Anatomy of the Sacred: An Introduction to Religion

For one-semester, undergraduate courses in Introduction to Religion and Comparative Religion, and more advanced courses dealing with issues in the theoretical study of religion. This comprehensive introduction to the nature and variety of religious phenomena, belief, and practice (1) explores the issues in religious studies, (2) examines the universal forms of religious experience, (3) offers a cross-cultural study of a broad range of classic types of religious belief and practice in terms of the seven basic concepts of a religious world view, and (4) surveys the challenges faced by religions today. Table of Contents: Anatomy of the Sacred: An Introduction to Religion, 6th Edition PART I) THE STUDY OF RELIGION: 1) What is Religion? 2) Ways of Studying Religion PART II) UNIVERSAL FORMS OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND EXPRESSION 3) The Sacred and the Holy 4) Sacred Symbol, Myth, and Doctrine 5) Sacred Ritual 6) Sacred Scripture 7) Society and the Sacred: The Social Formations and Transformations of Religion PART III) UNIVERSAL COMPONENTS OF A RELIGIOUS WORLDVIEW 8) Deity: Concepts of the Divine and Ultimate Reality 9) Cosmogony: Origins of the Natural and Social Order 10) Views of the Human Problem 11) Theodicy: Encountering Evil 12) Ethics: Patterns of Moral Action 13) Soteriology: Ways and Goals of Salvation and Liberation PART IV) THE SACRED AND THE SECULAR IN MODERNITY 14) Secularization - New Religious Revitalization Movements - Contemporary Religious Fundamentalism 15)