How the Great Religions Began

by Joseph Gaer

In recent years man's means of transportation and communication have changed so radically that the world has suddenly shrunk and the earth has become a very small place. Telegraph poles and telephone wires, radio and television, the train and the automobile, the fast steamship and faster-than-sound airplane--all these have combined to bring distant places near, and to make Ceylon neighbor to Oslo. Only two or three generations ago we believed that distant peoples were completely different from ourselves; and they believed the same of us. We distrusted them because of their differences; and they distrusted us. They to us, and we to them, were foreign, heathen, strange, and therefore wicked. They were our potential enemies. Our attitudes toward them, and their attitudes toward us, were based on misapprehension, misinformation and misunderstanding. Now, and suddenly, the North Pole is proximate to the South Pole; and the Equator, only a stone's throw away from any of us. And we must learn not to throw stones, since they may strike the family of the aimer as hard as the aimed-at. We must learn to be good neighbors with all the peoples of the earth much as with those physically next door to us. Understanding must take the place of misunderstanding And one basic thing we must try to understand the faith by which people live; all else is elaboration. What the faiths of the world are, and how their many forms came to be, is the subject of this book. It attempts to give to the reader a glimpse of how the living religions of the world arose; how they differ and what they have basically in common one with another. Since all the living religions were founded centuries ago, nothing basic in them has changed since this book first appeared. But all points that lacked in clarity were rewritten; most names have been transliterated to conform with standard sources; and the salient facts about each religion were placed at the beginning of each section to guide and to orient the reader.

Genres: Religion, History, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Spirituality

424 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1929

About the author

1897-1969

Reviews

[Andrew Bayles · Rating 2 out of 5]

As other reviewers have pointed out, the terminology in this book is largely outdated. In addition, the book is written for the insular, isolationist audience of pre-WW2 America, and so feels like it explains a bit too much to a reader that is part of the more modern, global readership. Numbers of adherents are also outdated, and the book is missing almost a century of modern scholarship on the origins and later history of the major world religions. This book is interesting more as a historical snapshot of how Americans viewed the rest of the world a hundred years ago than as an accurate introduction to the religions of the world. If you're more interested in the religious aspect, you'll be better served by looking elsewhere.

[Rey · Rating 2 out of 5]

جمله‌ی آخر کتاب این بود:
«کوشش برای صلح-رسالت واقعی نوع بشر است»

کتاب پنج بخش داره، اول از آیین های هندوستان می‌گه، بعد آسیای شرقی، یهود، مسیحیت و اسلام
در مورد محتوا و آموزه‌ها و اهداف دین‌ها خیلی خیلی خیلی محدود گفته، می‌شه گفت بیشتر کتاب مربوط به تاریخ دین هاست و اینکه مثلا چطوری به وجود اومدن و چی بر سرشون اومده از اونموقع تا امروز، اما مثل یه داستان روایت کرده و جزئیاتش از نظر تاریخی خیلی کمه (که به نظرم باعث می‌شه ارزش تاریخی خاصی هم نداشته باشه)
چون داستانیه، خوندنش آسونه. لذت بخش بود و برای من که خیلی کم از دین‌ها می‌دونستم و مشتاق بودم یکم آشنا بشم خوب بود، اما در کل کتاب خیلی قوی‌ای نبود.

[Patrick McFarland · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book because of its simplicity. The author presents all the pertinent information in brief paragraphs, without the usual long winded hyperbole that usually accompanies books on this subject.

[Ali Amiri · Rating 3 out of 5]

این‌قدر عادت کردم به خوندن کتاب‌های انگلیسی شسته‌رفته و تروتمیز که وقتی کتاب فارسی کروکثیف و زشت با اغلاط نگارشی و ویرایشی می‌بینم می‌خوام کتاب رو پرت کنم از پنجره بیرون.

اما کتاب خوش‌خوان بود پر از اطلاعات بدیهی مفید که به دونستنش می‌ارزید.

[Morgan Raye · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of outdated names and spellings but it was an interesting read. Not sure how true everything is now, since it was published 100 years ago or so.

[Kristi Siegel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as a little girl and loved it, as the religions were explained in story form.

However, I was too young to look at the book critically. Judging from the other reviews, the book's research is scant.

Ah well. It was pleasant reading experience at the time ...

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dated; interesting but annecdotal; terminology very dated

[Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book proposes how the great religions began. It didn't treat any of the religions fairly.

Three ways of doing a book like this well would be 1) Document what can be proven historically, 2) Report what each of the religions say about themselves or 3) Some combination of the both.

Instead, this book uses hearsay and poorly known legends to report how the religions began.

For example, in the account of Judaism, there is a fascinating story about the origin of Abraham and his father. I had not come across the story before. It would be fascinating to hear where the story came from and if it is in fact true. Instead, the book simple reports that this happen. Is this an oral tradition? Is it a later day legend? What is the origin of the story? Rather than coming away more knowledgable about religions the book leaves the reader frustrated about what the sources of the information actually are.

[Mike Holloway · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dated but interesting. Very US/western-centric (Christianity gets an entire second chapter at the end); I was initially disappointed that it only covered religions of the Middle East and East Asia, but by its own qualifier of “great,” I think these are the only ones that fit the bill on a global scale. Zoroastrianism may not quite fit, but it serves as an important bridge between the early religions and monotheism.

The mix of myths and historical facts is interesting but rarely well delineated.

It still serves as a nice quick-read overview for those interested in how the big names came to be; as a tool for authors writing a fictional religion I think this is a great guidebook; also for younger readers who really don’t know anything beyond American Christianity.

[Datit Nasir · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book, it gives you detailed information about all religions today, how they came to be.
I love the way the author writes