Download or read book A Little History of Religion written by Richard Holloway and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2016-08-23 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For curious readers young and old, a rich and colorful history of religion from humanity’s earliest days to our own contentious times In an era of hardening religious attitudes and explosive religious violence, this book offers a welcome antidote. Richard Holloway retells the entire history of religion—from the dawn of religious belief to the twenty-first century—with deepest respect and a keen commitment to accuracy. Writing for those with faith and those without, and especially for young readers, he encourages curiosity and tolerance, accentuates nuance and mystery, and calmly restores a sense of the value of faith. Ranging far beyond the major world religions of Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, and Hinduism, Holloway also examines where religious belief comes from, the search for meaning throughout history, today’s fascinations with Scientology and creationism, religiously motivated violence, hostilities between religious people and secularists, and more. Holloway proves an empathic yet discerning guide to the enduring significance of faith and its power from ancient times to our own.
Download or read book Before Religion written by Brent Nongbri and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2013-01-22 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examining a wide array of ancient writings, Brent Nongbri dispels the commonly held idea that there is such a thing as ancient religion. Nongbri shows how misleading it is to speak as though religion was a concept native to pre-modern cultures.
Download or read book The Origin and Evolution of Religion Routledge Revivals written by Albert Churchward and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-06-03 with total page 518 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Churchward’s The Origin and Evolution of Religion, first published in 1924, explores the history and development of different religions worldwide, from the religious cults of magic and fetishism to contemporary religions such as Christianity and Islam. This text is ideal for students of theology.
Download or read book Religion in Human Evolution written by Robert N. Bellah and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2017-05-08 with total page 777 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice An ABC Australia Best Book on Religion and Ethics of the Year Distinguished Book Award, Sociology of Religion Section of the American Sociological Association Religion in Human Evolution is a work of extraordinary ambition—a wide-ranging, nuanced probing of our biological past to discover the kinds of lives that human beings have most often imagined were worth living. It offers what is frequently seen as a forbidden theory of the origin of religion that goes deep into evolution, especially but not exclusively cultural evolution. “Of Bellah’s brilliance there can be no doubt. The sheer amount this man knows about religion is otherworldly...Bellah stands in the tradition of such stalwarts of the sociological imagination as Emile Durkheim and Max Weber. Only one word is appropriate to characterize this book’s subject as well as its substance, and that is ‘magisterial.’” —Alan Wolfe, New York Times Book Review “Religion in Human Evolution is a magnum opus founded on careful research and immersed in the ‘reflective judgment’ of one of our best thinkers and writers.” —Richard L. Wood, Commonweal
Download or read book The Beginning and the End of Religion written by Nicholas Lash and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1996-06-28 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The common view that 'religion' is something quite separate from politics, art, science, law and economics is one that is peculiar to modern Western culture. In this book Professor Lash argues that we should begin to question seriously that viewpoint: the modern world is ending and we are now in a position to discover new forms of ancient wisdom, which have been obscured from view. These essays explore this idea in a number of directions, examining the dialogue between theology and science, the secularity of Western culture and questions of Christian hope. Part One examines the dialogue between Christianity and Hinduism, while Part Two considers the relations between theology and science, the secularity of Western culture, and questions of Christian hope, or eschatology.
Download or read book The Origins of Religion written by Rafael Karsten and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-09-23 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, first published in 1935, collects together material on the origins of religion from two very different sources. South America, where the author spent six years studying the religious beliefs and customs of several Indian tribes representing different stages of culture; and the Finno-Ugrian area, where Finnish and Russian ethnologists had brought to light a new body of facts which formed an important addition to our knowledge of religious life at an early stage of cultural development. This book is a key work in the study of comparative religion, and is an essential reference source on the origins of religion.
Download or read book Religion and its History written by Jörg Rüpke and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-05-09 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religion and its History offers a reflection of our operative concept of religion and religions, developing a set of approaches that bridge the widely assumed gulf between analysing present religion and doing history of religion. Religious Studies have adapted a wide range of methodologies from sociological tool kits to insights and concepts from disciplines of social and cultural studies. Their massive historical claims, which typically idealize and reify communities and traditions, and build normative claims thereupon, lack a critical engagement on the part of the researchers. This book radically rethinks and critically engages with these biases. It does so by offering neither an abridged global history of religion nor a small handbook of methodology. Instead, this book presents concepts and methods that allow the analysis of contemporary and past religious practices, ideas, and institutions within a shared framework.
