Introducing World Religions

E. Farhadian Charles

Description

This beautifully designed, full-color textbook offers a comprehensive introduction to the world's religions, including history, beliefs, worship practices, and contemporary expressions. Charles Farhadian, a seasoned teacher and recognized expert on world religions, provides an empathetic account that both affirms Christian uniqueness and encourages openness to various religious traditions. His nuanced, ecumenical perspective enables readers to appreciate both Christianity and the world's religions in new ways. The book highlights similarities, dissimilarities, and challenging issues for Christians and includes significant selections from sacred texts to enhance learning. Pedagogical features include sidebars, charts, key terms, an extensive glossary, over two hundred illustrations, and about a dozen maps. This book is supplemented with helpful web materials for both students and professors through Baker Academic's Textbook eSources. Resources include self quizzes, discussion questions, additional further readings, a sample syllabus, and a test bank.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Comparative religion

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 09 juin 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781441246509
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 7 Mo

Extrait

© 2015 by Charles E. Farhadian
Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakeracademic.com
Ebook edition created 2015
Ebook corrections 01.15.2021
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4412-4650-9
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Image on page 215 from Wikimedia Commons.
Image on page 415 from Macrovector/Shutterstock.
“You can count on two things from this excellent introduction: (1) reliable information about the world’s religions and (2) guidance in seeing that information through a Christian lens. Charles Farhadian has given us a religion text for the twenty-first century: accurate, faithful, respectful, and compassionate. It now has a permanent place on my bookshelf.”
— Terry Muck , Louisville Institute
“Professor Farhadian has created a world religions text like no other. While setting up the conversation about world religions without fear and without apology from a Christian perspective, the author seeks to create a dialogue in which members of all religions would feel welcomed and fairly represented. The text is masterfully interdisciplinary, illustrating the pervasiveness of religion in human experience throughout history and the relevance of religion to every field of study. The lucid prose, wide-ranging illustrations, study helps, and use of sacred texts make the work inviting and useful for an introductory class in either an academic or church context. In addition, the book’s overall framing of the conversation as well as its comprehensiveness make it of value to someone long familiar with the field. This text is truly matched to the challenge of religion in the twenty-first-century global context.”
— Shirley A. Mullen , president, Houghton College
“Farhadian’s Introducing World Religions addresses a Christian audience by acknowledging their distinct location while at the same time making full use of critical social-scientific approaches to the study of religion. The result is a text that will be useful far beyond church-related universities and seminaries. His introduction is a masterful multidimensional account of how contemporary approaches to religious studies have come about and how these continue to inform the understanding of religion. He then systematically addresses these concerns in the context of each religion, providing a clear framework that is particularly useful for nonexpert readers and students.”
— Robert Hunt , Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University
To my family, Katherine, Gabriel, Gideon, Jeanette, Thea, Dorothy, whose love and encouragement mean the world to me
And to my students, who make teaching such a joy
Contents

Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Endorsements
Dedication
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
1. The Persistence of Religion
2. Hinduism
3. Buddhism
4. Jainism
5. Sikhism
6. Taoism and Confucianism
7. Judaism
8. Christianity
9. Islam
10. New Religious Movements
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
Back Ad
Back Cover
Illustrations

