Reddit mentions: The best religious philosophy books

Wow, the more you describe, the more I see us having much in common! I would love to see the sights of Rome and medieval Europe. I'm studying Ancient Rome in university right now, and I'm planning on majoring in Medieval Studies, so that will be helpful in giving context to these old European buildings! And I hope you can continue to attend Mass and appreciate the traditions, instead of feeling resentful towards them :)

I do not believe that God is the same as the universe. To reduce some philosophical arguments extremely, God's nature is absolutely simple, not composed of parts. Because God exists necessarily (rather than depending upon anything else in order to exist), there is no way in which God's nature could change. Things that exist in a finite, limited sense (like you, me, a tree, the universe) are defined by the fact that they change, that they have the potential to become something that they are not. I don't exist necessarily, but contingently.

There are definitely a lot of implications that need to be worked out, which I definitely haven't (but I'm pretty sure other philosophers have). I'm not necessarily trying to prove God with this, I'm just giving you a rationale for why I don't think God and the universe are the same. However, I do believe that all things depend on God's existence in order to exist. Because things exist contingently, depending upon things outside of their own existence in order to be, if that is the case with everything in the universe, then nothing could ever come to exist in the first place on its own. As I understand it, there must be some source that is by definition independent of anything (that is, God) that sustains the existence (in an ontological sense) of everything that can't sustain itself. So the relationship that I see between God and the world is that all things come from God (not in the sense that a son comes from a father, in which the former does not cease to exist when the latter dies; more like the way that light comes from a flame, where the blowing out of a flame results in the end of its light), that God has set the laws of nature in motion, and even sustains those laws for all eternity, as everything ultimately depends on God's existence at all times. In this way, I see finite reality to be inherently good, because it has been created by God, and it depends upon God's existence at every moment.

So yes, I very much agree with Thomas Paine. I'm very interested in the topic of aesthetics, and I'd like to read the writings of philosophers like Hegel and Burke on the nature of the sublime that exists in nature. I find creation to be one of the clearest reflections of God's power.

The most influential book that has informed my thinking is The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss by David Bentley Hart. It's an incredible work, a bit difficult to get through at times because it gets kind of technical, but overall it is easy to follow. It's basically a 300+ page definition of God that is found in pretty much all major theistic religious traditions and philosophies. Highly recommended!

One philosopher whose work I love is an Anglican writer named Roger Scruton. He's Anglican, and defends Christianity, but he's not very dogmatic about it; in fact, as far as I know he doesn't believe in the Virgin Birth or the Resurrection. He draws more universal meditations out of Christianity that are more philosophical. He's written a lot of books, has a lot of lectures on YouTube, and is an all-around wonderful human being. My favourite that I have read is The Face of God. Another book that might be of interest is The Soul of the World, though I haven't read it, but I'm sure it's great. I hope this helps!

There's probably a few ways you could go about expanding your knowledge base. The two that seem most fruitful are

1. Reading for a deeper understanding of the topics that you're already familiar with.
   
   
2. Ranging more broadly into other areas that may interest you.
   
   If (1), then I'd probably suggest one of two courses. Either, (a) read the stuff that influenced the existential thinkers that you've listed, or (b) read some literature dealing with issues related to the thinkers you've listed.
   
   For (a) I'd suggest the following:
   
   

• Anything by Kant
  
• (In the case of Kierkegaard) Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit or his Aesthetics
  
• (For Nietzsche) Emerson's essays, Schopenhauer's World as Will and Representation, or Spinoza's Ethics
  
• Maybe some Freud for the later thinkers? Civilization and its Discontents is really good.
  
  For (b) it's really a mixed bag. I'd suggest going through the SEP articles on the thinkers you've listed and looking into some good secondary literature on them. If you're super interested in Nietzsche, I'd definitely suggest reading Leiter's Nietzsche on Morality. I really couldn't tell you more unless you told me something more specific about your interests.
  
  If (2), then I suppose I'd suggest one of the following:
  
  
• Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy for a good, broad introduction to Chinese Thought
  
• The Analects of Confucius. This translation is excellent
  
• A Short History of Chinese Philosophy
  
• Heidegger's Being and Time
  
• Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology of Perception
  
• Some of Rilke's work
  
• Unamuno's Tragic Sense of Life
  
  Again, it's hard to give you better directions without more information on what you're actually interested in. I've just thrown a bunch of stuff at you, and you couldn't possibly be expected to read, say, Schopenhauer's World as Will and Representation over break and be expected to really understand it.

