World Religions Today - Softcover

Esposito, John L.; Fasching, Darrell J.; Lewis, Todd

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195176995 ISBN 13: 9780195176995

Publisher: OUP USA, 2006

Synopsis

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, the second edition of World Religions Today adds new chapters on primal religions and new religions. Featuring revised chapters on the traditions discussed in the first edition--Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and East Asian Religions--it covers historical details more succinctly and adds material on the Iraq War and other recent world events to the chapter on Islam. The book explores each tradition as a dynamic, ongoing force 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 twenty-first century, the authors open each discussion with a contemporary scenario of religious experience that illustrates the tension between premodern views and modernity.

About this title

Review:

"World Religions Today is lively, clear, and very insightful; students will learn so much from every single page. One marvelous feat of this book is the way in which it relates contemporary developments to the history of a particular tradition without overlooking important new developments or innovations. The language does not oversimplify content and keeps the theoretical richness intact, and the concepts and traditions are covered in the best possible light."--Bassam Romaya, University of Massachusetts Lowell

"This might be the best world religions textbook that I have encountered. It is erudite, very well written, and quite compelling."--Jonathan Ebel, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

"World Religions Today is unique in its consistent and thorough analysis of the relationship between modernity and modern religious movements. Its attention to the theoretical and cultural interventions introduced in the last fifty years really makes it an important and unique text."--Joseph Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

"The pedagogical devices are superb. Students read, and enjoy, the text boxes."--Alice L. Wood, Bethune-Cookman University

"The writing style is engaging and clear. The material is not presented in a manner that is overly dry or clinical, and is written at a level that students can understand without feeling spoken down to."--Samuel Hopkins, Northern Arizona University

Book Description:

TEXTBOOK

About this edition

• Publisher: OUP USA
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0195176995
• ISBN 13: 9780195176995
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 576