Major world religions : from their origins to the present / / edited by Lloyd Ridgeon

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910450926103321
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: London ; ; New York : , : RoutledgeCurzon, , 2003
• ISBN: 1-134-42935-5; 1-280-02243-4; 0-203-42313-5; 0-203-42548-0; 9780203423135
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (399 p.)
• Altri autori (Persone): RidgeonLloyd V. J
• Disciplina: 200/.9
• Soggetti: Religions - History; Civilization - History; Electronic books.
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
• Nota di contenuto: Book Cover; Title; Contents; LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS; INTRODUCTION: STUDYING RELIGION; HINDUISM; In what sense is Hinduism a religion?; Hinduism in history; The Harappan period; The period of the north Indian empires; The period of regional kingdoms; The period of Muslim rule; The period of British rule; Independence; Karma, rebirth and cyclic time; Karma and rebirth; Theodicy; Karma and other determinants of destiny; Cyclic time; Karma and cosmic time in the modern world; Dharma: norms of conduct; The literature of dharma; Differentiation by gender; Differentiation by caste; Differentiation by stage of lifeDifferentiation by age of the world; The gods and God; Patterns of worship and its objects; The divine feminine; Local deities and pan-Hindu deities; Avataras and saints; Hindu worship and theology in the modern world; BUDDHISM; Pragmatism; The Four Noble Truths; The sangha; The Abhidharma; The emergence of Mahayana Buddhism; The Bodhisattva; Emptiness (sunyata); The Yogacara; The Tathagata-garbha; From India to China; Translation; Sudden enlightenment; Philosophization and simplification; Hua-yen; ; Pure-Land Buddhism; Pure-Land Buddhism in Japan; Zen; Transcendentalism againJUDAISM; Reliable and unreliable sources of knowledge; 'Judaism is not a Christian heresy'; The roots of Judaism; The historical beginnings of Rabbinic Judaism; The religious principles of Rabbinic Judaism; The Mishnah and Tosefta; Some parallels with Christianity; The medieval flowering of Judaism; The Talmuds; The commentaries and grammars; Philosophy and ethics; Zohar and kabbalah; Messianism; Sabbatai Sevi; Jewish Christians, Jews for Jesus and Messianic Judaism; Towards modernity: Hasidism and the Haskalah; The Hasidic movement; The Haskalah; Reform, Orthodox and Conservative JudaismAnti-Semitism and the Holocaust; The Holocaust; Zionism and the land of Israel; Eretz Yisrael; CHRISTIANITY; Key texts: the formation of the biblical canon; Theological 'canon'?; The Church and the world: a variety of approaches; The early Christian Church; Constantine: first Christian emperor; East and West: the first Christian centuries; The Christian Church in the Western world: the Protestant Reformation; The Christian Church: communities of resistance and renewal; Western Christianity and the challenges of the modern world; The challenge of Enlightenment philosophyChallenges of secularism, pluralism and postmodernism; The challenge of evil: the Holocaust; The challenge of feminism; The Church beyond Europe; India: the Church of St Thomas; Africa: the Ethiopian Church; The epic tale of Christian missionaries; The Church in North America; ISLAM; The testament of faith (shahada); ' and Muhammad is his messenger.'; Prayer (salat); Sufism; Fasting (sawm); The Qur'an; The Qur'an as a text; Limits of interpretation; The alms tax (zakat); Islamic law; Pilgrimage (hajj); The hajj rites; Pluralism; Jihad: Islam and the state
• Sommario/riassunto: This book focuses upon those religions that continue to demand the attention of the Western world.