9780130923868

This new EDITION explores the many dimensions of religion as a central reality of human life. It provides a functional definition of religion that suggests that religion is important to everyone because each person's life is shaped by, and all persons are concerned about, occasions in their lives that threaten or promote fulfillment of the individual's basic values and commitments. FEATURES: bull; bull;A broad approach to defining religion in terms of value and commitment-Allows examination of traditional religious issues, beliefs, and patterns. bull;A functional definition of religion-Provides several definitions of religion-with emphasis upon that which gives "pivitol value" to life. bull;A variety of resource materials-Drawn from the Scriptures and classic literature of the world's great religions, as well as from classic and contemporary sources that seek to interpret religion in its various dimensions. NEW TO THIS EDITION: bull; bull;Updated contemporary examples from popular culture-Features poetry, drama, cinema, comics, news stories, and song lyrics. bull;Expanded and revised content throughout-E.g., ecstatic religion, religion and gENDer, myth, religious understandings of evil, and postmodernism. bull;Examination of recent world events-As they relate to religion. bull;Fuller treatment of religious orientations and movements in simpler and contemporary society.

Preface or Some Ways of Using This Text

ix

Part I Religion and Religious Traditions

Toward a Definition of Religion

1

(19)

Reliance upon a Pivotal Value

5

(2)

Person-in-Community

7

(2)

An Individual and Person-in-Community

9

(1)

Other Values Subordinate to Central Value

10

(2)

Authentic to the Individual

12

(1)

Religious Tradition

13

(2)

Life-Governing Value

15

(1)

Understanding Based on Dialogue

16

(2)

Communication

18

(2)

Religious Traditions

20

(32)

Hinduism

21

(4)

Buddhism

25

(5)

Taoism

30

(3)

Confucianism

33

(2)

Judaism

35

(4)

Christianity

39

(4)

Islam

43

(9)

Summary

47

(1)

Basic Tenets of the Major World Religions

48

(4)

Part II Experiencing Religion

Religious Experience

52

(15)

God's Call, Moses' Response

54

(1)

Gautama's Quest for Nirvana

55

(3)

Sufi Encounters

58

(3)

Saint Teresa's Ecstasy

61

(2)

Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe

63

(1)

Mahatma Gandhi's Religious Journey

64

(3)

Elements of Religious Experience

67

(26)

The Role of Symbols in Religion

68

(5)

The Role of Ritual in Religion

73

(5)

Myth and Religious Insight

78

(3)

Magic: Theory and Practice

81

(3)

Ecstatic Religious Phenomena

84

(4)

Mysticism in Religious Experience

88

(5)

Religion in Artistic Expression

93

(23)

Art as Symbolic Vehicle

94

(6)

Images of Jesus as Christ in the Early Church

100

(7)

Luminous Wholeness in Western European Medieval Architecture

107

(9)

Part III The Divine

Knowledge, Belief, Authority, and Tradition

116

(24)

How Do We Know? What Can We Know?

117

(4)

Interpretation and Verification of Religious Knowledge

121

(5)

General and Special Revelation, Reason and Faith

126

(5)

Authority in Religion

131

(2)

Tradition: Its Meaning and Function

133

(3)

The Anatomy of Faith

136

(4)

Ways of Conceiving the Divine

140

(20)

Unit 38 The Holy

141

(5)

Unit 39 The Divine Expressed in Religious Texts

146

(7)

Unit 40 Conceptual Expressions of the Divine

153

(2)

Unit 41 Spirit

155

(5)

Part IV The Self and Religion

Evil: Its Reality and Meaning

160

(13)

Why Suffering?

161

(3)

Concepts of Evil

164

(6)

Institutionalized Forms of Evil

170

(3)

Understanding the Self

173

(15)

The Nature of Humanity

174

(5)

On the Meaning of Person

179

(5)

Views of Being Human, East and West

184

(4)

Freedom and the Self

188

(7)

Human Freedom

189

(3)

Concepts of Christian Choosing: Grace, Predestination, and Accountability

192

(3)

Sin and Guilt

195

(8)

Roles of Shame and Guilt

196

(1)

Guilt and Religious Experience

197

(3)

Judeo-Christian Concepts of Sin

200

(3)

Death and the Self

203

(14)

Attitudes Toward Death

204

(3)

How It May Feel To Die

207

(4)

Death and the Afterlife: Cultural Perspectives

211

(3)

Resurrection and Monotheistic Faith

214

(3)

Salvation and Redemption

217

(14)

Salvation

217

(3)

Eschatology: The Coming Fulfillment

220

(11)

Part V Religion and the Sociocultural Context

The Religious Matrix of Interpersonal Relations

231

(12)

The Individual and the Community

232

(3)

Love and Duty

235

(4)

Act and Motive

239

(4)

Corporate Expressions of Ethical Concerns

243

(25)

Liberation Theology and Justice

244

(2)

Peace or Justice?

