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Exploring the Roots of Religion cover art

Exploring the Roots of Religion

By: John R. Hale, The Great Courses
Narrated by: John R. Hale
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Summary

What impulse drove ancient cultures to create sites like Stonehenge, Machu Picchu, and the pyramids at Giza? Why are we so transfixed by their presence today? And what do they reveal about our ancestors-and humanity?

The dynamic force of religious belief is responsible for some of the world's most popular and ancient locales.With these 36 riveting lectures, you can dig through the earth and learn how sacred buildings, complexes, tomb structures, artwork, and more have provided us with unparalleled knowledge about early spiritual experiences around the world. Using the tools and knowledge of their field, archaeologists can now determine the nature of a sacrificial ritual, compare the visible attributes of ancient deities, and map out the orientation of a temple or tomb.

Professor Hale gives you a comprehensive look at specific religious archaeological sites around the world-inside caves and crypts, through vast deserts and ancient cities, from Polynesia to Mexico to the American Midwest.

Studying these breathtaking sites such as Lascaux Cave, Machu Picchu, and Easter Island, you learn the points of interest that attract the attention of archaeologists and scholars, survey the principal features unearthed during the site's excavation, discover what evidence at the site reveals about the evolution of religion, and more.

By the final lap of your international journey, you'll have developed a new vision of religion and its crucial role in ancient history. You'll become more attuned to spirituality's universal elements and its unique characteristics. And you'll realize just how much credit religion deserves for remarkable sites that continue to captivate us.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2009 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2009 The Great Courses

What listeners say about Exploring the Roots of Religion

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Really enjoyable course.

What made the experience of listening to Exploring the Roots of Religion the most enjoyable?

I have repeatedly listened to this course, it is packed with fascinating information and delivered in a clear & interesting way by Professor Hale - one of my favourites.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars

Best course ever

This has it all: the reading, storytelling, vast subject, new and fresh insights. Highly recommended

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3 people found this helpful

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Superb Course

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Recommend this audiobook to a friend because it is a superb study of the subject and extremely well presented.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Each lecture was self-contained and a very interesting in its own right but if I was asked to pick one favourite area it would be the study of Zoroastrianism. This was a subject that I knew virtually nothing about. However the study of the Vikings, Chinese and early American peoples was just as fascinating.

What does Professor John R. Hale bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Professor John R. Hale is a superb lecturer and continually keeps you interested by varying the perspective on the subject.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Far too long to listen to in one go! I was able to listen to 2 lectures in one day but any more than that and you will lose the impact of the information being presented.

Any additional comments?

I have listened to all of this lecturer's courses in the great courses range now and each one has been extremely good. I really do hope that he does some more of these courses in this format.

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3 people found this helpful

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Superb lecture.

Learned but accessible. Great delivery. Hugely enjoyable and informative. Shows clearly the common elements of religions and their origins throughout human history an across the globe. Highly recommended.

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3 people found this helpful

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Fascinating

I loved this series. Really informative and kept my interest throughout! I thoroughly recommend it

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2 people found this helpful

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  • 09-05-22

Could not keep my interest

I got this after reading the great reviews, and after having enjoyed several audiobooks on religion and the history of religion, and finding such books fascinating and leaving me wanting more.

Unfortunately, despite the nature of the subject, which is all about the values of humanity through different spaces and times, I found this course to be too dry to keep my attention. The delivery of the lecturer couldn't have been more flat. I'm sure he's fascinated about the subjects he talks about but he doesn't convey an infectious enthusiasm that I've found other Great Courses lecturers usually do.

I didn't feel warmth or connection to any of the peoples he describes. I'd expected this course to have me caring about the people I'm learning about, but this didn't happen, despite all the detail the lecturer puts into trying to give us a picture of their lives.

When I really think about what was most lacking, I suppose it must've been a sense of story, or the sense of going on a journey. It just seemed like a bunch of reports about findings that in some places where similar and in others were not. It almost felt as though that was the conclusion of each lecture: just what was similar about certain people and what wasn't.

It's strange, religion is all about story, religions are often a way of preserving a people's stories for future generations, and yet there was no sense of the magic of the story of these peoples in this audiobook. It just felt like listening to a dull narrator reading me lists of things he'd found in various places, these places only being connected because he's carried out investigations that relate to them, but the places aren't connected up for the listener, nor is there a feeling of story of the communities of each of these places.

I persevered with this course for so long, as I kept thinking it must be my own fault, that I couldn't keep my attention on in it, but I've now realised that there were definite issues with this book for me. Learning needs to be fun, and this wasn't fun for me, so there was no sense in me persevering with it.

I had high expectations for this book, both because it seemed to offer something no other audiobooks were offering, and because of its great reviews, but I found trying to listen to this to be no fun at all, and so not a book I could learn anything profound from.

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1 person found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Fascinating

Great performance! The subject is so huge, I feel that each lecture could actually be an entire series. Left me itching for more, (which is not a negative ;))

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great Lectures

Dr Hale held my interest throughout this course. The lecture on Zoroastrianism is especially good.

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Great lecturer, fascinating insights

Maybe the teaching talents and enthusiasm of Dr Hale is the key to why the subject seems so lively and absorbing.

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Fascinating

A very interesting stroll through some case studies within the discipline of the archeology of comparative religion. A wide variety of religions are discussed and common themes are drawn out.

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