(08-17-2011 02:39 AM)Mark Wrote:  

(08-17-2011 02:17 AM)Brian Wrote:  

(08-17-2011 02:15 AM)Mark Wrote:  Well, then you should have been more specific and said, "primary texts of religions" not "religions." Comparing the Bible to the Quran is quite different from comparing Christianity to Islam.

In my book, the teaching is everything dude.

It is unfortunate that most christian cares more about "jesus sacrifice" than his biggest contribution to christianity, which is his semon on the mountain.

Spirituality is something that is experienced, not read about. I don't care about theory. Give me field reports. Tell me about a zen meditation retreat you went on. Or a visit with Yogis in India. Or the time you went with your friend with him to his Mosque. Or the Coptic funeral you attended. In my book, you're basically a keyboard jockey right now. Sure, you've read a lot about religion (actually, on second thought, it seems like not much), but what have you experienced?

There's a saying somewhere that Judaism is a religion of deed, not creed. I think this should apply to all faiths. That said, I do think an understanding of theory is important. I consider myself a Christian, but I likely never would have gone this route if it hadn't been for the recent attempts to situate Christianity in the context of 1st Century Judaism. I'm also very interested to liberation theology, which interprets the gospels as a means for liberating the oppressed, thus putting the impetus on the believer to take action. Perhaps "interpretation" is a better word here than theory, because it's these two interpretations that that require you to act, and i think you'll get far more out of your spiritual experiences with action than with too much intellectualizing.