The Origin of Religions: An Open-Eyed Journey Through A Mystic World - Tapa dura

The book is an open-eyed journey through the mystic world of faith. It is an intellectually stimulating account of the birth of religions. As animals, for definite, have no religions and intelligence is the dividing line between man and animals, it should be amply clear that religions have risen out of the thinking faculty of man. These are about God and His creation all right, but not from God- though human brain itself is certainly a great gift of God. The writer has tried to visualize what might have actually happened on the ground in this spiritual area ages back and how it came to settle in human psyche as faith. The book traces the story of religions from the earliest times and tries to reach to the core of all major belief systems of the world. Towards the end, it draws a sort of balance-sheet of the religions to form a view what good and bad these have done to the humankind. An effort has also been made to have a peep into their future., , Contents:- Contents, Preface 9, Acknowledgements 13, 1. Man's Initial Engagement with the Divine 15, 2. From gods to God 33, 3. The Areas beyond Brain 47, 4. The Two Faces of Religions 65, 5. The Land of the Prophets 77, 6. Judaism, the Parent Faith 83, 7. Christianity- Born of Holy Blood 97, 8. Islam- A Case of the Sands Coming Alive 117, 9. Crusades of the Cross and the Crescent 131, 10. Religions of South-Asia 137, 11. The Faith Profiles of the Far-East 169, 12. The Question Mark over Conversions 185, 13. Man's Natural Need for Focus 197, 14. Woman- the Worshipped Victim 203, 15. Sex and Spirituality 213, 16. Quest for Immortality 227, 17. Balance-sheet of Religions 233, 18. Future of Religions 243, Bibliography 253, Index