Zoroastrianism: An Introduction

by Jenny Rose

Zoroastrianism is one of the world's great ancient religions. In present-day Iran, significant communities of Zoroastrians (who take their name from the founder of the faith, the remarkable religious reformer Zoraoster) still practice the rituals and teach the moral precepts that once undergirded the officially state-sanctioned faith of the mighty Sasanian empire. Beyond Iran, the Zoroastrian disapora is significant especially in India, where the Gujurati-speaking community of exiles from post-Sasanian Iran call themselves ""Parsis."" But there are also significant Zoroastrian communities to be found elsewhere, such as in the USA, Britain, and Canada, where western cultural contexts have shaped the religion in intriguing ways and directions. This new, thorough and wide-ranging introduction will appeal to anyone interested in discovering more about the faith that bequeathed the contrasting words ""Magi"" and ""magic,"" and whose adherents still live according to the code of ""Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds."" The central Zoroastrian concept that human beings are continually faced with a choice between the path of ""good"" and ""evil,"" represented by the contrasting figures of Ahura Mazda and Ahriman, inspired thinkers as diverse as Voltaire, Mozart, and Nietzsche. Jenny Rose shows why Zoroastrianism remains one of the world's most inspiring and perennially fascinating systems of ethics and belief.

Genres: Religion, History, Iran, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Theology, Middle East

303 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a dense and thorough chronology of Zoroastrianism. Rose covers a large amount of material with thoughtfulness and insight, being careful to explain where disagreement exists and why. It was an unusually slow read for me, as I needed time to absorb the material, and I feel that I came out much more knowledgeable than I went in.
Rose is connected to contemporary Zoroastrian communities, and this perspective infuses the book. At times, her sense of how the community will respond feels palpable, and her tone remains respectful. It doesn't distort her choice of topics (did I mention thorough? and dense?), but she is careful to explain some topics which might be sensitive to adherents of the faith in a way other texts I have read are not. In this way you get a good sense of the development of ideas through time.
My main criticism is in the titling. I really did need an introduction, but at times I felt completely at sea. I made liberal use of ebook features such as looking at names in Wikipedia to refresh my memory, and searching within the book for the same. The structure allowed exploration of ideas thematically but frequently left me lost in time (and context). This particularly so with the decision to leave discussion of the prophet Zarathustra until the end of the book. Good, I suspect, for those who came in knowing a lot about the prophet and not much about the religion, but not so good for someone who knew little about either.
To be fair, some of this is because of the amount of uncertainty around many of the timeframes, and the intensity of debate. However, even clearer appendices listing when particular ideas or figures first appear in the historical record would have helped.
Nevertheless, it was a much better introduction to the topic than I expected, and was particularly good at contextualising modern practice. Now reading follow-up works I find myself knowing more than I expected, which is all to the good.

[Luís Branco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Among the World Religions I think that Zoroastrianism stands as a beautiful faith that faced so many change such as geographical, language, culture and yet maintained the core of their faith. Zoroastrianism contribution to other religions such as Judaism, Islam and Hinduism were very enchanting. Even Christianity received some of its doctrine such as angelology and demonology from Zoroastrianism. One may never perceive the beauty of Zoroastrianism unless he has gotten a wide worldview that transcends time, faith, language and location. The book is very well written!

[Joseph Adelizzi, Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reminded me of how much we are a "we" with an innate need to be an "us" as opposed to a "them."

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only read the introduction and the first three chapters as I was primarily interested in an overview of what we know of Zoroastrianism in the Archaeminid Empire. And I was not disappointed. The overview was concise, clear, well-structured and summarized the evidence in a helpful way but (with perhaps one or two exceptions) without assuming things beyond what the evidence seems to allow. This is, though, the first book I read on Zoroastrianism, so my opinion of the book may change as my horizons broaden.

[Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is very detailed, discussing the history of Zoroastrianism from the first traces of it up through the modern day, detailing how the religion changed and shifted in response to various outside forces, such as Islam, migration to India, attacks from Christianity, and the pressures of modernity. Instead of focusing on abstract theological interpretations, the book primarily relates how the language is practiced, and puts emphasis on it as a living tradition that is always adapting. It details both the communities from Iran and those of the Parsis, providing a fairly comprehensive overview.

Overall, it's recommended for a nice introduction to the history and current practices of Zoroastrianism, even discussing issues with the word. Another good outing from I.B. Tauris's series.

[Ryan Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really a helpful introduction. The author refuses to actually define Zoroastrianism and insists on only presenting a wide range of practices and beliefs under the broad umbrella of Zoroastrianism. I understand that modern Zoroastrian has its various groups, some defined by ethnicity, some by doctrine, but a beginner needs some kind of core to hang onto as they explore the varieties of belief and practice. Even the supposedly historical narrative chapters don't really take you through any kind of evolution or change--they just explore some of the ideas floating around a broadly defined historical period.

[Samuel Saul Richardson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I will often struggle and force my way through a book that I've chosen to read, however, this was not what I was looking for when I wanted an overview of the religion.

This is doctrinal and way over my head (not to mention super boring). Would not recommend and will probably remove from my personal library in the future.

#SelfTaughtReligion #Zoroastrianism

[Jim D · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a basic introduction to the religion, but i found it too academic and hard to follow at times. It wasnt what I was looking for,

[Zeinab Bazrafshan · Rating 5 out of 5]

ابتدا کتاب را داشتم، اما قصد خواندنش را نداشتم. خیلی اتفاقی و گذرا به محتوای صفحات نگاهی کردم. جذب شدم و اندکی لبعد خواندن را شروع کردم.
می‌توانم به جرعت بگویم که یکی از کامل‌ترین کتاب‌ها از جهت تقسیم بندی دوه‌ای زردشتیان و تکامل این دین است. بخش به بخش با تقسیم بندی و ذکر دوره و سال میلادی و هجری (در ترجمه فارسی حدااقل) و موقعیت جغرافیایی به صحبت درباره زردشتیان و مسائل مرتبط با آنها می‌پردازد.
بنظرم لازم بود خیلی زودتر این کتاب را می‌خواندم! اما هم‌اکنون جز کتاب‌های ر ارزشی است که بی‌شک در طی مسیر اکادمیکم باز به خواندن آن مشغول خواهم شد.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

More on the history/background than on the day to day practice

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

Incredibly informative, but incredibly thorough, dense, and a rather dry. If I were an academic or religious figure in this field, great. A bit beyond me. Still, got through it.

[[Name Redacted]]

I took a course on Zoroastrianism from Prof. Jenny Rose a year back, and she graciously signed my copy of her new book!