Spirituality
in the Land of the Noble, by Dr. Richard C. Foltz, is an excellent introduction into
the incredibly rich history of religion and spirituality in the region now known as
Iran.
When
the book was first published back in 2004, Dr. Foltz was an Associate Professor
of Religion at the University of Florida; he is currently Professor of Iranian Studies at Concordia University in
Montreal, Canada. His Ph.D is in Middle Eastern History, from Harvard University. As
for his own personal faith, he states that he is an, "erstwhile
Calvinist", but does not go into any detail beyond that. (p. xiii).
The
Amazon book description follows:
This is the first book to
tell the story of Iran's shaping and transmitting of the world's religions,
starting with the Iranian merchants and missionaries who brought, not only
Islam, but also Christianity, Judaism, and Buddhism to China. (LINK)
The
book contains the following chapters:
THE
ORIGINS OF IRANIAN RELIGION - pp. 1-16
ZOROASTRIANISM
- pp. 17-41
JUDIASM
- pp. 43-60
BUDDHISM
- pp. 61-75
CHRISTIANITY
- pp. 77-95
GNOSTIC
TRADITIONS - pp. 97-114
ISLAM
- pp. 115-140
THE
BABI MOVEMENT AND THE BAHA'I FAITH - pp. 141-155
RELIGIONS
IN IRAN TODAY - pp. 157-173
A
competent review is available HERE.
As
for myself, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It is concise, very well written,
and should appeal to a wide range of audiences. Dr. Foltz is one of those rare
authors who is able to communicate a good deal of depth into a relatively short
tome (204 pages).
Sincerely
hope a few readers will take the time to read this contribution, and then share
their thoughts with me.
Grace
and peace,
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