Understanding Religion
Subtitle: A Thematic Approach
Publisher: Oneworld Publications
Published: July 25, 2008
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 640
ISBN-13: 9781851685998
Subjects: Religion: general; Social Science / Sociology of Religion; Sociology of Religion; Social Science; Sociology
Table of contents: label: List of Maps and Timelines
title: xii; label: Notes and Acknowledgements
title: xiii; label: INTRODUCTION
title: 1; label: The Study of Religion
title: 2; label: Three Aspects of Religion
title: 4; label: The Religions of the World
title: 7; label: Concept and Category
title: 16; label: PART I UNDERSTANDING RELIGION
title: 19; label: CHAPTER 1  THE CONCEPT OF RELIGION
title: 21; label: What is Religion?
title: 21; label: Definitions of Religion
title: 26; label: The Religious Person or Society
title: 28; label: CHAPTER 2 RELIGION EAST AND WEST - A GENERAL SURVEY
title: 31; label: The Nature of Ultimate Reality
title: 31; label: Concepts of Suffering and Evil
title: 34; label: The Path to Salvation
title: 34; label: The Goal of Salvation
title: 35; label: Ritual and Religious Practices
title: 36; label: Time and Creation
title: 36; label: Theism and Monism
title: 36; label: The Universality of Modes of Religious Thought
title: 38; label: Mutual Attitudes of Theism and Monism
title: 41; label: Relativism
title: 41; label: Chinese and Japanese Religion
title: 43; label: Primal Religions
title: 46; label: The Modern World
title: 50; label: CHAPTER 3 THEORIES OF RELIGION
title: 52; label: Sociological and Anthropological Theories
title: 52; label: Psychological Theories
title: 61; label: Philosophical and Historical Theories
title: 65; label: Theological and Normative Theories
title: 69; label: Typologies of Religion
title: 73; label: Approaches to the Study of Religion
title: 77; label: The Goal of the Study of Rehgion
title: 82; label: PART II THE RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND ITS EXPRESSION
title: 85; label: CHAPTER 4 THE RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
title: 87; label: Describing the Central Experience of Religion
title: 87; label: Types of Religious Experience
title: 92; label: The Religious Crisis
title: 98; label: A Psychological Model of the Stages of Religious Experience
title: 99; label: Mediators of Religious Experience
title: 100; label: The Social Influence on Religious Experience
title: 114; label: CHAPTER 5 PATHWAYS TO RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
title: 117; label: Ritualism
title: 117; label: Legalism
title: 120; label: Evangelism
title: 123; label: Social Reformism
title: 126; label: Asceticism
title: 129; label: Monasticism
title: 130; label: Gnosticism
title: 132; label: Mysticism
title: 135; label: The Evolution of the Pathways
title: 137; label: A Classification of Religious Groups
title: 138; label: CHAPTER 6 FAITH, BELIEF AND CONVERSION
title: 141; label: The Nature of Faith and Belief
title: 141; label: Acquisition of Religious Belief and Behaviour
title: 145; label: The Language of Faith
title: 148; label: Conversion, Reform and Renewal
title: 151; label: The Social Psychology of Conversion and Religious Commitment Motifs of Religious Conversion
title: 158; label: The Conversion of Whole Societies
title: 161; label: The Religious Life
title: 163; label: CHAPTER 7 TOWARDS A SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
title: 166; label: Piaget and the Perceptual Development of Children
title: 167; label: State-Dependent Learning and State-Bound Knowledge
title: 170; label: Fischer and a Map of Mental States
title: 173; label: The Neurophysiological Basis of Religious Experience
title: 176; label: Sperry and Split-Brain Experiments
title: 178; label: Types of Religious Experience
title: 179; label: Cautionary Notes
title: 180; label: PART III CONCEPTUAL ASPECTS OF RELIGION
title: 183; label: CHAPTER 8 THE NATURE OF REALITY
title: 185; label: The Nature of Ultimate Reality
title: 186; label: Transcendent Worlds and Beings
title: 199; label: Revelation and Enlightenment
title: 203; label: Human Nature
title: 204; label: The Physical World
title: 206; label: Time, the Origins and the End of the World
title: 207; label: Epistemology
title: 211; label: CHAPTER 9 SUFFERING, SACRIFICE AND SALVATION
title: 213; label: Evil, Sin and Suffering
title: 213; label: Sacrifice and Detachment
title: 225; label: Martyrdom
title: 230; label: Concepts of Liberation and Salvation Before and After Death
title: 231; label: CHAPTER 10 THE PROMISE OF A FUTURE SAVIOUR
title: 242; label: Descriptions of the Coming of the World Saviour
title: 242; label: A Typology of Future Saviours and Millennialist Movements
title: 254; label: Eschatology and the New Religious Movements
title: 262; label: Disconfirmed Prophecy
title: 262; label: Causes of Millennialist Movements
title: 264; label: CHAPTER 11 ARCHETYPE, MYTH AND THE SACRED
title: 268; label: Some Religious Archetypes and Myths
title: 269; label: Sacred Place and Sacred Time
title: 277; label: Religious Symbols
title: 278; label: Ritual
title: 279; label: Rites of Passage
title: 281; label: The Function of Myth and Symbol