Maps
Religions 1910–2010
2.1. Indian subcontinent
2.2. Indus Valley civilization
3.1. Bodh Gaya, Bihar State, India
5.1. Punjab, northern India and eastern Pakistan
6.1. Provinces of China
7.1. World of Genesis
8.1. Roman provinces, first century CE
8.2. Christians 1910–2010
9.1. Arabian Peninsula
9.2. Muslims 1910–2010
Figures
1.1. We all live in contexts
1.2. Families
1.3. A Hindu-Balinese God keeps watch
1.4. Religious symbols
1.5. A nkisi nkondi (power figure) from Kongo Central Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
1.6. Hindu-Balinese village priest blessing students and workers for protection in Bali, Indonesia
1.7. Three Hindu priests copying religious texts in the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, India, in the 1890s
1.8. Sufi Whirling Dervish performing at a music festival in Purana Qila, New Delhi, India
1.9. Papua, Indonesia
1.10. Young victims of the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia
1.11. Female child standing in the Killing Fields outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia
1.12. Skyline of Amman, Jordan
1.13. Girls’ school in Tamil Nadu, India
1.14. Kolkata street, India: struggling in the midst of suffering
1.15. A tribe in Papua, Indonesia, encounters photo technology for the first time
1.16. Hindu-Balinese daily offerings at temple, and street merchant selling globalized goods in Bali, Indonesia
1.17. Powerful memories of death and life
1.18. Sigmund Freud
1.19. Muslim girls enjoying friendships at the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia
1.20. Women at a traditional Nigerian coronation ceremony
1.21. Church in Tamil Nadu, India
1.22. Karl Marx
1.23. La Bourgeoisie , 1894 ( The Bourgeoisie )
1.24. Traditional Balinese motifs in Bali, Indonesia
1.25. Spirit house in Thailand
1.26. Preparing cow dung for fuel in Bihar, India
1.27. Traditional welcome ceremony in Kheda district of Gujarat, India
1.28. Traditional Dani village in the Baliem Valley of West Papua, Indonesia
1.29. Karen traditional healer in northern Thailand
1.30. Izanami and Izanagi, the Shinto Celestial Parents who created the world (Kobayashi Eitaku, c. 1885)
1.31. Ichi no Torii. Large torii gate at Toshogu, Nikko (Tochigi Prefecture, Japan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site)
1.32. The first meeting of General MacArthur and Emperor Hirohito at the end of World War II at the US Embassy (Tokyo, September 27, 1945)
1.33. A Hindu Brahmin priest blesses a new car at a Hindu temple in Malibu, California, USA
1.34. Small church in Chile
2.1. Young woman in traditional dress in Mamallampuran, India
2.2. Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru in India, 1942
2.3. Brahmin priest in India
2.4. Harappa figurines, c. 2500 BCE
2.5. Hindu devotees bathing in the Ganges River in Haridwar, India
2.6. Faces of India
2.7. Sadhu with cow in India
2.8. Selection from the Rig Veda, Sanskrit language
2.9. Shiva Nataraja, the Dancing Shiva
2.10. Sadhu in Haridwar, India
2.11. Vishnu’s incarnation as Krishna
2.12. Vishnu’s incarnation as Rama
2.13. Temple entrance in Haridwar, India
2.14. Shiva temple at Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu, India
2.15. Trimurti showing Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu, and their consorts (c. 1700)
2.16. Statue of Shiva in Delhi, India
2.17. Statue of Lakshmi and Narayana from the eleventh century (National Museum, India)
2.18. Kali, the Hindu Goddess associated with Shakti (feminine empowerment), who uses her power to annihilate influential evil forces
2.19. The Taj Mahal in Agra, India
2.20. Tomb of the Mughal emperor Humayun, commissioned by his first wife, Bega Begum, in 1570
2.21. Statue of Rammohan Roy at Green College in Bristol, England
2.22. Vivekananda in Jaipur, India
2.23. Hindu temple in Malibu, California, USA, built in 1981
3.1. Buddhist monks collecting alms in northern Thailand
3.2. American Zen Buddhist monk Claude Anshin Thomas
3.3. Mahayana statue of an Indian Buddha from the eleventh century
3.4. Bhutanese painted Jataka Tales (18th–19th century, Bhutan)
3.5. Statue of Buddha as an ascetic in northern Thailand
3.6. Buddha’s Sermon of the Turning of the Wheel (Deer Park, Varanasi)
3.7. Buddhist stupas in Tibet
3.8. Theravada monks circumambulating a stupa in northern Thailand
3.9. Doi Suthep Temple in Chiang Mai, Thailand
3.10. The role of a Buddha: to enlighten the path for other people to follow, so they too can cross the stream of samsara and reach nirvana
3.11. Dharmachakra (“wheel of dharma”): a symbol of the Buddha’s teaching of the path of enlightenment
3.12. Buddhist novices walking in Thailand
3.13. Buddhist monk worshiping Buddha
3.14. King Asoka rock inscription
3.15. Wat Chai Watana Ram, a Buddhist temple in Ayuthaya, Thailand
3.16. Forest monks walking to a village to collect alms in northern Thailand
3.17. Carving of the future Buddha, Maitreya, in Feilai Feng Caves at Hangzhou, China
3.18. Avalokiteshvara cast-iron statue from the tenth or eleventh century
3.19. Statue of Kuan Yin from the Ming Dynasty, China
3.20. Tibetan woman praying with prayer wheel in Lhasa, Tibet
3.21. Tibet Potala
3.22. Painting of four Tibetan mandalas from the fourteenth century
3.23. Om Mani Padme Hum mantra, Tibetan script
3.24. Tibetan sand mandala ritual in Kitzbuehel, Austria
3.25. Prayer wheels in Tibet
3.26. Zen Buddhist priest in Kyoto, Japan
3.27. Tendai Buddhist priest in Hawaii, USA
4.1. Siddhachalam Jain center in New Jersey, USA
4.2. Tirthankara Rishabhadeva, considered the first tirthankara of Jainism
4.3. Statue of Mahavira at Shravanabelagola Temple in Karnataka, India
4.4. Mahavira statue in Mumbai, India
4.5. Mahavira accepting alms (Digambara Temple, Mumbai, India)
4.6. Jain cosmology depicted as a cosmic man, Loka-Purusha (Samghayanarayana manuscript, India, c. 16th century)
4.7. Ranakpu Jain temple in Udaipur, India
4.8. Suryaprajnapti Sutra, Jain scripture (c. 1500, western India)
4.9. Jain Narayana temple in Karnataka, India
4.10. Jain