Jesus Among Giants: A Scholarly Exploration of Peter Lang Humanities - Perfect for Theology Students, Researchers & Book Clubs

William Cully Allen was formerly the Associate Professor of Religion at Temple University and has an impressive fund of knowledge in comparative religions. After decades of research he has published Jesus Among Giants: Religious Biographies in Comparative Context, which is an excellent overview of seven major religious leaders and how their message compares to the teachings of Jesus. In this 135 page book he succinctly lays out the foundations of these religions and compares each one of them to the teachings of Jesus to illustrate both their similarities as well as their differences.Allen’s approach to this book has three strengths. First, he organizes each chapter to cover the same themes for each major leader (Socio-political context, birth and youth, death and legacy etc). These same themes make it easy for the reader to understand, compare and contrast the foundational teachings of each of these leaders. This thematic organization does not artificially constrict the comparison of each of these religious founders as Allen also interjects in each of these chapters topics which are unique to that particular founder.The second strength is that Allen let’s these religious leaders speak for themselves. He relies on their own words rather than depending upon an outside interpretation of their lives and teachings that would artificially constrain their message. Allen goes straight to the specific teachings of each of these leaders and unpacks their message within the historical context that it was written. By allowing each of these leaders to speak for themselves he avoids the tendency to force the reader to try and view them through a western Christian lens.The third strength of this book comes at the end of each chapter when Allen includes a very helpful comparison between the teachings of the specific religious leader and the teachings of Jesus. He then concludes with a section on what Christians might learn from each of these other religious leaders. This discussion is excellent because it is not shaped by any bias that is critical of either religion nor does it expose any bias to show how one religion is superior to another one. Rather, Allen simply sums up the similarities and differences of each of these leaders' worldviews compared to Jesus and lets the reader make their own evaluations as to the merits of one religion compared to another.This would be an excellent book for anyone interested in an overview of these religions and how they compare to the teachings of Christ. It would be a great text book for courses in world religions at both secular and religious colleges and universities. The book is well researched and written in a style that is easy to comprehend which is no easy feat when addressing some of the complex issues that Allen addresses.