title: 284; label: Myth and Religious History
title: 286; label: Myth and Modernity
title: 295; label: PART IV RELIGION IN SOCIETY
title: 299; label: CHAPTER 12 COMPARATIVE RELIGIOUS HISTORY
title: 301; label: The Founders of the Religions
title: 301; label: The Development of a Religion
title: 317; label: Schism and Heresy
title: 322; label: From Personal Piety to Organized Religion
title: 323; label: The Nature of the Historical Record
title: 332; label: CHAPTER 13 RELIGION AND ETHICS
title: 338; label: Moral Development
title: 341; label: The Foundations of Religious Ethics
title: 342; label: The Boundaries of Ethical Action
title: 346; label: Ethics and Social Laws
title: 352; label: Social and Environmental Ethics
title: 352; label: CHAPTER 14 FUNDAMENTALISM AND LIBERALISM
title: 363; label: Characteristics of Fundamentalism and Liberalism
title: 364; label: Towards a Social Definition of FundamentaUsm and Liberalism
title: 375; label: The Social and Intellectual Basis
title: 376; label: The Psychological Basis
title: 378; label: Fundamentalism and Modernity
title: 380; label: A Historical Perspective
title: 382; label: CHAPTER 15 OFFICIAL RELIGION AND POPULAR RELIGION
title: 386; label: The Relationship between Official and Popular Religion
title: 386; label: The Evolution of Popular Religion
title: 391; label: Three Examples of Popular Religion
title: 394; label: CHAPTER 16 RELIGION, POWER AND GOVERNMENT
title: 404; label: Religion and Legitimation
title: 405; label: Religion and the State
title: 412; label: Religion and Politics
title: 419; label: Civil Religion
title: 425; label: Power and the Religious Professional
title: 426; label: CHAPTER 17 RELIGION AND GENDER
title: 432; label: The History and Characteristics of Patriarchy
title: 432; label: The Suppression of Women by Religion
title: 435; label: The Eternal Female Archetype
title: 442; label: Religion and Sexuality
title: 444; label: The Modern Debate
title: 447; label: The Feminist Study of Religion
title: 449; label: CHAPTER 18 RELIGION AND THE ARTS
title: 455; label: Art and Popular Religion
title: 455; label: Art and the Symbolic Universe
title: 459; label: The Historical Development of Religious Art
title: 462; label: CHAPTER 19 RELIGION IN THE MODERN WORLD
title: 475; label: Social Challenges to Religion
title: 476; label: The Intellectual Challenge to Religion
title: 481; label: Religious Adaptations to the Modern World
title: 485; label: The Response of Religion in Traditional Societies
title: 490; label: Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue
title: 492; label: A Survey of Religions Today
title: 493; label: New Religious Movements
title: 508; label: Religious Freedom
title: 516; label: Religion and the Media
title: 519; label: Religion as Meaning
title: 524; label: CONCLUSION
title: 528; label: From Individual Experience to Social Expression
title: 530; label: The History of a Religion
title: 532; label: Analysis and Categorization
title: 534; label: The Definition of Religion
title: 535; label: GLOSSARY
title: 538; label: NOTES
title: 546; label: BIBLIOGRAPHY
title: 570; label: INDEX
title: 586; label: LIST OF MAPS AND TIMELINES; label: Map showing the Spread of Buddhism
title: 10; label: Buddhism timeline
title: 11; label: Christianity timeline
title: 13; label: Map showing the Distribution of World Religions
title: 32; label: Chronology of Religious Events in the Middle East and India
title: 302; label: Map showing the Major Holy Places and Migrations of the Prophet-Founders of the World Religions
title: 314; label: Map showing the Spread of Islam
title: 318; label: Baha'i Faith timeline
title: 329; label: Hinduism timeline
title: 422; label: Islam timeline
title: 423; label: Judaism timeline
title: 495; label: Map showing the Spread of the Baha'i Faith up to 1950
title: 500; label: TABLES AND FIGURES; label: Table 1.1 Worldly Values Versus Religious Values
title: 29; label: Table 2.1 Differences Between Eastern and Western Religious Thought
title: 37; label: Table 3.1 Structural Analysis by Lévi-Strauss of Three Myths Regarding the Origins of Tobacco
title: 57; label: Figure 5.1 Social Expressions of the Central Experience of Religion: The Pathways to Salvation or Liberation
title: 118; label: Table 5.1 Religious Experience and the Pathways to Salvation
title: 121; label: Table 6.1 Conversion Motifs
title: 159; label: Table 6.2 Psychological Comparison of Different Modes of Religious Life
title: 164; label: Figure 7.1 Pathways to Altered States of Consciousness
title: 174; label: Table 9.1 Words used for Salvation in this Life and After
title: 238; label: Table 10.1 Comparative Eschatology
title: 243; label: Table 12.1 Lives of the Founders of World Religions
title: 310; label: Table 14.1 Fundamentalism and Liberalism
title: 368; label: Figure 14.1 The Split between Fundamentalism and Liberalism
title: 384; label: Table 15.1 Differences between Official and Popular Religion in Theravada Buddhism
title: 396; label: Table 17.1 Religious Role Model for Women
title: 442; label: Table 19.1 Estimated Number of Adherents of World Religions
title: 504; label: Table 19.2 Rate of Growth and Spread of World Religions
title: 505