Books like Discovering God by Rodney Stark

Candide: A Tale of Conviviality and Optimism in a Wretched World

C.S. Lewis’ radio talks, later published as three books, are compiled in "Mere Christianity," a clear apologia that explores core Christian beliefs and ethics across denominations.

Garry Wills’s complete Penguin Classics translation of Augustine of Hippo’s spiritual classic, capturing the original’s philosophical depth and poetic power in clear, contemporary language.

Gandhi's autobiography is a profound exploration of his non-violent resistance to racism and colonialism, as well as his efforts to seek purity and truth through simple living and spiritual devotion.

The Book of the Dead is a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary texts compiled by Egyptologist E. A. Wallis Budge.

G.K. Chesterton offers a witty, insightful portrait of Saint Francis of Assisi, revealing the saint’s reasoned humility behind his legendary devotion.

Karen Armstrong traces humanity’s lifelong quest to answer profound questions through the evolving concept of God, focusing on Western monotheistic traditions, especially Christianity.

A captivating exploration of Christianity's growth and spread across the Roman Empire through quantitative data and groundbreaking insights from prominent historian Rodney Stark.

In *Natural Law in the Spiritual World*, Henry Drummond extends the scientific principle of continuity beyond the physical realm, arguing that spiritual reality follows the same natural laws that govern the natural world.

Robert Wright traces the evolution of monotheistic faiths from the Stone Age to the Information Age, revealing a hidden pattern that reshapes our understanding of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and suggests a future of religious harmony.

THE MASTER PLAN is a groundbreaking history of a little known Nazi SS archeological research institute, the Ahnenerbe, and the key role it played in the Holocaust. The Ahnenerbe was the brainchild of Himmler, the Reichsfuhrer SS and architect of the Final Solution, who was intensely interested in Germany’s ancient past. His intent was not only to rewrite the history of what he and others termed the “Aryan Race,” but also to use that mythic past to shape a more glorious future for Germany. While attempting to prove that Aryans were responsible for all of civilization’s greatest achievements, he also hoped to use tall, blond-haired SS men as stock to breed future generations of Germans in a racially purer mold. In the tradition of Hitler’s Willing Executioners, THE MASTER PLAN is also an expose of the work of German scientists and scholars who allowed their research to be used to justify extermination, and who, in some cases, directly participated in the slaughter—many of whom resumed their academic positions at war’s end. Intensely compelling and exhaustively researched, THE MASTER PLAN is based on extensive personal interviews and previously ignored archival material.

A sweeping social history of religion that explores the influence of the great monotheisms on the past and the modern world.

"For the last five decades, Rodney Stark has been one of sociology's most prolific and important scholars of religion. The theoretical depth, the scientific rigor, and the clarity of style manifested in Stark's oeuvre-- over 30 books and 140 articles-- have made his work the standard texts in the field. Stark's research career encompasses a wide spectrum of the central topics in sociology of religion. He has applied groundbreaking theory and method to issues of secularization, religion and society, religious movements, social theory, and the history of religion. Sociology of Religion: A Rodney Stark Reader mirrors Stark's influential career by highlighting these very topics. In this anthology, Stark's significant articles are not only collected together for the first time, but also clearly organized according to the thematic trajectory of Stark's carefully developed theory of religion. This volume is the essential reader for any scholar, teacher, or student encountering the work of one of this century's most compelling sociologists."--Back cover.