Books on Religion

Huston Smith, The World's Religions, HarperSanFrancisco, 1991, 391 p.
James Wiggins, In Praise of Religious Diversity
Walter Conser and Sumner Twiss, eds., Religious Diversity and American Religious History,
Alice Calaprice, The Quotable Einstein, Princeton, 1996, 269 p.
I list this book here because it discusses Einstein's views on religion. In spite of the highly-selected, pro-theistic quotes that have been attributed to him, Einstein was at best a deist who repeatedly said that he did not believe in a deity who concerned himself with human affairs.
Lawrence A. Young (ed.), Rational Choice Theory and Religion, Summary and Assessment, Routledge, 1997, 187 p.
Several articles about Rational Choice theory and how it can explain many of the social aspects of religion, such as church attendance in different cultures. An interesting perspective, but one I have not seen discussed elsewhere.
Stephen Jay Gould, Rock of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life, Ballantine, 1999, 241 p.
Gould wants to convince us that the worlds of science and religion are NOMA (non-overlapping magisteria). His arguments are competely unconvincing, in my view. First, his view of religion as being completely divorced from empirical foundation is not one that will endear him to religious people (he is an atheist, in any case), most of whom believe that religion has something to say about the world as it is. Second, he takes the view that only religion can deal in matters of ethics. This is a surprising statement, considering the work that has been done in this area by philosophers, ethical and legal scholars and, recently, evolutionary biologists.
John Polkinghorne, Belief in God in an Age of Science: The Terry Lectures, Yale, 1998, 133 p.
Polkinghorne is an ex-particle physicist and a retired Anglican minister, so naturally I'm interested in what he has to say. Although this is a short book, it does require one's full attention since he is a subtle and careful writer. He makes intriguing points, though I find fault with several of his arguments.
John Polkinghorne, The Faith of a Physicist, Princeton, 1994, 211 p.
Well, of course I had to get this book, him being an ex-particle physicist and all. His mission here is to make Christianity palatable to people who actually try to apply reason to such things. This a very dense book, not for the faint of heart.
James W. Sire, The Universe Next Door (3rd ed.), InterVarsity, 1997, 237 p.
This book purports to compare the various world religions, but in the end it is just another Christian apologia. Many parts of the book are interesting to read, however. For one thing, he examines New Age religions and postmodernism (with an appropriately Christian tsk, tsk).
Karen Armstrong, A History of God, Ballantine, 1993, 460 p.
This book shows how the three semitic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, grew from their common roots and how mankind's conception of God changed over time. The book is good in many parts, but very detailed, so much so that the details get in the way of the argument.