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 | | World Religions Today by John L. Esposito, Darrell J. Fasching, Todd Lewis ISBN-10: 9780195176995 ISBN-10: 0-19-517699-5 ISBN-13: 9780195176995 ISBN-13: 978-0-19-517699-5 Paperback 2005-11-24 Oxford University Press, USA Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description 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. Revealing the significance of religion in contemporary life, World Religions Today, Second Edition, explores eight major religious traditions as dynamic, ongoing forces in the lives of individuals and in the collective experience of modern societies. Covering historical details more succinctly than the previous edition, this volume features revised chapters on Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and East Asian Religions and adds two new chapters, "Primal Religions," and "Globalization: From New to New Age Religions." It also integrates material on Osama bin Laden, global terrorism, and the Iraq War. Moving beyond many books in the field--which focus on the historical origins and ancient development of the classical traditions of each religion--World Religions Today, Second Edition, takes a fresh approach. The book uses historical coverage of the religious traditions as a framework to help students understand how faiths have evolved to the present day and continue to have an impact on belief, politics, and society. 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. World Religions Today, Second Edition, incorporates many pedagogical aids--timelines, maps, illustrations, discussion questions, and a glossary of key terms--and also features approximately 200 photographs and two new eight-page full-color inserts. A Companion Website contains student resources including chapter summaries, self-quizzes, and links to additional sources. An Instructor's Manual offers chapter summaries, pedagogical suggestions, and exam questions and answers. Ideal for undergraduate courses in world religions and comparative religion, World Religions Today, Second Edition, emphasizes the interconnectedness of faith, culture, politics, and society, providing a peerless examination of the diverse ways in which contemporary human beings are religious. | ||
Reviews | ||
Good for your fireplace, not education I took Religions of the World class because I wanted to learn more about different cultures. Unfortunately, my teacher chose this book which I found impossible to go through. Thanks to this book, this class what a big frustration for me and I nearly dropped it. I talked to others from my class, and all of them gave up with this book. After paying pretty much good money for this book, in order to write papers or prepare to exams, I ended up using Wikipedia exclusively. Although Wikipedia is not best source so to speak, it definitely helped me to survive this frustrating situation. This book is packed with a lot of informations, there is no doubt about it. Unfortunately, the authors of this book had no idea how to teach. There is a lot of mess, language is horrible, no clear definitions, and without lectures, unless you have only one class per semester and you don't work, it is nearly impossible to get a good education from it. A textbook is supposed to be student-friendly, and also encourage him/her to study. This piece of *** book is definitely not encouraging to even read assigned pages. I feel sorry for you if you have to buy this book. I personally feel ripped off and frustrated. I will try to sell my copy on eBay but if not sold for a good money, I will burn it in my fireplace. At least it will be the only good use of this "textbook". I took nearly 30 classes so far, and my GPA was perfect so I am not an idiot. However, I wish I had never taken this class. It was the worst textbook I have ever seen, and therefore not the best class either. | ||
The Many Ways that God has Spoken Zoroaster, Krishna, Buddha, Christ, Muhammad, and many other founders of mainsteam legitimate religions have offered a connection to God for many people. The definition of a religion is that it offers a unique holy book independant of any other faith and has a central founder whose life is a testament to sacrifice. This book gives an explanation of the W5 of each faith and one universal theme remains - Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The Golden Rule is universal. So if you get anything out of this wonderful book it is this .... before you do anything .... especially to one who is innocent ... remember this because karma may come from Hinduism but it too is universal - what goes around comes around. | ||
its good interesting i bought this book for a religion class and i'm finding it quite interesting one thing i really like about it is it is NOT biased it doesnt INSULT any religions. | ||
Religion faces Modernity and Postmodernity I have used this book in an introductory class in World Religions. I have found the book to be very usable and filled with the kind of information one needs. At the same time, the authors do not lose sight of the central ideas, practices, and trends of each major religion. In reading the book, one needs to keep in mind the structure of each chapter, which begins with general ideas of religious practices and beliefs today, then goes back in time to show how they got the way they are. When one reads thoroughly, one gets a good picture of where the major religions are today and possibly where they are going. The index is thorough, and there are two appendices, one a vocabulary for each major religion, the other a time line of major developments for each religion. These are very useful. Also helpful are the review questions at the end of each chapter The theme of the book is the confrontation of each religion with modernism, and its status now in a postmodern (postcolonial)world. This approach is highly informative and increases the interest of the reader. There is an introductory chapter on religion in general, and the first chapter on Christianity includes a discussion of how the modern era was born out of Protestantism. This means that Christianity is shortchanged somewhat because much of the discussion is on "modernism". There are some printing errors that need to be fixed. I was very pleased with this book, and I highly recommend it. | ||
Long winded, but packed with information I used this book for an introductory level religious study course, so I read the entire book and had lectures in addition to the book. And I'm very glad that I had those lectures, otherwise I don't think I would have a very good idea about the main world religions covered in this book (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, far east religoins ie. Confucianism, Daoism). The authors of this book ramble on and on, with no general direction. The organization of the book is done fairly well, but at times the text makes no sense, skipping back and forth in time with no structure. I found that an extremely frustrating aspect of this book. It was impossible for me to get a general overview of each religion without reading many pages of inane details. The book does provide a wealth of information on each of the religions covered, however. The chapter on Islam is particularly good, but it's easy to get lost in the vastness of information provided. Every period of history is covered for each religion, so there is plenty of good material covered. But overall, the book did present each religion from its pre-modern start to its post-modern state today. Just sometimes, it wasn't clear on what direction the authors were heading. | ||