

Wine, Sherwin, 271

Winthrop, John, 111–12

women: Confucianism Three Bonds over, 125; Confucian respect for, 123–24;
hijab
(Muslim women’s head covering), 29, 56; Candomble terreiros run by, 236; Jewish life cycle rituals for, 266; Judaism feminist theology on role of, 272–73; Muslim, 55–56; Pentecostal female preachers, 90–91

Wordsworth, William, 57, 61

World Religion Database, 18, 284

World’s Parliament of Religions, 166

The World’s Religions
(Smith), 5

World Vision, 86

wu wei
(natural action) [Daoism], 295–96, 299, 312

Xunzi, 119–20, 124, 314

Yai, Olabiyi Babalola, 239

Yan Hui, 302

Yemoja (Yoruba orisha), 218

Yijing (or I Ching), 102–3

yin and yang, 124, 282, 296

Yochai, Shimon bar, 274

Yogananda, Swami, 168

yoga practice, 148

Yoido Full Gospel Church, 93

Yom Kippur (Jewish holiday), 246, 252, 254, 264

Yoruba orishas: ashe (power) of the, 219–20; description of, 206–11; Eshu, 212–13; Obatala, 215–16; Ogun, 216–18; Olodumare (Supreme Being), 211–12, 234; Orunmila, 214; Oshun, 214–15; Shango, Oya, Shopona, Yemoja, and Osanyin, 218

Yoruba religion: accommodative spirit and elasticity of the, 230–34;
ajogun
and
egungun
spirits of, 207; American popular culture adoption of, 229; ashe (power) of the orishas, 219–20;
babalawo
(father of secrets) of, 204, 205, 206, 235; Candomble practitioners of, 224–27, 229; criticisms of, 227, 229–30; demographics of followers of the, 223–27; description of, 69, 203–6;
emi
and
ori
(souls) of, 205–6; global nature, 220–23; human flourishing purpose of, 240–41; Ifa divination practice of, 205, 213, 234–36;
iyalawo
(mother of secrets) of, 204; New World transformations of, 238–40; orishas of, 206–19; spirit (and body) possession in, 236–38; variations and Africanization of, 227–28.
See also
Africa

Young, Brigham, 84

Yu Dan, 122

Zen Buddhism, 190–93

Zhang Daoling (Chang Tao-ling), 307–8

Zhou dynasty (China), 109–10

Zhuangzi (or Chuang-Tzu), 5, 313, 314

Zhuangzi
(or
Chuang-Tzu
) [Daoism], 280, 299–303, 313

Zhu Xi, 121

Zionism movement, 268, 271–72

Zohar
(Aramaic book), 274–75

Zoroastrianism, 15, 296

Zusya, Rabbi, 332–33

Zwingli, Ulrich, 76

Acknowledgments

This book is informed throughout by the generosity of colleagues, the writings of other scholars, the encouragement of friends and family, and the provocations of students.

At Boston University, I benefited from the support of my Chair, Deeana Klepper, and my deans, Jeffrey Henderson and Virginia Sapiro. A dozen or more graduate students in BU’s Division of Religious and Theological Studies lent me their expertise. BU colleagues who pushed this project forward by brainstorming with me, reading chapters, or answering frantic emails on this phrase or that date include Kecia Ali, Nancy Ammerman, David Eckel, Paula Fredriksen, Donna Freitas, Scott Girdner, Catherine Hudak, Jonathan Klawans, Jennifer Knust, Frank Korom, Christopher Lehrich, Robert Hefner, Tom Michael, Dana Robert, Adam Seligman, Onaje Woodbine, Wesley Wildman, and Michael Zank. John Berthrong and Diana Lobel were extraordinarily generous, commenting on multiple chapters and encouraging me along the way.

From outside of my home university came expert assistance from Juhn Ahn, Heather Burns, David Chappell, Yvonne Chireau, Lesleigh Cushing, Yvonne Daniel, Alice Frank, Georgia Frank, Seth Handy, Leah Hochman, Paul Johnson, Ashley Makar, Kathryn McClymond, Joseph Murphy, Jacob Olupona, Robert Ross, Nora Rubel, Ken Serbin, Kristin Swenson, Robert Farris Thompson, Scot Thumma, Robert Thurman, Thomas Tweed, Duncan Williams, Jeff Wilson, and Lauren Winner.

I also want to acknowledge Nicholas Jagdeo and David Neuhaus, who guided me through their respective Jerusalems, and Laode Arham and Meghan Hynson, who took me into the homes of Muslims in Java and Hindus in Bali.

As always, I am extraordinarily grateful to have my extraordinary agent, Sandy Dijkstra, and her hard-working staff at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency, in my corner. At HarperOne, my publisher, Mark Tauber, and my publicist, Julie Burton, are both first rate, as is my indefatigable editor, Roger Freet, who provided a wonderful sounding board for this project from proposal to publication and beyond.

I am also extraordinarily lucky to be blessed with two daughters who feign interest in my work.

Finally, I must thank my students, to whom this book is dedicated. Some, such as the multi-talented Shari Rabin, engaged me in thought-provoking discussions about this project. Others advanced my thinking through less direct but no less powerful means, not least a brimming curiosity about the great religions of the world. My students are Muslims and Christians, Confucians and Hindus, and non-believers. They practice Buddhism, Yoruba religions, Judaism, and Daoism. So they provide for me a living laboratory of religious difference and a model for how to coexist amiably alongside adherents of rival religions.

I view teaching and learning as conversation and conversation as provocation. I am happy to report that the conversations my students have had with me, and with one another, in my classrooms over the years have been all the provocation any professor could desire. I thank them above all else for asking big questions—the sorts of questions that no one book, and no one religion, can exhaust.

About the Author

STEPHEN PROTHERO is the
New York Times
bestselling author of
Religious Literacy
and a professor of religion at Boston University. His work has been featured on the cover of
Time magazine
,
The Oprah Winfrey Show
,
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
, National Public Radio, and other top national media outlets. He writes and reviews for the
New York Times, The Wall Street Journal
, Newsweek,
The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, USA Today
,
Los Angeles Times
, Salon, Slate, and other publications.

Visit the author online at www.stephenprothero.com.

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Praise for
New York Times
Bestseller
Religious Literacy:

“Provocative and timely . . . combines a lively history of the rise and fall of American religious literacy with a set of proposed remedies based on his hope that ‘the Fall into religious ignorance is reversible.’ ”

—Washington Post

“Prothero is the kind of professor who makes you want to go back to college. . . . To describe Prothero as ‘quick-witted’ or his interests as ‘interdisciplinary’ wouldn’t do him justice. [He] is a world-religions scholar with the soul of a late-night television comic.”

—Newsweek

“Compelling and persuasively presented . . .
Religious Literacy
is a critical addition to the debate about Americans’ civic education, in particular the teaching of religion in public school.”

—San Francisco Chronicle

“Remarkable . . . an especially deft examination of the reasons for Americans’ religious illiteracy.”

—Washington Monthly

“
Religious Literacy
presents a compelling argument for Bible-literacy courses.”

—Time

“This book is a must-read not only for educators, clergy, and government officials, but for all adults in a culture where, as Prothero puts it, ‘faith without understanding is the standard’ and ‘religious ignorance is bliss.’ ”

—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Copyright

GOD IS NOT ONE: THE EIGHT RIVAL RELIGIONS THAT RUN THE WORLD—AND WHY THEIR DIFFERENCES MATTER
. Copyright © 2010 by Stephen Prothero. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST EDITION

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

ISBN
978–0–06–157127–5

10 11 12 13 14
RRD(H)
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

EPub Edition © 2010 ISBN: 9780061991202