{"id":11663,"count":22,"description":"Whether we welcome the fact or not, religion plays a huge role in the world. For some it is a private way of understanding the world and their place in it. For others, an off-the-shelf manual on how to run the world. For anyone, getting to grips with traditions you were not raised in can be difficult. Understanding the historical background by reading books is a good place to start with religious history.\r\n\r\nThe oldest religion in the world is probably Hinduism, and is often referred to by its adherents as \u2018the eternal way\u2019, since its origins are lost in the mists of time. Liz Derow talks about Hindu traditions in her interview on yoga<\/a> and Ramachandra Guha touches on them in his interview on Gandhi<\/a>.\r\n\r\nWe also have an extensive section of interviews and books on Buddhism<\/a>.\r\n\r\nTurning to the major monotheistic religions, starting at the beginning, we have Harvard professor Stephen Greenblatt recommending the best books on Adam and Eve<\/a>. Following the central thread in the Adam and Eve story, Paula Fredriksen looks at sin.<\/a> Oxford historian Diarmaid MacCulloch selects the best books on the history of Christianity<\/a>.\u00a0 Fr Nicholas King SJ talks about the Christian Bible<\/a>. Simon Yarrow discusses the idea of sanctity and recommends the best books on the lives of the saints<\/a>. Peter Marshall looks at the Reformation<\/a> and its impact on European society.\r\n\r\nElsewhere Malise Ruthven looks at Islamism<\/a> and Amira Bennison at Science and Islam,<\/a> while Peter Adamson looks at philosophy in the Islamic world<\/a>.\r\n\r\nGershon Hundert chooses his best books on Jewish History<\/a>. And the Jewish Bible in translation can be found here<\/a>, as the TANAKH, an acronym of the three section into which the Hebrew Bible is traditionally divided, Torah <\/em>(instruction) Nevi\u2019im<\/em> (Prophets) and Kethubim<\/em> (writings).\r\n\r\nBringing the three Abrahamic faiths together, Simon Sebag-Montefiore selects the best books on Jerusalem.\u00a0 We also have an interview with Ian Johnson discussing the state of religion in modern China<\/a>.\r\n\r\nWe also have an interview on Divine Women, where Bettany Hughes discusses everything from ancient goddesses to the existence of women priests in the early church.\r\n\r\nIf your interest is the vexed debate about the role of religion in contemporary society, Professor Peter Harrison takes on the history of science and religion<\/a> and Professor Martin Marty looks at religion versus secularism in history<\/a>.\r\n\r\nMore books on religious history can be found in our dedicated religion books section<\/a> and the history of religious thought is touched on in various interviews in our recommended\u00a0 philosophy books<\/a>.","link":"https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/category\/history-books\/religious-history\/","name":"Religious History Books","slug":"religious-history","taxonomy":"category","parent":83,"meta":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/11663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/taxonomies\/category"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/83"}],"wp:post_type":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts?categories=11663"},{"href":"https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/book?categories=11663"},{"href":"https:\/\/fivebooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/books_like_this?categories=11663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}