Religious Literacy

The United States is one of the most outwardly religious places on earth, but it is also a nation of religious illiterates. Many Protestants can’t name all four Gospels, many Catholics can’t name the seven Sacraments, and many Jews can’t name the first five books of the Bible. And yet politicians and pundits continue to root public policy arguments in theological rhetoric that is misunderstood by the vast majority of American citizens.

Stephen Prothero, author of American Jesus, explores this problem in Religious Literacy. Prothero pinpoints key moments in U.S. history that spawned our current epidemic of doctrinal ignorance, and offers practical solutions to the problem, including mandatory religion classes in public schools. Religious Literacy also contains a dictionary of religious terms, as well as spiritual background information on current issues.

Stephen Prothero is the chair of the religion department at Boston University. His book American Jesus was named one of the best religion books of 2003 by Publisher’s Weekly, and one of the year’s best nonfiction books by the Chicago Tribune. He writes and reviews for The New York Times Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Salon, and other publications. He holds degrees in American Religion from Harvard and Yale. He lives on Cape Cod.

“Prothero’s provocative and timely Religious Literacy ... in this book, the author combines a lively history of the rise and fall of American religious literacy with a set of proposed remedies based on his hope that ‘the Fall into religious ignorance is reversible.’”

– Washington Post Book World

Freshman Common Read: Western Washington University