Fun is very present in the psychedelic experience, but so is spirituality and evolution. In fact, mushrooms have played a major role in human evolution up until this point. I really recommend researching this subject. Check out...

https://www.amazon.com/Origins-Religion-Dissertation-Eucharist-Reference/dp/1494833263/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=mushrooms+manna+book&qid=1569954005&sr=8-2

A good intro:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy-1iY3j0M4&t=5s

How can Ancient Greek Stoicism help us better understand Christianity in the modern, 21st Century? In this new text, Robert Woolston analyzes the history of Stoic philosophy, Christian theology, Neostoicism from the European Renaissance, and how all three can be applied to our lives today. Regardless of religious or spiritual background, Neostoicism 2.0 is sure to be a thought-provoking and intriguing read for anyone interested in Philosophy, History or Personal Growth.

https://www.amazon.com/Neostoicism-2-0-Stoicism-Christianity-Empowerment/dp/1974582426/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1503187653&sr=1-2&keywords=neostoicism

https://www.amazon.com/Neostoicism-2-0-Stoicism-Christianity-Empowerment/dp/1974055752/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1503187653&sr=1-1

On the topic of religion in general, which is important to understanding Mormonism as much as any other religion, a few books would help:

The Outsider Test for Faith - John Loftus

What You Don't Know About Religion (but should) - Ryan Cragun
(he is an exmormon, and this adds to the interest for those of Mormon background)

The Varieties of Religious Experience - William James
(a classic)

I also have a somewhat short summary where I examine the claims of the Church:

Examining Church Claims

Good luck!

Buy this and read it cover-to-cover

It's a good, comprehensive book of the history of thought on religion and the God question. Another good recommendation from the atheistic perspective is Why I'm Not a Christian by Bertrand Russell.

I'm thinking about buying this one today https://www.amazon.com/Pints-Aquinas-Thoughts-Angelic-Doctor/dp/0692752404
I'm loving his Podcast so far.

My class used this one by Pojman: http://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Religion-Anthology-Louis-Pojman/dp/0495095044/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331514060&sr=1-1

There is a more recent addition with an additional author. I liked it because, while it was pro-heavy it had anti-religion arguments as well and included a few Eastern perspectives.

I didn't experience anything that Mystics and shamans haven't been experiencing for tens of thousands of years. I'll only get specific about my experiences with fellow Mystics, shamans. But I might consider getting specific with a skeptic who has read all the following books.

https://www.amazon.com/Varieties-Religious-Experience-Study-Nature/dp/1439297274

https://www.amazon.com/Varieties-Anomalous-Experience-Examining-Scientific/dp/1557986258

https://www.amazon.com/Mysticism-Evelyn-Underhill/dp/1463612354

https://www.amazon.com/Trickster-Paranormal-George-P-Hansen/dp/1401000827

I'm not particularly invested in religious implications on veganism, as I am not religious, but if it genuinely interests you, I've seen these two recommendations for the vegan perspective on Christianity and Judaism from people that actually know about it:

>Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy

>The Jewish Vegan

I've not read either personally.

Book 1: https://www.amazon.ca/Shittgenstein-Bullshit-Machine-Philosophy-Capitalism-ebook/dp/B01J4AGBEU/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=cathal+putrid&qid=1566933893&s=gateway&sr=8-1

Book 2: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/151203388X/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Book 3: https://www.amazon.ca/Reset-Philosophy-Cathal-Putrid-Haughian/dp/1546805605/ref=pd_sim_14_1/147-3879950-3650531?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1546805605&pd_rd_r=f34a0a83-d2b1-45ab-858e-fe445ff3efdc&pd_rd_w=fgnTV&pd_rd_wg=tFSec&pf_rd_p=bcf387b8-a13f-4873-9cf6-d11098fead4e&pf_rd_r=QH1ZTYPPVZBJTJKXRFQ5&psc=1&refRID=QH1ZTYPPVZBJTJKXRFQ5

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Be forewarned, the topics covered are not going to help you sleep at night. For me, Book 1 and 3 were mind-blowing. I was very fluent on Book 2 material already when I read these. And for Book 1, don't get hung up on the writing style, or words used. You have to read the entire book and then make your assessment, but damn, I will tell you it answered questions I've had my whole life about why the world is the way it is.