246

(5)

Religion and the Social Status of Women

251

(6)

Sexuality and Human Liberation

257

(5)

Poverty and Race

262

(3)

Ethnic Pluralism and Contemporary American Religion

265

(3)

Religious Traditions and Social Stability

268

(10)

Community of Faith

269

(2)

Wholeness of Life in a Simply Structured Society

271

(2)

Wholeness of Life in Classical Greece

273

(2)

Japanese Fondness of Simplicity

275

(3)

Religious Traditions and Social Change

278

(24)

Population Growth and World Hunger

278

(6)

Religion, Humanity, and Technology

284

(3)

Secularization

287

(3)

Characteristics of Modernization

290

(2)

Modernism and Postmodernism: Some Variations

292

(4)

New Religious Movements

296

(6)

Part VI Religion and the Natural Order

Human Response to the Natural Process

302

(10)

Humanity and the World

303

(5)

Nature and the Natural

308

(4)

Order and Origins

312

(19)

Religious Views on the Origin of the Universe

313

(6)

Religious Vision and Scientific Method

319

(6)

The Temporal and Eternal

325

(6)

Index of Religious Traditions

331

(4)

Index of Names and Subjects

335

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PREFACE OR SOME WAYS OF USING THIS TEXTExploring Religious Meaningis intended to serve as a set of tools and resources for exploring the many dimensions of religion as a central reality of human life. It was designed with introductory courses in religion, religion and culture, religion and society, and the humanities in mind. It has also been used successfully as a main or supplementary text for courses in comparative religion, sociology of religion, and philosophy of religion. It is indexed and formatted in ways that suggest a variety of uses. It can be used readily for independent study.The book's design suggests an approach to inquiry that may be called inductive and integrative. Many of the readings are taken from Scriptures and classic literature of the world's religions. Others, presented in a variety of ways, are drawn from classic and contemporary sources that interpret religion in its various dimensions--theological, psychological, sociological, philosophical, cultural, and practical. Some are drawn from areas of contemporary -culture in which religious experience and commitment are actualized, appreciated, or criticized.The authors ofExploring Religious Meaningdo not always agree among themselves on questions of interpretation. Readers will no doubt find themselves questioning or disagreeing with points of view expressed in sources or interpretative commentary. We hope that individual readers will be stimulated to address their own questions and formulate their own responses in studying the issues. Questions and discussion points are connected with readings more closely than in earlier editions. We believe they will be more useful.To understand religion, religious phenomena must be seen in their contexts as manifested in the lives of societies and individuals. Traditional practices, organizational structures, doctrinal formulations handed down from generation to generation are important aspects of religion that receive attention in this text. Important too are individual experiences of feeling and response movements of innovation, protest and reform, and the emergence of new patterns that may modify, give new life to, or eclipse the old and established.In the first chapter, a functional definition of religion is proposed. This definition suggests that religion is important to everyone because each person's life is shaped by--and all persons are concerned about--events that confront them with occasions that threaten or promote fulfillment of the individual's most basic values and commitments. Such basic commitments express what the individual most desires, how that person defines the meaning and value of existence. Basic commitments that involve the person's deepest loyalties, feelings, and beliefs about what is worth trying to acquire or preserve are--according to our proposed definition of religion--religious.Exploring Religious Meaningbegan as an attempt in the late 1960s to communicate and illuminate religious concepts, practices, and traditions in ways that would effectively speak both to students who had religious interest and commitments and to others who had little experience of or even interest in the subject. Materials in the book have been updated many times since then. Probably the two greatest changes, beginning with the second edition, were (1) the addition of a separate chapter giving connected accounts of eight of the world's major religious traditions and (2) greater attention to unity and clarity in the structure of the book. Each subsequent edition has seen the addition of more information about individual religious traditions, including the major religions, new religious movements, and religion in ancient or simpler societies. These will be found throughout the book. Also, each edition has seen the development of a strengthened context of interpretation, giving greater clarity and a more comp

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Exploring Religious Meaning

Exploring Religious Meaning

0130923869

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