Books about Religions

New Releases on Religions

One click way to call up the New Releases on Religions from Barnes and Noble.

A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam - Karen Armstrong 1994

Amazon Synopsis: In this stunningly intelligent book, Karen Armstrong, one of Britain's foremost commentators on religious affairs, traces the history of how men and women have perceived and experienced God, from the time of Abraham to the present. From classical philosophy and medieval mysticism to the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and the modern age of skepticism, Karen Armstrong performs the near miracle of distilling the intellectual history of monotheism into one superbly readable volume, destined to take its place as a classic.

 

Edgar Cayce on Religion and Psychic Experience – Harmon H. Bro PhD

Book Jacket: Karma and Christ - can today's religious person believe in both?

Yes, says Edgar Cayce. The celebrated "sleeping clairvoyant" was a Sunday School teacher who found that the psychic information he received in trances appeared to supplement the teachings of the Bible without contradiction. Moreover, he found his psychic abilities dramatically heightened by prayer and meditation.

The author suggests how mature religion aided Edgar Cayce's psychic ability - and how it can help develop your own psychic powers.

Among the documented subject Dr. Bro describes are learning to see and "read" auras; dreaming of the future; developing meaningful psychic "hunches"; communicating with the dead; and retrocognition - psychic exploration of previous lives.

 

Experiencing the World's Religions: Tradition, Challenge and Change - Michael Molloy 2006

Amazon Synopsis: Experiencing the World's Religions provides a clear and compelling account of religion as a diverse, lived experience by peoples around the world. Global in its coverage, the text conveys the vitality and richness of the world's religions as a living cultural wellspring that not only concerns systems of belief but how those beliefs are expressed in ceremonies, food, clothing, art, architecture, pilgrimage, scripture, and music. The text demonstrates why an understanding of the world's religions enriches our lives. In an engaging narrative emphasizing the experience of religion, the text takes students on a personal voyage through doctrines, history, the religiously inspired arts, ceremonies, and everyday expressions of belief and combines these with powerful photographs from around the globe. The text goes beyond traditional approaches to personally connect students with the vitality of the great religions and how they reach into the lives of individuals and the culture at large. This fourth edition has been thoroughly updated in both content and illustration, to address recent world events and political changes, and provide additional insight into current theory and practice.

 

God Without Religion: Questioning Centuries of Accepted Truths - Sankara Saranam 2008

Amazon Synopsis: For those disillusioned with organized religion, this satisfying spiritual guide offers a modern-day spin on the tools of divine investigation needed to examine present beliefs, explore the nature of God, and expand the sense of self. Offering a bridge between structured and mystical spirituality, this examination suggests ways to overcome the limitations and notions of exclusivity promoted by New Age movements and also discusses 17 universal techniques for developing a personal relationship with God and broadening one’s view of the individual and the universal elements of nature.

 

History of the World's Religions - David S. Noss 2007

Amazon Synopsis: A History of the World's Religions gives students an accurate look at the religions of the world by including descriptive and interpretive details from the original source materials, and to bridge the interval between the founding of religions and their present state.

Refined by over forty years of dialogue and correspondence with religious experts and practitioners around the world, Noss's A History of the World's Religions is widely regarded as the hallmark of scholarship, fairness, and accuracy in its field. It is also the most thorough yet manageable history of world religion available in a single volume, treating many subjects largely neglected in other texts. The book's depth, breadth, and organization free instructors from having to cover everything in lectures, enabling them to select specific assignments and use class time for questions, discussion, and their own favorite materials.

 

The Illustrated World's Religions: A Guide to Our Wisdom Traditions - Huston Smith 1995

Amazon Synopsis: Retaining all the beloved qualities of Huston Smith's classic The Religions of Man and the current fully revised and updated The World's Religions, this stunning pictorial presentation refines the text to its wonderful essentials. In detailed, absorbing, richly illustrated, and highly readable chapters on Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity and primal religions, we find refreshing and fascinating presentations of both the differences and the similarities among the worldwide religious traditions. The approach is at once classic and contemporary, retaining all the empathy, eloquence and erudition that millions of readers love about the earlier editions, while being edited and designed for a contemporary general readership. This delightful marriage of winsome text and remarkable pictures vividly brings to life the scope and vision of Huston Smith's expertise and insight.

 

Living Religions - Mary Pat Fisher 2007

Amazon Synopsis: Living Religions, 7/e  presents a highly readable and stimulating survey of the modern religious world. Exploring the historical development and teachings of traditional faiths, indigenous religions, and new religious movements, this book considers how each of these traditions has evolved into contemporary beliefs and practices. 

