About this product: The World's Religions, by Huston Smith, has been a standard introduction to its eponymous subject since its first publication in 1958. Smith writes humbly, forswearing judgment on the validity of world religions. His introduction asks, "How does it all sound from above? Like bedlam, or do the strains blend in strange, ethereal harmony? ... We cannot know. All we can do is try to listen carefully and with full attention to each voice in turn as it addresses the divine. Such listening defines the purpose of this book." His criteria for inclusion and analysis of religions in this book are "relevance to the modern mind" and "universality," and his interest in each religion is more concerned with its principles than its context. Therefore, he avoids cataloging the horrors and crimes of which religions have been accused, and he attempts to show each "at their best." Yet The World's Religions is no pollyannaish romp: "It is about religion alive," Huston writes. "It calls the soul to the highest adventure it can undertake, a proposed journey across the jungles, peaks, and deserts of the human spirit. The call is to confront reality." And by translating the voices of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Confucianism, Christianity, and Judaism, among others, Smith has amplified the divine call for generations of readers. --Michael Joseph Gross
William Lobdell's journey of faith—and doubt—may be the most compelling spiritual memoir of our time. Lobdell became a born-again Christian in his late 20s when personal problems—including a failed marriage—drove him to his knees in prayer. As a newly minted evangelical, Lobdell—a veteran journalist—noticed that religion wasn't covered well in the mainstream media, and he prayed for the Lord to put him on the religion beat at a major newspaper. In 1998, his prayers were answered when the Los Angeles Times asked him to write about faith.
Yet what happened over the next eight years was a roller-coaster of inspiration, confusion, doubt, and soul-searching as his reporting and experiences slowly chipped away at his faith. While reporting on hundreds of stories, he witnessed a disturbing gap between the tenets of various religions and the behaviors of the faithful and their leaders. He investigated religious institutions that acted less ethically than corrupt Wall St. firms. He found few differences between the morals of Christians and atheists. As this evidence piled up, he started to fear that God didn't exist. He explored every doubt, every question—until, finally, his faith collapsed. After the paper agreed to reassign him, he wrote a personal essay in the summer of 2007 that became an international sensation for its honest exploration of doubt.
Losing My Religion is a book about life's deepest questions that speaks to everyone: Lobdell understands the longings and satisfactions of the faithful, as well as the unrelenting power of doubt. How he faced that power, and wrestled with it, is must reading for people of faith and nonbelievers alike.
About this product: Living Religions, 7/e presents a highly readable and stimulating survey of the modern religious world. Exploring the historical development and teachings of traditional faiths, indigenous religions, and new religious movements, this book considers how each of these traditions has evolved into contemporary beliefs and practices. This book explores in detail the changing nature of each religion, the spread of religious pluralism, the rise in violence in the name of religion, and the movement toward interfaith dialogue. Author Mary Pat Fisher offers fresh and challenging insight into how believers of today's faiths perceive their religion and its role in the changing world in which they live.
From the world-renowned authority on religion comes a completely revised and updated version of his masterpiece. Explore the essential elements and teachings of the world's most predominant faiths, including: Hinduism; Buddhism; Confucianism; Taoism; Islam; Judaism; Christianity; the native traditions of Australia, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas.
Originally titled The Religions of Man, this completely revised and updated edition of Smith's masterpiece, now with an engaging new foreword, explores the essential elements and teachings of the world's predominant faiths, including:
Hinduism,
Buddhism,
Confucianism,
Taoism,
Islam,
Judaism,
Christianity,
and the native traditions of the Americas, Australia, Africa, and Oceania.
Emphasizing the inner -- rather than institutional -- dimensions of these religions, Smith devotes special attention to Zen and Tibetan Buddhism, Sufism, and the teachings of Jesus. He convincingly conveys the unique appeal and gifts of each of the traditions and reveals their hold on the human heart and imagination.
For introductory courses in world religions., comparative religions or introduction to religion.
Conceived for students with little or no background in the academic study of religions, Religions of the World offers the most broad coverage of world religions supported by primary source documents, coverage of religions as they exist today, and integrated media resources.
In preparing the eleventh edition of Religions of the World, Mark Woodward drew on his experience in teaching an introductory course on the religions of the world to thousands of undergraduates over the last two decades, living and working in Buddhist, Muslim and Chinese cultures for extended periods and on conversations with friends and colleagues in the Arizona Native American community. In this edition, he has edited the text closely for clarity and readability and made other changes to keep it up to date and accurate including updating all sections on religion today for each tradition. Religions of the World is comprehensive, readable, and engaging for all students.
About this product: Retaining all the beloved qualities of Huston Smith's classic The Religions of Man and the current fully revised and updated The World's Religions, this stunning pictorial presentation refines the text to its wonderful essentials. In detailed, absorbing, richly illustrated, and highly readable chapters on Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity and primal religions, we find refreshing and fascinating presentations of both the differences and the similarities among the worldwide religious traditions.
The approach is at once classic and contemporary, retaining all the empathy, eloquence and erudition that millions of readers love about the earlier editions, while being edited and designed for a contemporary general readership. This delightful marriage of winsome text and remarkable pictures vividly brings to life the scope and vision of Huston Smith's expertise and insight.
About this product: "Experiencing the World's Religions" provides a clear and compelling account of religion as a diverse, lived experience by peoples around the world. Global in its coverage, the text conveys the vitality and richness of the world's religions as a living cultural wellspring that not only concerns systems of belief but how those beliefs are expressed in ceremonies, food, clothing, art, architecture, pilgrimage, scripture, and music. The text demonstrates why an understanding of the world's religions enriches our lives.In an engaging narrative emphasizing the experience of religion, the text takes students on a personal voyage through doctrines, history, the religiously inspired arts, ceremonies, and everyday expressions of belief and combines these with powerful photographs from around the globe. The text goes beyond traditional approaches to personally connect students with the vitality of the great religions and how they reach into the lives of individuals and the culture at large. This fourth edition has been thoroughly updated in both content and illustration, to address recent world events and political changes, and provide additional insight into current theory and practice.
About this product: In this sequel to his bestseller, The Myth of a Christian Nation, Dr. Gregory Boyd issues a clear call to manifest God’s beauty and revolt against evil—with Jesus’ life as our example. Passionate theology and practical insight combine to create a guidebook for simple, radical, Christlike living.
About this product: In the tradition of Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian and Sam Harris's recent bestseller, The End of Faith, Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case against religion. With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, he documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wish, a cause of dangerous sexual repression, and a distortion of our origins in the cosmos. With eloquent clarity, Hitchens frames the argument for a more secular life based on science and reason, in which hell is replaced by the Hubble Telescope's awesome view of the universe, and Moses and the burning bush give way to the beauty and symmetry of the double helix.
Huston Smith's masterpiece explores the essential elements and teachings of the world's predominant faiths, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the native traditions of Australia, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas.
Emphasizing the inner—rather than the institutional—dimension of these religions, Smith devotes special attention to Zen and Tibetan Buddhism, Sufism, and the teachings of Jesus. He convincingly conveys the unique appeal and gifts of each of the traditions and reveals their hold on the human heart and imagination.