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REVIEWING TODAY: RATIONAL RELIGION BY TONY SUNDERLAND

Rational Religion is Tony Sunderland’s third foray into the rich historical hinterland of religious origins and development (The Obelisk and The Cross; A Crisis of Faith). He outlines an ambitious goal for his new book: 

“… to find out how Freemasonry became such a powerful institution in Western society. What religious beliefs and esoteric truths are hidden in the higher levels of the craft, and are they relevant and meaningful to people today?” 

While Mr. Sunderland does include many elements related to this theme, his evocation of ancient formulas, credos, rituals, and initiations does not follow any straight-line argument of connection or causation, nor does he specifically reveal a particularly Freemason accounting of beliefs. A well-honed theory or argument is not his main concern. Rather, as Krishnamurti used to posit before every deep discussion: We are engaged in mutual inquiry.

 What thus emerges from Tony Sunderland in Rational Religion is what he also provides in his previous two books: a wonderfully engaging, intellectually revealing tapestry of hints and indications, facts and speculations, and thoroughly compelling discoveries, which together create a “big picture” from whence to consider optional details perhaps forever hidden. This makes for fascinating personal conjectures about one’s own beliefs and rituals. As Sunderland does not lead his reader by the nose, one feels more empowered and informed. Which is a great way to study any such deeply personal and relevant subject. One golden, irresistible tidbit guaranteed to whet your appetite:

“As the world grows in its development, it necessarily outgrows its ancient ideas of God, which were only temporary and provisional. A man who has a higher conception of God than those about him, and who denies that their conception is God, is very likely to be called an Atheist by men who are really far less believers in a God than he.”

Joel R. Dennstedt – Top Reviewer for Readers’ Favorite

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