Opening the doors of wonder : reflections on religious rites of passage

Magida, Arthur J. (Author).

Record details

ISBN: 9780520245457 (Cloth)
ISBN: 0520245458 (Cloth)
Physical Description: print
294 p. ; 24 cm.
Publisher: Berkeley, CA : University of California Press, c2006.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 271-289).

Formatted Contents Note:

Introduction : sometimes, the magic works -- 1. The descent of the spirit -- 2. Bob Abernethy : no fundamental, life-changing experience -- 3. Chinua Achebe : what makes someone give up their religion? -- 4. Huston Smith : religion saturated the house -- 5. Julia Sweeney : that soldier-of-Christ, slap-across-the-face stuff is sick -- 6. Jim Zogby : the Wal-Mart-ization of the church -- 7. What, really, is a man? -- 8. Leon Botstein : I'm tone-deaf to belief -- 9. Roz Chast : I was like a spy. Like a closet Jew -- 10. Rabbi Harold Kushner : I wanted to make my parents proud -- 11. Letty and Abigail Pogrebin, mother and daughter : "you are a woman" meant "you do the dishes" -- 12. Ram Dass : mushrooms gave me what I could have had at my bar mitzvah -- 13. Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin : Israel and I came of age together -- 14. Elie Wiesel : I am not God's policeman -- 15. The thread of life -- 16. Deepak and Gotham Chopra, father and son : religion is frequently idiotic -- 17. Waking up -- 18. Roshi John Daido Loori : born a Buddha. Die a Buddha -- 19. Robert Thurman : I looked like Henry Miller in drag -- 20. Allah is one -- 21. Coleman barks : just being sentient is cause for rapture -- 22. Dr. Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) : floating on a cloud of mercy -- 23. Michael Wolfe : I feel like a monotheist with extra credentials -- Epilogue : would anyone riding by on a horse even notice?