http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diarmaid_MacCulloch

I would just suggest that you have a fairly decent grasp of European history of that time before you start. For example, he expects you to know who Cardinal Richelieu was without his having to tell you.

His biography of Thomas Cranmer is also well worth reading.

My go-to website is http://www.religiondispatches.org . They have some really great contributors and post interesting pieces related to current politics.

Joanna Brooks is my favorite. She is a Mormon, a feminist, pro-GLBT rights and very tough on the Mormon bureaucracy.

They also have atheist writers, Muslim writers and faculty from progressive theological programs.

Religion News Service - http://www.religionnews.com - is a good site that accumulates stories from other sources and covers a wide range of topics. They do some editorial work and have contributors from both theist and atheist sources and everything in between.

The Huffington post has a good religion section, although they often have articles that may be too controversial for this group and would be considered flamebait here. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/religion

For people who don't like to read...

Roy plays Alan Watts at 8-8:30 am on Sundays,
his main show is midnight-6am weeknights,
on Monday and Thursday nights he plays Alan Watts, Krishnamurti, and many others,
on Tuesday and Wednesday nights he does health and politics.

His radio show is called "Something's Happening with Roy of Hollywood",
you can find the hours at http://kpfk.org/programs/programschedule.html

The show is archived for 60 days for streaming,
but not for downloading due to copyrights.
The audio archives are at http://archive.kpfk.org/

Playlist with links at http://www.somethingshappening.com

I'd like to recommend Wade Davis' books. He is National Geographic's Explorer-in-Residence. An ethnographer and anthropologist, he has traveled the world living with traditional peoples. He speaks and writes on the wisdom of our ancient ancestors as they explored what it means to be human and alive and how they ordered their world through religion. In the wonder of the diversity of indigenous cultures he believes we can find guidance on our spiritual journeys. Light at the Edge of the World, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Spirit of the Mask, The Wayfinders, and others.

The Children of Jihad

A young American's travels among the youth of the Middle East.

Author's Wiki profile -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Cohen

Maeve/Mary Magdalen tetralogy.

It's got a bit of an 'inside baseball" feel to it sometimes regarding the Vatican's machinations, especially when there's a major event going on. (He's a former religion reporter.) It's hard not to like a guy who late Sunday tweeted 'Christ is Risen! Play Ball!' (Major League Baseball's season got underway on Monday.)

http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/

http://www.amazon.com/John-Shelby-Spong/e/B000APLGFS/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1364944141&sr=1-2-ent

A great writer of liberal Christianity. My confirmed atheist husband loved Bishop Spong's books.

has theological views that are, shall I say, outside the mainstream of Christian thought.

And I would guess most Episcopal churches. That's why I went back to church after 40 years away.

His comments on the canonical gospels as liturgical documents meant to be read in the synagogue through the Jewish religious year are eloquent and thought-provoking.

The Internet Sacred Text Archive
This site is a freely available archive of electronic texts about religion, mythology, legends and folklore, and occult and esoteric topics. Texts are presented in English translation and, where possible, in the original language.


Theoi Greek Mythology
Welcome to the Theoi Project, a site exploring Greek mythology and the gods in classical literature and art. The aim of the project is to provide a comprehensive, free reference guide to the gods (theoi), spirits (daimones), fabulous creatures (theres) and heroes of ancient Greek mythology and religion.


The Kybalion


The first two links also have excellent Links pages worth exploring

Aside from his expertise in Tibetan Buddhism.

Gretta Vosper , minister at West Hill United Church near Toronto. Friends had attended there for years before they moved to my city and were absolutely smitten with her (they now attend a UU congregation). The United Church and the UUs sometimes partner together on social justice and environmental issues in Canada, they are generally a very progressive church.

http://www.amazon.ca/Without-God-Gretta-Vosper/dp/1554682282
http://www.amazon.ca/Amen-Prayer-World-Beyond-Belief/dp/1554686474/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1365210846&sr=1-1

Tom Harpur is another one: http://www.amazon.ca/Pagan-Christ-Recovering-Lost-Light/dp/0887621953/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1365210891&sr=1-3&keywords=tom+harpur

www.religioustolerance.org
http://www.standingonthesideoflove.org/

Sarah Vowell's The Wordy Shipmates is a good exploration of the Puritans, their journey to America, their great political and philosophical enterprise, the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
We can learn from their trials and triumphs, the good and the bad.

A few others around here have been posting nice articles from this site, so I thought it best to make a direct link for those that want to explore:

Patheos - Hosting the Conversation on Faith

I have some Joseph Campbell DVDs which are taken from films of his lectures at Vassar College. Introduced by Susan Sarandon.

He expanded on Jungian archetypes and is best known for The Hero's Journey.

Parabola is a quarterly magazine organized around a theme for each issue. There are articles from ALL major faiths...yes, really, not just spouting words about ecumenism, but publishing many different viewpoints. The Abrahamic religions, plus Sufism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Gurdjieff, and so on. They recently published their 150th issue.

www.parabola.org

though I only saw a few episodes. It's also an excellent means of seeing more Bill Moyers

Parabola reminds me of Gnosis in a way. I'll have to look for an issue.

I do miss Gnosis, and I may have to gather my scattered issues to see what I'm missing. Here's their order page if you want to have a look. They're all out of print (it went out of business in the late 90s.) Each issue link there gives the contents page, so you know what to expect from that issue

Thanks for the link to Parabola

Why Does the World Exist? by Jim Holt: The Question of Questions, and a variety of answers, some of them surprising. I had no idea that Platonism was still viable, but I found this book's discussion very influential.

A Brief History of Thought by Luc Ferry: His discussion of Nietzsche pushed me to begin considering the nature of time.

Buddhism as Philosophy by Mark Siderits: Could there in fact be no absolute anything? The Buddha and some of the schools he influenced may have thought so. Professor Siderits examines their views and the arguments that other Indian schools made against them.

The Experience of God by David Bentley Hart: God is not always the old white bearded guy in the sky you've been shown in pop culture. Here's a classical view of God as pure being, one that cuts across religious boundaries according to Hart.

Is God a Delusion? by Eric Reitan: does a good job of explaining, among other things, the cosmological and ontological arguments. It's been awhile, I should probably revisit it.

The Authenticity of Faith: Varieties and Illusions of Religious Experience by Richard Beck: is faith always a terrified reaction to the knowledge of eventual death? No, but sometimes it is. Beck discusses the research that proves that Freud was on to something, but fear of death isn't everything.

The Philosophy of Hebrew Scriptures by Yoram Hazony: Excellent, if sometimes slightly repetitive look at whether the writers/compilers of the Hebrew scriptures may have been examining the big questions like early Greek philosophers, and using the story of Israel's history do it.

Culture and the Death of God by Terry Eagleton: how the cultural elite of Europe broke away from personally believing in Christianity, but were anxious to find a replacement for God and to preserve the beliefs of the masses as much as possible to avoid revolution. Puts the modern history of philosophy in a new light.

Spirituality & Religion

I was listening to Buddhist chants the other day. Nice recording made available for free

Always happy to learn more. Thanks!

And this reminds me to make a new post on this thread, for something I posted and linked earlier this year.

His audio recordings cover the gamut of multiple series, clips, and full lectures/seminars/dialogues. Should be ideal for people who love podcasts

Interfaith Org is another excellent source of religious & spiritual writings. There is likely already plenty of overlap between it and the Sacred Texts Archive, but it's still worth looking over. Plus, the formatting is easier to read.