What Do Reporters Believe?

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What Do Reporters Believe?

That's a touchy topic for journalists who cover religion, and my observation is it extends to historians of religion as well. The topic is candidly discussed in this story by a veteran religion journalist at Get Religion (a great religious news commentary site). The best answer journalists can offer seems to be the kind of bland assurance that politicians have perfected: "I take my own faith very seriously and, because of that, I want to do the best job that I can to understand your faith and get the facts right." Note that the bloggers at Get Religion disclose their own point of view, which is that they "have an ancient, even premodern, approach to matters of faith." So they're either Mormon, Christian fundamentalist, orthodox Jewish, or Islamic. Any guesses?

Jun 12, 2004 at 12:42 PM | Permalink

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Mormon Books 2005

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Givens: By the Hand of Mormon
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Author Herman Wouk contrasts the scientific and literary modes of apprehending God. • My Post
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Marilynne Robinson: Absence of Mind: The Dispelling of Inwardness from the Modern Myth of the Self
A Pulitzer-Prize winning novelist weighs in on science and religion. She favors religion. • My Post
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A detailed empirical look at what has happened in American religion, including Mormonism, over the last fifty years.
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For most American teens, religion is so 20th century. But Mormon teens seem to be bucking the trend. • My Post
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How the raging democratic spirit of early 19th-century America influenced the doctrine and practice of young religious movements such as Methodism and Mormonism. | My Post
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A theologian explores theology through the lens of evolution. • My Post
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A long-time LA Times religion reporter unburdens his soul.
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David F. Ford: Theology: A Very Short Introduction
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Religion Books 2008

Stephen Prothero: Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know--And Doesn't
Noted scholar of religion laments the religious ignorance of Americans (first half of book) and provides a 90-page "dictionary of religious literacy" to help solve the problem.
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Martin Marty: The Christian World: A Global History
An insighful continent-by-continent history by a superb scholar of Christianity.
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Bart D. Ehrman: God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question--Why We Suffer
Ehrman examines five biblical explanations for suffering and evil: divine punishment, human action, redemptive suffering, inscrutable mystery, and apocalyptic dualism.
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F. E. Peters: The Voice, the Word, the Books: The Sacred Scripture of the Jews, Christians, and Muslims
Great scholarly overview of scripture as a general category. Jacket blurb: "Brings the latest Biblical and Quranic scholarship to a general audience."