Sacred Origins of Profound Things

Rating:
Summary: Profound
Review: An extraordinary read. Though I didn't see eye-to-eye with all the author believes, he does raise significant issues, nearly always backed with historical fact. Sure to shake your religious beliefs to its very foundations (as often really needs to be). Personally, I was appreciative of such a book as being brought up Catholic as a child, falling away, and returning as an adult only to find that what was being preached by the Catholic church (to my adult ears) was NOT in sync to what my adult eyes were reading in the Bible.

Devout Catholics will find this book sacriledge, whereas open-minded Christians of any denomination may benefit from the historical facts and origins to search their souls for truth and enlightenment, instead of blindly being led by religious leaders.

I'll read other books by Panati (with an open-mind but not blindly).

Rating:
Summary: A Bit All Over the Map, but Still Fun
Review: As an incurable trivia nut, this book helped delve into areas that are normally avoided. There is a lot of fascinating information and the author does a great job of looking across more than just Christianity to includee Judiasm and Islam, emphasizing the common roots of all three. Every so often I would come across one part and find myself saying "wow, I never knew that." Soemtimes, well you have to take the author's word on things; I would find his explination reasonable just not what I thought to be true. My vocabulary expanded as I finally learned what a number of things are called. It is a good book to peruse in bursts - reading a bit here, then putting it down to return a day or two later. A welcome counterpoint to the more dense or philosophical writings about religion.

Rating:
Summary: The Rites and Rituals of Monotheism?
Review: In his introduction to "Sacred Origins of Things Profound" , Mr. Panati states that what he writes about is slightly slanted towards Catholicism. In fact, the entire book is devoted to Christianity and Judaism. There is scant mention of Islam or the other religions of the world. Even this could be overlooked by a Christian except that he really doesn't have anything good to say about that religion either. His tone is sceptical and focuses on failures of the Church rather than it's successes. There is much dissent in the Christian world today (I am also a Christian). That is true. But to say that there are American Catholics and the rest of the world is Roman is utterly preposterous and closed minded. It is sad for me to read as I too am an American. How easy it is to live in the richest country in the world with media surrounding us daily and to no so little of the world outside. East or West. Mr. Panati holds interest for those American armchair readers who want to know about what I'll call the trivia of religion. If you are a Catholic, The Catholic Encylopedia might be of more benefit. To conclude, Oscar Wilde once said that if we Americans had the choice to see heaven or go to a lecture about heaven, we'd choose the lecture. Excepting some glaring errors that I would gladly point out to the author regarding Buddhism and celibacy in the Orthodox Church, the book was, on the whole, inoffensive.

Rating:
Summary: A Very Interesting Book
Review: Not only did I read this book to satisfy my thirst for trivia, but also, to be enlightened on the more strange and mysterious rituals and practices of different religions. Although the cover says '..of the World's Religions', I personally think that this book focuses more on Christianity. But still, this book is very, very interesting -for me- because the author describes in colorful detail every information he has about a subject.
Even though I really like this book, I rate it 4 stars only because sometimes, the explanations are long and somewhat irrelevant. I still recommend it to others, though!

Rating:
Summary: Errors
Review: The author admits that this book is slanted towards Catholocism -- you have been warned. He spends most of his time analyzing the Catholic Church, then Protestants, then Jews, and -- if there's time -- any other religious group. Panati discusses all manner of religious practices, stories, and rituals without beating around the bushes. The text suggests as many questions as it answers, but it is a very thought provoking read. Although I wouldn't accept all of his discourse at face value, this book has motivated me to pursue further study of several of the topics that he covers.

Rating:
Summary: an engrossing series of "how comes" for Judeo-Christiandom
Review: The author admits that this book is slanted towards Catholocism -- you have been warned. He spends most of his time analyzing the Catholic Church, then Protestants, then Jews, and -- if there's time -- any other religious group. Panati discusses all manner of religious practices, stories, and rituals without beating around the bushes. The text suggests as many questions as it answers, but it is a very thought provoking read. Although I wouldn't accept all of his discourse at face value, this book has motivated me to pursue further study of several of the topics that he covers.

Rating:
Summary: Catholic Book of Why
Review: The title is somewhat inappropriate as it dedicates more time to explaining why Catholics believe the way they do, although on occasion the author does get past the traditional reasoning and apologetics.

It is easy to read and does cover a wide variety of topics within Christianity. There are a few references to Judaism and Islam, but almost nothing of the other world religions.

This book may be helpful for those who have read little or nothing regarding the history of religions, especially the Catholic faith. However, a superior book on the origins of Christian practices would be *Two Babylons or the Papal Worship* by Alexander Hislop.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book!!!!
Review: This was a great book it explained the true meanings behind the world religions. I'm a 15 year old humanist and have never gone to church, never read the bible or any other holy books, but this book explained it perfectly. I can see why deeply religious people would be offended by this, but they need to open their eyes to the truth. Great book and a must read.