50 Things You're Not Supposed To Know: Religion (20 page)

BOOK: 50 Things You're Not Supposed To Know: Religion

8.68Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

ads

Enlightened Religious Policies And Mass Murder

Among the many biographies of Genghis Khan, I enjoyed Jack Weatherford's
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
(Broadway, 2005). There are also a few translations of the main primary source for Genghis Khan's story, which is called
The Secret History of the Mongols
.

Kill The Buddha

A monograph about Lin chi is found in Burton Watson's
The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-Chi
(Columbia University Press, 1999). I refer to Lin Chi and his “Kill the Buddha” concept both in
On the Warrior's Path
as well as in an upcoming book about world religions (published in Italy in 2011 under the title
iGod
).

Heil Jesus!

See the great essay by Robert Katz found in
What If? 2: The World's Foremost Military Historians Imagine What Might Have Been
(G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2001).

Free Speech and Its Enemies

Salman Rushdie's
The Satanic Verses
(Viking Press, 1989) is the most obvious reference here. Jytte Klausen's
The Cartoons that Shook the World
(Yale University Press, 2009) is also worth checking out.

Saint Augustine Loved Hookers

Among the many works by St. Augustine the most famous is
The Confessions
(read it if you seriously want to hurt yourself …). Equally painful are
The City of God
and
On Grace and Free Will
as well as a bunch of his sermons.

Bible Porn

The Old Testament is the perfect source here. Jonathan Kirsch highlights some of these stories in his
The Harlot by the Side of the Road
(Ballantine Books, 1998).

The Godfather of Christianity

I dedicate quite a bit of space to Constantine in
iGod
(which was published in Italy in 2011 but not yet in the U.S.). If you decide you don't want to learn Italian just to read about this, one of the best sources is Jonathan Kirsch's
God Against Gods: The History of the War between Monotheism and Polytheism
.

Tao Is the Shit

The works of
Chuang Tzu
have been translated many times in English. Mark
Forstater's
The Tao
(Plume, 2003) is a very decent reference.

Why a Pagan Emperor Was the Best Thing that Could Happen to Christians

This story is beautifully told in Jonathan Kirsch's
God Against Gods
.

The Shrine of Hypocrisy

See Jesse Larner's
Mount Rushmore: An Icon Reconsidered
(Nation Books, 2003). Also, see John Taliaferro's
Great White Fathers: The Story of the Obsessive Quest to Create Mount Rushmore
(PublicAffairs, 2002). And the always fun Richard Erdoes's
Lame Deer: Seeker of Vision
.

My God Has Bigger Balls Than Yours: The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

Hear it from the man himself: Bobby Henderson's
The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
(Villard, 2006).

Horses, Nietzsche And The Destiny Of The World

Read Nietzsche's
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
, and then read it again! The basic tales about Zoroastrianism are found in any self-respecting introductory textbook on the history of world religions.

I Need a Hooker, So Let's Go To the Temple

See Nils Johan Ringdal's
Love for Sale: A World History of Prostitution
(Grove Press, 2005).

If You Are Too Stupid for Taoism, You Can Always Try Confucianism

I discuss this quite a bit in
iGod
. Needless to say, the key books of Taoism (the
Tao Te Ching
and
Chuang Tzu
) and Confucianism (
The Analects
) are essential readings.

John Locke and the Limits of Tolerance

In the later editions of his
Essay Concerning Human Understanding
, Locke mellows out about atheism. Bruce Bawer's
While Europe Slept
(Anchor, 2007) raises some of the same issues as they apply to the relationship between European multiculturalism and Islamic fundamentalism.

God Wears Dragon Robes And Wants You To Kick Confucius's Ass

Jonathan Spence's
God's Chinese Son
(W. W. Norton & Company, 1996) provides a good overview of the Taiping Rebellion.

Religion without Religion

Osho's speeches have been transcribed resulting into hundreds of books. The same goes for Krishnamurti.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Daniele Bolelli is a writer, college professor and martial artist. Born in Milan, Italy, he is part of a family of writers. His father, Franco Bolelli, is one of the most influential modern Italian philosophers, while his mother, Gloria, is the author of four books and a freelance journalist.

His first book published in the United States was
On the Warrior's Path: Philosophy, Fighting, and Martial Arts Mythology
. It is one of the top modern bestsellers on the philosophy of martial arts and has been used as a textbook in several universities in the United States, Canada and Italy. His second book,
iGod
, was published in Italy in 2011. A fourth-degree black belt, Bolelli has taught seminars about martial arts in schools around the world and has coached and fought professionally in mixed martial arts (MMA).

Bolelli is a lecturer at several major universities in Southern California. He is a professor in the History Department at Santa Monica College, teaching courses on the history of religions. He also teaches in the History Department and the American-Indian Studies Department at California State University, Long Beach.

Bolelli is a regular contributor for several magazines both in Italy and in the United States. A graduate of UCLA with bachelors and masters degrees, he lives in Los Angeles.