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Book Review
A spectator's guide to World
Religons
An Introduction to the Big Five
John Dickson. Blue Bottle Books,
2004 248p
Review by Ray Hoekzema
John Dickson began his writing career in 1993 and has steadily built up a reputation of being able to address the modern relevance of biblical faith. He is also a much sought-after speaker and in fact was the main speaker at the New South Wales CRC of Australia Youth Convention a number of years ago.
Since Australia has become such a multicultural and multi-faith society, the author is keen to show up 'the big five religions' - Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam in the best light; and at the same time foster understanding and tolerance. In carefully outlining their history, belief systems and spiritual practices, he promotes the belief that each can be understood on its own terms instead of by prejudice.
There are any number of books that provide information about these 'Faiths' but John Dickson -who has a Ph.D. in ancient history and an honours degree in Theology- has managed to put together the essential detail of each one in a succinct manner. He provides a nutshell caption right up front in each case, as well as a summary page, briefly quoting the facts and figures and a guide to other books and websites. For some reason -not clear to me- he also lists a few famous followers of each religion. I found it puzzling that in the case of Christianity he names among such stalwarts as William Wilberforce and Rev Martin Luther King Jr the likes of Peter Garrett, Mel Gibson and J.R.R.Tolkien.
This book is written in a way that 'spectators' as opposed to players, receive an objective overview to help them explore the big questions in a non-threatening way. But it is also for 'players' to sample the feast of ideas found in the world's great religions. Dickson stresses the point that in reading about 'the big five' one needs to try and suspend all assumptions and preconceptions about religion. Though Dickson is a Christian, in writing about these religions he avoided all effort to critique the other 'Faiths'. He regards it inappropriate to do so, without first attempting to see what others see in their religion or until one is able to answer a question like -'Why are millions of people attracted to Buddhism?' Contrary to the prevailing belief that all religions are similar, Dickson has demonstrated that though religions may be superficially alike, most of them are fundamentally different. It is as he says: 'Stressing the sameness of the world's religions gives honour to none of them'.
In his penultimate chapter, he sets about to highlight the differences not by stating what Christianity finds 'wrong' with the other Faiths but to demonstrate clearly and in a fair way, the sheer diversity of opinion that exists among the religions of the world. He shows what is 'wrong' with Christianity from the perspective of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism and Islam. It may seem odd at first but reading these accounts further helps one understand these major religions; and for the Christian reader the uniqueness of the Christian Faith. In any case, says Dickson, when we say that 'all Faiths teach the same', we are doing a disservice to our own brains and to the religions themselves.
In a final chapter he continues to focus on
the theme or mantra as he calls it: "All religions are the same" but now
he deals with it by pursuing the popular 'logic' called pluralism, e.g.
'all roads lead to Rome, and all religions lead to God'. He outlines the
allure and strengths of pluralism and goes on to explain its
inconsistencies and embarrassments. In fact, he says, many readers 'may
even share the pluralistic perspective. This book has the capacity to
draw you in. Meaningfully indexed, it will prove to be an excellent
resource on anyone's bookshelf.
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