Exploring Religion,9780534088743

Exploring Religion

by
ISBN13: 9780534088743
ISBN10: 0534088740
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 2006-02-27
Publisher(s): Cengage Learning
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Summary

This topical introduction to the study of religion for undergraduates implements a phenomenological approach.

Table of Contents

Preface xiii
Part I Introducing Religion 1(116)
Chapter 1 What Is Religion?
3(26)
Are Humans Inherently Religious?
6(3)
Problems in Defining Religion
9(3)
Features That Religions Have in Common
12(5)
The Functional Features of Religion
12(2)
The Substantive Features of Religion
14(2)
The Formal Features of Religion
16(1)
The Truth of Religion
17(3)
The Study of Religion: Two Approaches
20(2)
Purpose and Perspective
22(3)
Summary
25(1)
Notes
26(3)
Chapter 2 The History of Religion
29(32)
Issues Concerning the Origins of Religion
30(6)
E.B. Tylor and Animism
31(1)
Mana: A Preanimistic Stage of Religion?
32(1)
Emile Durkheim, Sigmund Freud, and Totemism
33(3)
A Critique of Theories of the Origin of Religion
36(1)
Issues Concerning the Evolution of Religion
37(4)
Herbert Spencer and E.B. Tylor
38(1)
Frazer's Theory of Stages
39(1)
From Mother Goddess to Father God
40(1)
A Critique of Evolutionary Theories of Religion
41(2)
A Neo-Evolutionary Classification of Religions
43(14)
Primal Religions
44(4)
Archaic Religions
48(2)
Classical Religions
50(3)
Modern Religions
53(4)
Summary
57(1)
Notes
58(3)
Chapter 3 The Holy
61(26)
Synonyms of the Holy
63(3)
The Holy as Ultimate
66(2)
The Holy as Nonordinary
68(5)
The Mystery of the Holy
68(1)
The Awesome Power of the Holy
69(4)
Hierophanies of the Sacred
73(7)
Time as a Hierophany
74(2)
Space as a Hierophany
76(1)
Persons as Hierophanies
76(2)
Other Hierophanies
78(2)
Theistic and Nontheistic Traditions
80(4)
Theistic Traditions
80(1)
Nontheistic Traditions
81(1)
Ultimate Focus
82(2)
Summary
84(1)
Notes
85(2)
Chapter 4 The Quest
87(30)
Ultimate Situations, Ultimate Concerns: The Roots of Religious Experience
90(5)
Who Am I?
90(2)
Why Am I Here?
92(2)
Where Am I Going?
94(1)
Longing for Liberation: Human Existence as a Voyage of Discovery
95(3)
Paths of Liberation
98(8)
The Path of Knowledge
100(1)
The Path of Action
101(2)
The Path of Trust
103(1)
Other Paths of Liberation
104(2)
Magic and the Quest
106(6)
Magic and Causation
108(1)
Types of Magic
108(3)
The Magical-Religious Quest in the Twentieth Century
111(1)
Summary
112(1)
Notes
113(4)
Part II The Conceptual Dimension of Religion 117(176)
Chapter 5 Symbolism
119(24)
Symbols
120(4)
Multivalent Symbols
121(1)
Meaning, Context, and Behavior
122(1)
Religious Symbols
123(1)
Representational Symbols
124(1)
Presentational Symbols
125(8)
Signs
127(2)
Analogues
129(2)
Sacraments
131(2)
The Symbolism of Sacred Rites
133(3)
Baptism as Presentational Symbol
134(1)
Baptism as Representational Symbol
134(2)
Idolatry, Linguistic Confusion, Magic, or Sacrament?
136(2)
The Symbolic Context and Religious Expression
138(2)
Summary
140(1)
Notes
141(2)
Chapter 6 Speaking and Knowing
143(38)
The Uses of Language
145(6)
Affective Language
146(2)
Directive Language
148(1)
Informative Language
149(2)
Scientific Ways of Speaking and Knowing
151(8)
Characteristics of Science
152(2)
The Language of Science
154(1)
The Scientific Study of Religion
154(2)
Scientific and Religious Beliefs
156(2)
Limitations of the Scientific Way of Speaking and Knowing
158(1)
Religious Ways of Speaking and Knowing
159(17)
Religious Language Is Double-Intentional
160(2)
Religious Language Is Metaphorical
162(6)
Religious Language Is Evaluative
168(2)
Religious Language Is Revelatory
170(3)
Validation of Religious Models
173(3)
Summary
176(1)
Notes
177(4)
Chapter 7 Sacred Stories
181(26)
Sacred Stories as Human Creations and Sacred Disclosures
182(2)
Myths
184(10)
Origin Myths
187(4)
Eschatological Myths
191(3)
Interpreting Myths
194(3)
Myths as Explanation
194(1)
Myths as Unconscious Projection
195(1)
Myths as Validation of the Social Order
196(1)
Myths as Mediation of Conflicts
196(1)
Parables
197(3)
Parables as Evaluative
198(1)
Parables as Revelatory
198(2)
Parables as Paradoxical
200(1)
Sacred History
200(4)
Summary
204(1)
Notes
204(3)
Chapter 8 Scripture
207(24)
Primary Features of Scripture