Download or read book A History of Religion in 51 2 Objects written by S. Brent Plate and published by Beacon Press. This book was released on 2015-03-10 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A leading scholar explores the importance of physical objects and sensory experience in the practice of religion. A History of Religion in 5½ Objects takes a fresh and much-needed approach to the study of that contentious yet vital area of human culture: religion. Arguing that religion must be understood in the first instance as deriving from rudimentary human experiences, from lived, embodied practices, S. Brent Plate asks us to put aside, for the moment, questions of belief and abstract ideas. Instead, beginning with the desirous, incomplete human body, he asks us to focus on five ordinary objects—stones, incense, drums, crosses, and bread—with which we connect in our pursuit of religious meaning and fulfillment. As Plate considers each of these objects, he explores how the world’s religious traditions have put each of them to different uses throughout the millennia. Religion, it turns out, has as much to do with our bodies as our beliefs. Maybe even more.
Download or read book In Search of Dreamtime written by Tomoko Masuzawa and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1993-12 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Extended discussion of the concepts of time and origin in the work of Durkheim, Muller and Freud; Ch. 5 - contrasts the representation of the Dreaming in Eliade's Australian religions and Munns Walbiri iconography; role of dreams and graphic representation in Walbiri womens lives - their relation to formal analysis of the Dreaming; argues that the Dreaming should be seen as a measure of difference and against its perception as an origin; ground sand designs; historical consciousness.
Download or read book History of Religion written by Michael J. Stewart and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-12-21 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Get To Know The Different Religions Of The World. Find out what beliefs set people apart from one another. For decades, religion has been the major source of human controversy. Throughout history, it has been a way to distinguish cultural and political beliefs. This has brought us together and torn entire kingdoms apart. The study of religion can greatly impact our understanding of certain places, people and events throughout the ages. History of Religion: An Overview of the most Important People and Events in The World's Religions, Mythologies, & History of the Church focuses on the 6 major world religions that are unique on their own. These are: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Sikhism. You will learn about: Egyptian Mythology I Ching History of Jerusalem The Crusades Muhammad The World's Religions The World's Most Destructive Religious Movements and Cults Parody Religions & Some Of The World's Funniest Religions Zoroastrianism Taking a deep dive into different religious tradition will help you gain a better understanding of different cultures and the religious traditions that are passed on from generation to generation. The culture and rituals that religion creates have infused themselves as a way of life for different people all around the world. Whether you are a student majoring in Humanities and Social Sciences, or you simply want to learn more about the history of religion, you won't be disappointed with this enriching book!
Download or read book History and Religion written by Bernd-Christian Otto and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2015-08-31 with total page 475 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: History is one of the most important cultural tools to make sense of one’s situation, to establish identity, define otherness, and explain change. This is the first systematic scholarly study that analyses the complex relationship between history and religion, taking into account religious groups both as producers of historical narratives as well as distinct topics of historiography. Coming from different disciplines, the authors of this volume ask under which conditions and with what consequences religions are historicised. How do religious groups employ historical narratives in the construction of their identities? What are the biases and elisions of current analytical and descriptive frames in the History of Religion? The volume aims at initiating a comparative historiography of religion and combines disciplinary competences of Religious Studies and the History of Religion, Confessional Theologies, History, History of Science, and Literary Studies. By applying literary comparison and historical contextualization to those texts that have been used as central documents for histories of individual religions, their historiographic themes, tools and strategies are analysed. The comparative approach addresses circum-Mediterranean and European as well as Asian religious traditions from the first millennium BCE to the present and deals with topics such as the origins of religious historiography, the practices of writing and the transformation of narratives.
Download or read book The Body of Faith written by Robert C. Fuller and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013-06-01 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The postmodern view that human experience is constructed by language and culture has informed historical narratives for decades. Yet newly emerging information about the biological body now makes it possible to supplement traditional scholarly models with insights about the bodily sources of human thought and experience. The Body of Faith is the first account of American religious history to highlight the biological body. Robert C. Fuller brings a crucial new perspective to the study of American religion, showing that knowledge about the biological body deeply enriches how we explain dramatic episodes in American religious life. Fuller shows that the body’s genetically evolved systems—pain responses, sexual passion, and emotions like shame and fear—have persistently shaped the ways that Americans forge relationships with nature, to society, and to God. The first new work to appear in the Chicago History of American Religion series in decades, The Body of Faith offers a truly interdisciplinary framework for explaining the richness, diversity, and endless creativity of American religious life.
