Book Note

Spiritual Perspectives on Globalization: Making Sense of Economic and Cultural Upheaval by Ira Rifkin. Skylight Paths Publishing, Woodstock, Vermont. 2003.

This is a curious book. It examines the response of various religious groups to globalization--understood both in an political/financial sense and in the broader sense of the accelerating global movement of people, ideas and money.

The religious groups are: Roman Catholicism, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Baha'i Faith, Tribal and Earth-based Religions, and Protestantism.

I did not come away from reading the book with any sense that I better understood the economic and political forces of globalization. However, the book did provide an interesting window through which to look at these different faiths.

One interesting factoid: Latin America has 42 percent of the world's Catholics but only 20 percent of the world's Catholic priests. Europe and North America account for 35 percent of Catholic members and 68 percent of all priests. And Europe and North America are importing priests from the third world to fill the deficit in priests felt in North American and European parishes. -- Echoes of Adventist debates over the role and number of clergy in the US in contrast to the Third World.

Looking at other faiths always offers a new perspective on my faith and church.

The book is well-written. I recommend it.