209(3)
Scripture as Revelatory
210(1)
Scripture as Authoritative
211(1)
Scripture as Timeless
212(1)
Sacred Sounds as Holy Writ
212(2)
Scripture as Closed or Open
214(1)
Interpreting Scripture
215(9)
The Historical Interpretation of Scripture
216(2)
Religious Hermeneutics
218(2)
A Buddhist Hermeneutic
220(2)
Christian Interpretations of Scripture
222(2)
The Truth of Sacred Stories
224(3)
Summary
227(1)
Notes
228(3)
Chapter 9 God
231(32)
Philosophy
232(3)
Theology
235(6)
Natural and Revealed Theology
237(2)
Doctrines and Authority
239(2)
Attributes of God
241(3)
Does God Exist?
244(13)
The Cosmological Argument
244(3)
The Ontological Argument
247(2)
The Teleological Argument
249(3)
A Pragmatic Justification of Belief in God
252(2)
The Experiential Argument for God's Existence
254(3)
Theology as Story
257(2)
Summary
259(1)
Notes
260(3)
Chapter 10 Evil and Human Destiny
263(30)
Why Must We Suffer?
264(12)
A Buddhist View of Suffering
266(4)
A Christian View of Suffering
270(6)
Does Anything Remain?
276(11)
Death
276(4)
Life Beyond Death
280(7)
Summary
287(2)
Notes
289(4)
Part III The Performative and Social Dimensions of Religion 293(190)
Chapter 11 Holy Communities
297(40)
Religion and Society
299(7)
Kinship and Religion
299(2)
Politics and Religion
301(1)
Gender and Religion
302(1)
Class and Religion
303(1)
Economics and Religion
304(2)
What Religion Does for and to Society
306(2)
Types of Religious Associations
308(9)
Natural Religious Groups
308(4)
Voluntary Religious Groups
312(5)
Leadership and Governance of Holy Communities
317(3)
Founders of Religious Groups
318(1)
Polities
319(1)
Religion and Change
320(6)
Founders and Change
321(3)
Reform and Renewal in Holy Communities
324(1)
Conflict and Division
324(2)
Established and New Religious Groups
326(7)
Dominant Religious Groups
327(2)
Minority Religious Groups
329(3)
Transition from Minority to Dominant Status
332(1)
Summary
333(1)
Notes
334(3)
Chapter 12 Patterns and Varieties of Faith
337(30)
Faith as Total Response
338(3)
The Intensity of Faith
341(2)
Visions, Voices, and Psychomotor Responses
343(8)
Psychomotor Responses
343(1)
Visions and Voices
344(3)
Seeking Visionary and Ecstatic Experiences
347(1)
Assessing Visionary Phenomena
348(3)
Serene Ecstasy
351(1)
Patterns of Faith
351(11)
Confirming Types of Religious Experience
352(1)
Saving Types of Religious Experience
353(1)
Commissioning Types of Religious Experience
354(1)
Possessional Types of Religious Experience
355(4)
Mystical Types of Religious Experience
359(3)
Summary
362(1)
Notes
363(4)
Chapter 13 Salvation
367(24)
Conversion
368(2)
The Troubled Self
370(7)
The Origin of the Troubled Self
371(2)
Conversion of the Troubled Self
373(4)
Untroubled Selves
377(3)
Conversion and Declension
380(1)
Salvation Through Self-Power or Other-Power
381(4)
Self-Power
381(1)
Other-Power
382(3)
Religion's Destructive Face
385(3)
Summary
388(1)
Notes
389(2)
Chapter 14 Features of Holy Rites
391(30)
Holy Rites as Drama
393(2)
Primary Features of Holy Rites
395(18)
Rites as Hierophanies
395(4)
Rites as Performative
399(4)
Rites as Repetitive
403(5)
Rites as Social
408(5)
Ritual and Antiritual
413(4)
Summary
417(1)
Notes
418(3)
Chapter 15 Types of Holy Rites
421(34)
The Purposes of Holy Rites
422(8)
Purification and Supplication
422(4)
Thanksgiving and Sacrifice
426(4)
Interpretations of Purity Rules and Sacrifice
430(4)
Interpretations of Purity Rules
431(1)
Interpretations of Sacrifice
432(2)
Rites of Passage
434(11)
Changes of Status
435(1)
A Ritual Pattern
435(1)
Life-Cycle Rites
436(9)
Calendrical Rites
445(6)
Seasonal Rites
445(1)
Periodic Rites
446(5)
Summary
451(1)
Notes
452(3)
Chapter 16 What Is Religion?
455(28)
Loss of Belief
456(6)
Pagans and Heretics
457(2)
Atheists and Agnostics
459(3)
Loss of Home
462(4)
The Disinherited
463(1)
The Dispossessed
463(3)
Loss of Meaning
466(4)
The Broken Center and the Death of God
466(1)
Descent into Hell
467(3)
Religion and the Growth of Secularism
470(3)
Humanism: An Alternative to Religion
473(5)
Atheism
473(2)
Human-Centeredness
475(1)
This-Worldliness
476(2)
Summary
478(2)
Notes
480(3)
Appendix 483(4)
Glossary 487(8)
Selected Resources 495(14)
Bibliography 495(10)
Media Guide 505(4)
Acknowledgments 509(2)
Index 511

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