Synopses & Reviews
Well-known and respected, this comprehensive history of religious experience explores the major world religions within a consistent framework based on the author's paradigm six dimensions of religion. It tells the story without entering unduly into technicalities and focuses on how the major religious traditions relate to human experience. It extends beyond information about the traditions to distill the essential patterns of both feelings and ideas that animate religious practice; contains photographs that evoke the flavor of religious rituals or experiences and maps that orient students to the geographic context of religious traditions.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 431-436) and index.
Table of Contents
1. Religion and Human Experience.
I. SMALL-SCALE RELIGIONS. 2. Prehistoric and Primal Religions.
II. RELIGIONS OF AFRICA. 3. The African Experience.
III. RELIGIONS OF INDIA. 4. The Early Indian Experience, Jainism, and Buddhism.
Vedic Religion. Jainism. The Buddha. The Upanishads. Indian Buddhism. 5. The Indian Experience: Classical Hinduism.
IV. RELIGIONS OF THE FAR EAST. 6. Chinese and Japanese Religious Experience.
The Three Religions of China. Confucianism. Taoism. Korean Religions. Japanese Religions. Shinto. Buddhism in Japan.
V. RELIGIONS OF THE NEAR EAST. 7. Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World.
Egyptian Religion. Mesopotamian Religion. Persian Zoroastrianism. Greek Religion. Roman Religion. 8. The Jewish Experience.
9. The Early Christian Experience.
10. The Muslim Experience.
11. The Later Christian Experience.
The Reformation.
VI. RELIGIONS OF THE AMERICAS. 12. The American Experience.
VII. CONTEMPORARY RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 13. The Humanist Experience.
14. The Contemporary Experience and the Future.
Decolonization and Religions. New REligious Movements. The Resurgence of Religions. The Future of Religions within a New Global Civilization. Toward a New Vision of the Human Race. Transliteration of Oriental Words.
Bibliography.
Index.