Invitation to World Religions

CHAPTER 1. AN INVITATION TO THE STUDY OF WORLD RELIGIONS; "RELIGION" AND THE STUDY OF WORLD RELIGIONS; Defining "Religion"; WHAT RELIGIONS DO; Religious Questions and Challenges; BASIC COMPONENTS OF RELIGIONS; Teachings; Ways of Life; Historical Development; RELIGIONS IN THE MODERN WORLD; Modernization; Urbanization; Globalization; Multiculturalism; Religion and Science; AN ACADEMIC APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF RELIGIONS; Balance; Empathy; Comparative Approaches; CHAPTER 2. INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS OF NORTH AMERICA; THE TEACHINGS OF NATIVE AMERICAN INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS; Creation and Origins; Life Lessons in Myths; The Importance of Balance: Humanity and the Natural World; Sacred Language and Sacred Time; NATIVE AMERICAN INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS AS A WAY OF LIFE; Healing; Rites of Passage; Rites of Renewal and Rites of Purification; THE HISTORY OF NATIVE AMERICAN INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS; Conquest, Colonization, and Christianity; Resistance Movements; Native Religions and Non-Native Practitioners; CHAPTER 3. INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS OF AFRICA; THE TEACHINGS OF INDIGENOUS AFRICAN RELIGIONS; Myths; Supernatural Beings: Gods and Spirits; Humanity and the Human Condition; INDIGENOUS AFRICAN RELIGIONS AS A WAY OF LIFE; Communicating with the Spirit World; Using Supernatural Powers; Life Cycle Rituals; THE HISTORY OF INDIGENOUS AFRICAN RELIGIONS; The Spread of Islam; Christianity and Colonialism; Reform and Resistance; African Religions in the Americas; CHAPTER 4. HINDUISM; THE TEACHINGS OF HINDUISM; Hindu Beliefs About God; Hindu Philosophical and Social Concepts; Texts in Hinduism; The Sects of Hinduism; HINDUISM AS A WAY OF LIFE; Seeing the Divine Image: Temples and Icons; Forms of Worship; Yoga Traditions and Asceticism; Rites of Passage; Pilgrimage; Festivals and Holidays; Performance Traditions; THE HISTORY OF HINDUISM; Indus Valley; Who Are the Aryans?; The Vedic Period; Zoroastrianism; The Early Upanishads (900-600 C.E.); The Rise of Theistic Hinduism; Hindu Expansion in the Age of the Guptas; The Development of Bhakti; Tantra; Sanskritization; Colonial Critique and the Hindu Reformers; Gandhi, Hinduism, and Indian Nationalism; Hindu Nationalism and Hindutva; The Future of Hinduism; CHAPTER 5. BUDDHISM; THE TEACHINGS OF BUDDHISM; Meeting the Buddha; The Life of the Buddha; The Basics of the Buddha's Teaching; Buddhist Sects and Texts; Women in Buddhism; BUDDHISM AS A WAY OF LIFE; Meditation and the Cultivation of Mind; Mantra, Liturgic Ritual, and Chanting; Ordination and "Being a Buddhist"; Sacred Places and Objects of Worship; Festivals; Funerary Rites; The Wider Implications of Buddhist Ritual and Practice; THE HISTORY OF BUDDHISM; The Period of the Buddhist Councils; The Period of Expansion; The Development of Mahayana in Monasteries; Buddhism Beyond India; The Beginnings of the Western Transmission; Buddhists in the World Today; CHAPTER 6. JAINISM; THE TEACHINGS OF JAINISM; Mahavira, the Twenty-fourth and Last Tirthankara of this World Cycle; An Eternal Succession of Tirthankaras; Jainism and Hinduism; Ahimsa and Asceticism: Jainism's Ideals; Theory of the Universe; Liberation and Salvation; JAINISM AS A WAY OF LIFE; Digambaras and Shvetambaras; The Ascetic Life; The Religious Life of the Jain Laity; THE HISTORY OF JAINISM; The Indian Historical Context; The Legacy of the Tirthankaras: Jainism through the Centuries; Jainism in Today's World; CHAPTER 7. SIKHISM; THE TEACHINGS OF SIKHISM; The Life of Guru Nanak; Sikh Scripture; On God, the Human Condition, and Spiritual Liberation; Teachings of Guru Gobind Singh and the Khalsa; SIKHISM AS A WAY OF LIFE; Daily