Religion

Ebook. "The ideal textbook for those coming to the study of religion for the first time, as well as for those who wish to keep up-to-date with the latest perspectives in the field. This third edition contains new and upgraded pedagogic features, including chapter summaries, key terms and definitions, and questions for reflection and discussion. The first part of the book considers the history and modern practices of the main religious traditions of the world, while the second analyzes trends from secularization to the rise of new spiritualities. Comprehensive and fully international in coverage, it is accessibly written by practicing and specialist teachers."

Ebook. "A new and expanded edition of a highly successful textbook on world religions with a comparative approach which explores how six major religions are lived and expressed through their customs, rituals and everyday practices." Religions include Buddhism, Christianity, Daoism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism. Themes include image, book, ethics, birth, death, marriage, food, clothing, year, building, and journey.

Ebook. "In this global introduction to philosophy of religion you begin not with a single tradition, but with religious philosophies from East Asia, South Asia, West Africa, and Native North America, alongside the classical Abrahamic and modern European traditions."

Encyclopedia of Religion contains entries on all major world religions and some lesser known religions. Includes information on science and religion, feminist theology, chaos theory, film and religion, and much more. Images, bibliographies, and inserts also included. 15 volumes.

Ebook. "Explores the challenges faced by Buddhism today, the distinctive forms that it has taken and the individuals and movements that have shaped it."

Ebook. "Explores regional varieties of Buddhism and core topics including buddha-nature, ritual, and pilgrimage. In addition to historical and geo-political views of Buddhism, the volume features thematic chapters on philosophical concepts such as ethics, as well as social constructs and categories such as community and family. The book also addresses lived Buddhism in its many forms, examining the ways in which modernity is reshaping traditional structures, ancient doctrines, and cosmological beliefs."

Print. "An accurate overview of Buddhist history, thought and practices, most entries having cross-referencing to others and bibliographical references. Contains around 1000 pages and 500,000 words, totaling around 1200 entries."

Ebook. "The essays within The Oxford Handbook of Buddhist Practice push beyond traditional representations of Buddhism as divided into static schools and traditions, highlighting instead the contested and negotiated character of individual and group identities. This volume will serve as a corrective to the common misconception that Buddhist practice is limited to seated meditation and that ritualized activities are not an integral dimension of authoritative Buddhist practice."

Print. "Provides a blueprint to understanding Buddhism's past and uses it to explore the ways in which Buddhism has transformed in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries."

Ebook. "Offers unrivalled coverage of all aspects of this vast and often complex subject, from theology; churches and denominations; patristic scholarship; and the bible; to the church calendar and its organization; popes; archbishops; other church leaders; saints; and mystics. In this new edition, great efforts have been made to increase and strengthen coverage of non-Anglican denominations (for example non-Western European Christianity), as well as broadening the focus on Christianity and the history of churches in areas beyond Western Europe. In particular, there have been extensive additions with regards to the Christian Church in Asia, Africa, Latin America, North America, and Australasia. Significant updates have also been included on topics such as liturgy, Canon Law, recent international developments, non-Anglican missionary activity, and the increasingly important area of moral and pastoral theology, among many others."

Ebook. "One of the world's leading theologians offers a lively, jargon-free introduction to Christianity. Features a wealth of new material on global Christianity, American Christianity, the Orthodox Church, current theological debates, and Christianity in relation to other world religions."

Online. "EBR offers a comprehensive and in-depth rendering of the current state of knowledge on the origins and development of the Bible according to its different canonic forms in Judaism and Christianity. At the same time, EBR also documents the history of the Bible's reception in Judaism and Christianity as evident in exegetical literature, theological and philosophical writings of various genres, literature, liturgy, music, the visual arts, dance, and film, as well as in Islam and other religious traditions and contemporary movements."

Print. "A comprehensive reference work on the history and impact of Christianity. Over 1,400 entries provide an in-depth and dynamic look at Christianity both through its history and the way it has shaped societies around the world."

Ebook. "Among the 12,000 entries in the encyclopedia are articles on theology, philosophy, history, literary figures, saints, musicians and much more."

Ebook. "Providing the first English language multi-volume account of the key historical, liturgical, doctrinal features of Eastern Orthodoxy, including the Non-Chalcedonian churches. Explores of the major traditions of Eastern Orthodoxy in detail, including the Armenian, Byzantine, Coptic, Ethiopic, Slavic, Romanian, Syriac churches."

Ebook. "Introduces Confucianism as a whole, with 1,235 entries giving full information on its history, doctrines, schools, rituals, sacred places and terminology, and on the adaptation, transformation and new thinking taking place in China and other Eastern Asian countries."

Ebook. "First formulated in the sixth century BCE, the teachings of Confucius would come to dominate Chinese society, politics, economics, and ethics... Explores the major philosophical ideas of the Confucian tradition, showing their profound impact on state ideology and imperial government, the civil service examination system, domestic life, and social relations over the course of twenty-six centuries."

Ebook. "This comprehensive introduction explores the life and teachings of Confucius, and development of Confucian thought, from ancient times to the present today."

