For one-semester, undergraduate courses in Introduction to Religion and Comparative Religion, and more advanced
courses dealing with issues in the theoretical study of religion.
This comprehensive introduction to the nature and variety of religious phenomena, belief, and practice: 1) explores
the issues in the study of religion, 2) examines the universal forms of religious experience, 3) offers a cross-cultural
study of a broad range of classic types of religious belief and practice in terms of the seven basic concepts of
a religious world view, and 4) surveys the challenges faced by religions today.
Table of Contents
I. THE STUDY OF RELIGION.
1. What Is Religion? How Is It Studied?
Defining Religion. Why Are Humans Religious? Why Study Religion? The Perspective of the Student�Commitment and
Objectivity. The Ways Religion Is Studied. Interpreting and Explaining Religion.
II. UNIVERSAL FORMS OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND EXPRESSION.
2. The Sacred and the Holy.
The Concept of Sacred Power. The Ambivalence of Sacred Power. The Holy as Mysterium Tremendum and Fascinans.
Sacred Space and Sacred Time. Religion as Ultimate Concern.
3. Sacred Symbol, Myth, and Doctrine.
Symbolic Communication. Religious Symbols. Metaphor, Parable, and Story. Religious Myths. Models and Doctrines.
4. Sacred Ritual.
Ritual Action. Types of Sacred Ritual. Ritual and Sacrifice. Rituals as Sacraments.
5. Sacred Scripture.
The Pervasive Role of Sacred Scripture. Using the Term Scripture. Some Distinctive Features of Sacred Scripture.
The Authority and Canonicity of Scripture. The Reception and Uses of Scripture. The Interpretation of Scripture.
6. Society and the Sacred: The Social Formations and Transformations of Religion.
The Reciprocal Relationship between Religion and Society. Types of Religious Communities. Voluntary Religious
Communities. Protest and Change in Voluntary Religious Communities. The Sect. The Cult: New Religious Movements.
III. UNIVERSAL COMPONENTS OF A RELIGIOUS WORLDVIEW.
7. Deity: Concepts of the Divine and Ultimate Reality.
Polytheism and the Worship of Nature. Dualism. Pantheism and Monism. Monotheism.
8. Cosmogony: Origins of the Natural and Social Order.
The Practical Basis of Cosmogony. Emergence or Procreation from a Primal Substance or Being. The Sexual Union
of a Primal Male and Female. Creation by Conflict and the Ordering of Chaos. Creation by a Divine Craftsman. Creation
by Decree or from Nothing. The Rejection of Cosmogonic Speculation. Cosmogony Today.
9. Anthropology: The Human Problem.
Modern Views of Our Human Plight. Stoicism. Christianity. Theravada Buddhism. Confucianism.
The Persistent Demand for Theodicy. Theo
10. Theodicy: Encountering Evil.
dicy of "Mystical Participation." A Future, This-Worldly Theodicy. Other-Worldly Theodicy. Dualism.
The Karma-Samsara Theodicy. Monotheistic Theodicies.
11. Ethics: Patterns of Moral Action.
Virtues and Obligations. The Sources and Norms of Moral Authority.
12. Soteriology: Ways and Goals of Salvation and Liberation.
Ways of Salvation and Liberation. The Way of Grace through Faith. The Way of Devotion. The Way of Action and
Obligation. The Way of Mediation and Insight. Goals of Salvation and Liberation. Psychic Wholeness and a Healthy
Social Order. Resurrection, Immortality, and Eternal Life. Samadhi and Nirvana.
IV. THE SACRED AND THE SECULAR IN MODERNITY.
13. The Sacred and the Secular in Modernity.
Secularization and Pluralism. The Reactions of Religious Fundamentalisms Today. The Characteristics of Contemporary
Religious Fundamentalism. The Role of Women in Modern Christianity. The Role of Women in Islam.