A Tapestry of Faiths: The Common Threads Between Christianity & World Religions

Rating:
Summary: Maybe Not What You Think
Review: The title might lead you to believe that this is one of those books arguing that Christianity and other religions are all teaching the same thing, but that would be wrong. Corduan has written many good works on this subject, and this one is no exception. Here, however, rather than surveying the religions, he attempts to build a systematic way of relating them socially, historically, and theologically, from a Biblical worldview. He is basically attempting to answer this question: if Christianity is accurate, how do we account for the world religions in a way that honors their integrity without sacrificing our own key beliefs. This is one of the best kicks at that can that I have seen. He cuts his way through a lot of syncretist sloppiness to get at the real meat of where the religions agree with Christianity, and why, as well as graceously dissecting the differences, even where there is seeming surface and ethical agreement, such that one learns not to read too much into certain similarities. The one chapter I thought needed a lot more work was the second. Corduan has relied for many years on the theory of original monotheism; that, contrary to a lot of popular thought on the subject, the religions are not an evolution toward monotheism, but represent a devolution away from it. It's nice to see him argue for it in more detail here than he ever has, but given the sparce information currently available on this position, it really needs more development. Frankly, I would like to see an entire up to date survey and analysis book on the topic. Still, this book is full of a lot of clear headed thought on the subjects revolving around the relationships of the religions to Christianity, leading to many well balanced conclusions and ideas.