Devotional Practices; Sikh Worship in the Gurdwara; Worship, Work, and Charity; Women and Sikhism; THE HISTORY OF SIKHISM; Guru Nanak's Successors; Guru Gobind Singh and the Khalsa; Sikhs and Nationalism; Sikh Identity; Sikhs in the Diaspora; CHAPTER 8. CHINESE RELIGIONS: CONFUCIANISM AND DAOISM; THE HISTORY OF CONFUCIANISM AND DAOISM; Ancient Chinese Religion; History of Confucianism; History of Daoism; THE TEACHINGS OF CONFUCIANISM AND DAOISM; Ancient Chinese Religious Views; The Teachings of Confucius; Confucianism and Women; Teachings and Beliefs of Daoism; Daoism and Women; CONFUCIANISM AND DAOISM AS A WAY OF LIFE; Confucian Rituals; Daoist Practices; CHAPTER 9. SHINTO; THE TEACHINGS OF SHINTO; The Meaning of Kami; Creation Myth in the Kojiki; SHINTO AS A WAY OF LIFE; Fertility Rites; Women in Shinto; Rites of Purification, Presentation, Petition, and Participation; Religious Observances throughout the Year; THE HISTORY OF SHINTO; Medieval Shinto; The Modern Period; Shinto in Japan Today; CHAPTER 10. JUDAISM; THE HISTORY OF JUDAISM; Dispersion, Assimilation, and Collective Identity; The Biblical Period; The Second Temple Period; The Formative Age; The Conflict Between Judaism and Christianity; The Age of Philosophy and Mysticism; The Modern Era; Reform Movements in Europe and in the U.S; The Shoah and the State of Israel; The Future of Judaism in the Contemporary World; THE TEACHINGS OF JUDAISM; God; Torah; Covenant and Election; Israel; The Messiah and the Messianic Age; The Afterlife; Jewish Mysticism; JUDAISM AS A WAY OF LIFE; The Major Festivals; The Minor Festivals; The Sabbath; Life-Cycle Events; Other Sacred Practices; Prayer; CHAPTER 11. CHRISTIANITY; THE TEACHINGS OF CHRISTIANITY; The Life of Jesus; The Teachings of Jesus; Paul and the Mission to the Gentiles; God, Creation, and Original Humanity; God as Trinity; Sin and Human Nature; Grace and Salvation; The Church; Scripture; Tradition; "Last Things"; The Afterlife; Christianity and Other Religions; CHRISTIANITY AS A WAY OF LIFE; Sacraments; Church Interiors: Sacred Space; Prayer; The Liturgical Year; Veneration of Saints; Social and Political Activism; THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY; Christianity in the Roman World; The Church in the Middle Ages; The Reformation; Christianity in the Modern World; Christianity Today and Tomorrow: Trends and Prospects; CHAPTER 12. ISLAM; THE TEACHINGS OF ISLAM; Muhammad and the Revelations; The Holy Qur'an; The Teachings of the Qur'an; Commentary on the Qur'an; The Hadith Literature; ISLAM AS A WAY OF LIFE; The Five Pillars; The Qur'an in Daily Life; Jihad; The Islamic Year and Holidays; The Shari'ah: Islamic Law; Marriage and Family; Women and Islam; THE HISTORY OF ISLAM; The Hijra and the Growth of the Muslim Community; The Crisis of Succession and the Rightly Guided Caliphs; The Umayyads and the Abbasids; Later Islamic Empires: The Ottomans, the Mughals, and the Safavids; Islam and Nationalism; Islamic Reform Movements; Varieties of Islam; Sufism; Muslims in North America; CHAPTER 13. NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS; WHAT IS "NEW" ABOUT NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS?; Modernization, Globalization, and Secularization; Theoretical Models and Social Typologies; ALTERNATIVE CHRISTIANITIES AND THEIR OFFSHOOTS; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Christian Science and New Thought; Adventism; Jehovah's Witnesses; The Family (Children of God); The Unification Church; THE REDISCOVERY OF EASTERN RELIGIOUS THOUGHT; ISKCON: The International Society for Krishna Consciousness; The Osho Rajneesh Movement; Transcendental Meditation; THE REVIVAL OF ESOTERIC AND NEO-PAGAN THOUGHT; Eckankar; The Findhorn Foundation; The Raelian Movement; The Church of Scientology; Wicca; THE BAHA'I FAITH; THE NEW ATHEISM