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Barbara O'Brien

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Born

The United States

Website

http://www.mahablog.com

Member Since

December 2013

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Barbara Hoetsu O'Brien grew up in the Ozark Mountain section of the Bible Belt, also called the Land of Perpetual Holy Spirit Gospel Tabernacle Revivals. Doubts pulled her away from Christianity, however, and after much stumbling around in many traditions she became a formal student of Zen Buddhism in the late 1980s. As a journalist she has written extensively about religion in America and how it impacts politics and culture. From 2008 to 2016 she was the resident expert on Buddhism for About.com, and she blogs about whatever is on her mind at her personal blog, The Mahablog (mahablog.com). ...more

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Hey, I liked your Bio. Have you revisited Christianity (sorry haven't read your blog yet if you cover that). I'm always poking at my aversions to my "mother" religion. Curious what your experience is.

Barbara O'Brien That depends on what you mean by "revisited." Have I seriously considered going back to Christianity as my spiritual/religious path? No. On the other …moreThat depends on what you mean by "revisited." Have I seriously considered going back to Christianity as my spiritual/religious path? No. On the other hand, I remain interested in Christianity in a more academic sense, trying to understand how it developed as it did and why so much of it today seems to have gone off the rails.

This is something I wrote about at great length in my book, Rethinking Religion. I have a deep respect for Christianity in its more non-literalist, non-fundamentalist forms, and I hope that some of what I wrote might help the tradition disown the right-wing reactionary zealots who appear to dominate it today. (less)

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How do you deal with writer’s block?

Barbara O'Brien I've always got a list of things I'm working on, so if there's no "flow" with one thing I'll work on something else.…moreI've always got a list of things I'm working on, so if there's no "flow" with one thing I'll work on something else.(less)

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Barbara O'Brien’s books

Average rating: 4.18 · 131 ratings · 31 reviews · 3 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Circle of the Way: A Concise History of Zen from the Buddha to the Modern World 4.19 avg rating — 118 ratings — published 2019 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rethinking Religion: Finding a Place for Religion in a Modern, Tolerant, Progressive, Peaceful and Science-affirming World 4.15 avg rating — 13 ratings — published 2014 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Blogging America: Political Discourse in a Digital Nation 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2004 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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2 posts
Barbara O'Brien's Blog: Rethinking Religion

Review: The Mormon Delusion, Volume 4

Religion had a wild ride in 19th century America. Transcendentalism was born about 1830 and grew into a major cultural movement that still influences us today. The antebellum period saw prominent Christian denominations split apart over slavery. After the Civil War Americans became fascinated with spiritism and trying to contact the dead through seances. Transcendentalism plus spiritism plus Orien Read more of this blog post »

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Published on July 27, 2014 11:04 • Tags: mormonism, religion

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The Message

by Ta-Nehisi Coates

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Oct 20, 2024 07:32PM

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The Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei

by John Stevens

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Jul 29, 2024 01:38PM

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Who Wrote the Bible?

by Richard Elliott Friedman

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Jul 05, 2024 08:53AM

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