Ebook. "The Five Classics associated with Confucius formed the core curriculum in the education of Chinese literati throughout most of the imperial period. In this book Michael Nylan offers a sweeping assessment of these ancient texts and shows how their influence spread across East Asia... She assesses the impact on this canon of the invention of a rival corpus, The Four Books, in the twelfth century."

Print. "Provides comprehensive coverage of Taoist religion, thought and history, reflecting the current state of Taoist scholarship."

Ebook. "This guide to the spiritual landscape of Taoism not only introduces the important events in the history of Taoism, the sages who wrote the Taoist texts, and the various schools of Taoist thinking, but also gives the reader a feel for what it means to practice Taoism today."

Ebook. "Provides an account of key themes and defining characteristics of Daoist religiosity, revealing Daoism to be a living and lived religion. Exploring Daoism from a comparative religious studies perspective, this book gives the reader a deeper understanding of religious traditions more broadly."

Ebook. "This clear and reliable introduction to Taoism (also known as Daoism) brings a fresh dimension to a tradition that has found a natural place in Western society. Examining Taoist sacred texts together with current scholarship, it surveys Taoism's ancient roots, contemporary heritage and role in daily life."

Print. "Outlines the basic teachings, concepts, and writings, and also describes their historical significance. It also presents viewpoints on the crucial debate concerning whether Taoism is a religion, a philosophy or both. The dictionary section of the book presents the concepts, persons, rituals, beliefs, and historically significant events of Taoism in great detail."

Ebook. "Hinduism is practised by nearly eighty per cent of India's population, and by some seventy million people outside India. In this Very Short Introduction, Kim Knott offers a succinct and authoritative overview of this major religion, and analyses the challenges facing it in the twenty-first century."

Ebook and print. "Reflects the trend away from essentialist understandings of Hinduism towards tradition and regional-specific studies. Includes material on Hindu folk religions and stresses the importance of region in analyzing Hinduism."

Ebook and print. "Exploring the enormous diversity of Hindu devotion whilst considering Hinduism's academic status as a category for analysis, the book achieves a distinctive creative balance between the beliefs and values of Hindus themselves, and scholarly 'outsider' perspectives."

Print. "900 entries reflecting recent advances in scholarship which have raised new theoretical and methodological issues as well as identifying new areas of study which have not been addressed previously."

Ebook. "Brings together textual and contextual approaches to provide a holistic understanding of modern Hinduism... Lavanya Vemsani draws on social scientific methodologies as well as history, ethnography and textual analysis, demonstrating that they are all part of the toolkit for understanding the larger framework of religion in the context of emerging nationhood, transnational and transcultural interactions."

Hosted at the Middle East Institute, this encyclopedia by M. Cherif Bassiouni offers an introduction to Islam.

Ebook. "Offers extensive comparative and systematic analyses of Islamic beliefs, institutions, movements, practices, and peoples on an international scale. Articles range from brief essays to major interpretive and synthetic treatments of topics such as the Islamic state, pilgrimage, law, marriage, and foreign relations. Related entries cover areas of general interest such as social and political movements, women, Muslim minorities, human rights, Islam in the West, and interreligious affairs."

Ebook. "Rich historical content is partnered with coverage of the issues, countries, and people that are important in today's world, allowing for an assessment of Islam's influence on all areas of human activity throughout the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas."

Print. "The Qur'an is the primary religious text for one-fifth of the world's population and has been an object of reverence and of intense study for centuries... An encyclopedic dictionary of qur'anic terms, concepts, personalities, place names, cultural history, and exegesis extended with essays on the most important themes and subjects within qur'anic studies."

Ebook. "This brief introduction to Judaism is designed to help readers understand this important religious tradition... It offers both historical overviews and modern perspectives on Jewish beliefs and practices."

Print. "A sweeping history of Judaism over more than three millennia. Judaism is one of the oldest religions in the world, and it has preserved its distinctive identity despite the extraordinarily diverse forms and beliefs."

Print. "A comprehensive and engaging overview of Jewish life, from its origins in the ancient Near East to its impact on contemporary popular culture. The twenty-one essays, arranged historically and thematically, and written specially for this volume by leading scholars, examine the development of Judaism and the evolution of Jewish history and culture over many centuries and in a range of locales. They emphasize the ongoing diversity and creativity of the Jewish experience."

Ebook and print. "Lauded as the standard work on Judaism since first appearing in the early 1970s... Even more clarity and substance is incorporated through the updating of some 11,000 entries across all topics."

Ebook. "Examines how religious history and practices are woven into the political, social, cultural, and historical landscape of North America. This authoritative four-volume reference work explains the origins, development, adaptation, influence, and interrelations of the many faiths practiced, including major world religions, new religious sects, cults, and religious movements that originated or had an influence in the United States."

Ebook. "This unique reference work provides students and the general public alike with coverage of more than 2,300 North American religious groups in the U.S. and Canada -- from Adventists to Zen Buddhists. The culmination of more than forty years of research, the information is presented in 26 chapters, each of which focuses on a different religious family. Each chapter includes an overview of the familys history, followed by directory entries on specific groups within that family. The directory entries provide factual information including, when available, rubrics for membership figures, educational facilities, and periodicals."