Religion Around The World

The past quarter-century has seen an explosion of interest in the history of science and religion. But all too often the scholars writing it have focused their attention almost exclusively on the Christian experience, with only passing reference to other traditions of both science and faith. At a time when religious ignorance and misunderstanding have lethal consequences, such provincialism must be avoided and, in this pioneering effort to explore the historical relations of what we now call "science" and "religion," the authors go beyond the Abrahamic traditions to examine the way nature has been understood and manipulated in regions as diverse as ancient China, India, and sub-Saharan Africa. Science and Religion around the World also provides authoritative discussions of science in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam -- as well as an exploration of the relationship between science and the loss of religious beliefs. The narratives included in this book demonstrate the value of plural perspectives and of the importance of location for the construction and perception of science-religion relations.

A survey of man's religious expression around the world and through history. Includes Hinduism, Buddism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, the Chinese religions, and contemporary religious substitutes.

Presents entries A to L of a two-volume encyclopedia discussing religion around the globe, including biographies, concepts and theories, places, social issues, movements, texts, and traditions.

World Religions Today is the only book to examine the effects of modernity and globalization on the daily practice by believers of the world's major religions. It is designed as the core textbook for university survey courses on world religions, usually offered in the first or second year.This particularly lively and thoughtful survey is now updated to cover more aspects of the current international situation and developments in religious life around the world.DT NEW : "Tales of Spiritual Transformation" boxes in each chapter, tell a story of someone whose life was changed through religious faith. Helps to personalize the religions being discussed.DT NEW: "Teachings of Religious Wisdom" boxes also in each chapter, allow each religion to speak for itself through primary source material.Students will find assistance in putting a vast array of data in context, through timelines of each religion and full-color maps, as well as a comprehensive glossary. Discussion questions and suggestions for further reading will help students examine what they have learned, then researchfurther.

The twenty-first century is witnessing a resurgence and globalization of religion. Around the world, religion has become an increasingly more important and pervasive force in personal and public life, and faith and politics now play a powerful role in international affairs. Revealing the significance of religion in contemporary life, World Religions Today explores major religious traditions--Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and East Asian religions--as dynamic, ongoing forces in the lives of individuals and in the collective experience of modern societies. Moving beyond the almost exclusively historical perspective of many books in the field, this text takes a fresh approach, using solid historical coverage of the various religious traditions as a framework to help students understand how faiths have evolved to the present day. It connects today's religions to their classical beliefs and practices but also shows how these religions have responded to and been transformed by the modern world. To help students grasp what might be "new" about the emerging era of religious life in the 21st century, the authors open each discussion with a contemporary scenario of religious experience that illustrates the tensions between pre-modern views and modernity. World Religions Today includes a general introduction that provides essential background information for students and features many pedagogical aids including timelines, maps, numerous illustrations, questions for discussion, and a glossary of key terms. Ideal for undergraduate courses in world religions and comparative religion, World Religions Today emphasizes the interconnectedness of faith, culture, politics, and society, providing a peerless examination of the diverse ways in which contemporary human beings are religious.

This fully updated new edition empirically assesses the relationship between religion and democracy, looking at global, regional, and individual countries’ perspectives. Using a wide range of quantitative data, the author tests the validity of Huntington's claim that democracy and religion are tightly connected, and that western Christianity is the only religion capable of supporting democratic institutions. He evaluates both the broader assumptions that the introduction and the stability of a democratic form of government is dependent on the dominating religion in the country at the macro level, and the suggestion that, at the individual level, religious adherence is related to pro-democratic values. Examining religions including Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Chinese folk religion, and Judaism, this book demonstrates that geographical and political contexts are more important than religious affiliation for explaining levels of, and attitudes towards, democracy. As well as offering a broad empirical picture of the relationship between religion and democracy, this new edition delves deeper into the religion–state nexus, focusing particularly on events that have taken place during the last decade. The author explores how religion is used instrumentally by political leaders in different parts of the world. He also discusses the extent to which religious minorities are under increasing pressure in secularized environments; prospects for democracy in the MENA region a decade after the Arab Spring; the growing influence of evangelical Christianity in Latin America; and how increasing levels of religious conflict in Asia and the Pacific as well as in Sub-Saharan Africa pose a threat to the emergence and survival of democracy. This book will be of great interest to students, academics, and researchers within the field of comparative politics, as well as journalists and various theological associations.

'Religion's Sudden Decline' provides evidence of a major decline in religion in most of the world, based on surveys of over 100 countries containing 90 percent of the world's population, carried out from 1981 to 2020 - the largest base of empirical evidence ever assembled to analyse mass acceptance or rejection of religion.--