Download or read book Religion Explained written by Pascal Boyer and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2007-03-21 with total page 406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many of our questions about religion, says the internationally renowned anthropologist Pascal Boyer, were once mysteries, but they no longer are: we are beginning to know how to answer questions such as "Why do people have religion?" and "Why is religion the way it is?" Using findings from anthropology, cognitive science, linguistics, and evolutionary biology, Boyer shows how one of the most fascinating aspects of human consciousness is increasingly admissible to coherent, naturalistic explanation. And Man Creates God tells readers, for the first time, what religious feeling is really about, what it consists of, and how it originates. It is a beautifully written, very accessible book by an anthropologist who is highly respected on both sides of the Atlantic. As a scientific explanation for religious feeling, it is sure to arouse controversy.
Download or read book Religion in American Life written by Jon Butler and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-10-06 with total page 573 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Quite ambitious, tracing religion in the United States from European colonization up to the 21st century.... The writing is strong throughout."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "One can hardly do better than Religion in American Life.... A good read, especially for the uninitiated. The initiated might also read it for its felicity of narrative and the moments of illumination that fine scholars can inject even into stories we have all heard before. Read it."--Church History This new edition of Religion in American Life, written by three of the country's most eminent historians of religion, offers a superb overview that spans four centuries, illuminating the rich spiritual heritage central to nearly every event in our nation's history. Beginning with the state of religious affairs in both the Old and New Worlds on the eve of colonization and continuing through to the present, the book covers all the major American religious groups, from Protestants, Jews, and Catholics to Muslims, Hindus, Mormons, Buddhists, and New Age believers. Revised and updated, the book includes expanded treatment of religion during the Great Depression, of the religious influences on the civil rights movement, and of utopian groups in the 19th century, and it now covers the role of religion during the 2008 presidential election, observing how completely religion has entered American politics.
Download or read book The Absoluteness of Christianity and the History of Religions written by Ernst Troeltsch and published by Westminster John Knox Press. This book was released on 1971-01-01 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this seminal work, pioneering theologian Ernst Troeltsch raises the question, how can we pass beyond the diversity with which history presents us to norms for our faith and for our judgments about life? He trenchantly probes the issue of how one religion--when viewed historically in the context of other world religions--can be universally and absolutely true. Though many others since have explored the issue of historical relativism and religious truth, few have done so with Troeltsch's determination and incisiveness, and for this he has made a lasting contribution to Christian theology and the philosophy of religion. The questions Troeltsch poses in this book remain utterly significant for the thoughtful Christian today. This reissue of a well-known classic includes a foreword by theological titan James Luther Adams.
Download or read book A Secret History of Christianity written by Mark Vernon and published by John Hunt Publishing. This book was released on 2019-08-30 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christianity is in crisis in the West. The Inkling friend of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, Owen Barfield, analysed why. He developed an account of our spiritual predicament that is radical and illuminating. Barfield realized that the human experience of life shifts fundamentally over periods of cultural time. Our perception of nature, the cosmos and the divine changes dramatically across history. Mark Vernon uses this startling insight to tell the inner story of 3000 years of Christianity, beginning from the earliest Biblical times. Drawing, too, on the latest scholarship and spiritual questions of our day, he presents a gripping account of how Christianity constellated a new perception of what it is to be human. For 1500 years, this sense of things informed many lives, though it fell into crisis with the Reformation, scientific revolution and Enlightenment. But the story does not stop there. Barfield realised that there is meaning in the disenchantment and alienation experienced by many people today. It is part of a process that is remaking our sense of participation in the life of nature, the cosmos and the divine. It's a new stage in the evolution of human consciousness.
Download or read book The Origin and Growth of Religion written by Wilhelm Schmidt and published by Wythe-North Publishing. This book was released on 2014-09-02 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A much-sought-after volume, as it provides a glimpse into philosophy of religion in the early twentieth century. Wilhelm Schmidt, based on his research and observations as an anthropologist, contends the opposite of the evolutionary theory of religion -- which is, that all religions of the world originate in monotheistic worship. Translated by H. J. Rose, a noted scholar of classics, this edition features a new Foreword by Winfried Corduan, Ph.D.