Religion Explained - Pascal Boyer 2002

Amazon Synopsis: Many of our questions about religion, says renowned anthropologist Pascal Boyer, are no longer mysteries. We are beginning to know how to answer questions such as "Why do people have religion?" Using findings from anthropology, cognitive science, linguistics, and evolutionary biology, Religion Explained shows how this aspect of human consciousness is increasingly admissible to coherent, naturalistic explanation. This brilliant and controversial book gives readers the first scientific explanation for what religious feeling is really about, what it consists of, and where it comes from.

 

Religions of the World - Lewis M. Hopfe 2008

Amazon Synopsis: In preparing the eleventh  edition of  Religions of the World, Mark Woodward drew on his experience in teaching an introductory course on the religions of the world to thousands of undergraduates over the last two decades, living and working in Buddhist, Muslim and Chinese cultures for extended periods and on conversations with friends and colleagues in the Arizona Native American community.  In this edition, he has edited the text closely for clarity and readability and made other changes to keep it up to date and accurate including updating all sections on religion today for each tradition. Religions of the World  is comprehensive, readable, and engaging for all students.

 

Religions Of The World: The Illustrated Guide To Origins, Beliefs, Traditions & Festivals - Elizabeth Breuilly, Joanne O'Brien & Martin Palmer 2005

 

The Sacred Paths: Understanding the Religions of the World – Theodore M. Ludwig 2005

Amazon Synopsis: This book combines study of the dynamic historical development of each religious tradition with a comparative thematic structure. In this way, the book helps readers to explore each of the major religions as a unique and integral system of meaning and life. At the same time, readers are encouraged to discover and explore the nature of religious experience by comparing basic themes and issues common to all religions. Covering the religions arising from India, China, Japan, and the Mediterranean world, this book introduces the key dimensions of religious experience, outlining the basic human concerns that give rise to religious experience, such as origin and identity, ultimate reality, human nature, and the good life. For anyone interested in exploring the origins and development of the diverse religions of the world.

 

The Varieties of Religious Experience – William James 2004

Amazon Synopsis: The Varieties of Religious Experience, by William James, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:

All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.

Acclaimed as one of the greatest works of nonfiction published in the twentieth century, William James’s The Varieties of Religious Experience was revolutionary in its view of religious life as centered not within the Church but solely within “the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude.”

Using the language of psychology, James tries to explain religious phenomena—such as conversion, repentance, mysticism, and saintliness—as psychic energy that arises from the unconscious mind in times of trouble. To support his theories, James turns to the autobiographical writings of a wide variety of mystics and writers, including Walt Whitman, Martin Luther, Voltaire, Emerson, and Tolstoy. The result is a colorful and wide-ranging collection of recorded experiences that James compares, categorizes, and analyzes. Many of his categories—including the sick soul, the divided self, and healthy-mindedness—have become standard in the study of religions.

Exquisitely written, The Varieties of Religious Experience has had a profound influence on modern spiritual thought, including the psychology of religion and recovery programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous.

Wayne Proudfoot is Professor of Religion at Columbia University, specializing in the philosophy of religion. He has published Religious Experience, as well as articles on William James, Charles Sanders Peirce, and American Protestant thought.   Read online or download

 

The World Treasury of Modern Religious Thought – Edited by Jaroslav Pelikan 1990

Publishers Synopsis: This world treasury is a collection of some of the greatest and most profound pieces of religious, contemplative and inspirational writings of our time. The contributors represent a range of perspectives from the early 19th century to the present day. They include such figures as Albert Camus, Friedrich Nietzche, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Muhammed Iqbal. The collection is organized topically into eight sections that treat such major themes as the will to believe, the grandeur of God and visions of the other world.

 

World Religions: From Ancient History to the Present – Edited by Geoffrey Parrinder 1985

The World's Religions: Our Great Wisdom Traditions - Huston Smith 1991

Amazon Synopsis: Originally titled The Religions of Man, this completely revised and updated edition of Smith′s masterpiece, now with an engaging new foreword, explores the essential elements and teachings of the world′s predominant faiths, including: Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and the native traditions of the Americas, Australia, Africa, and Oceania.

Emphasising the inner -- rather than institutional -- dimensions of these religions, Smith devotes special attention to Zen and Tibetan Buddhism, Sufism, and the teachings of Jesus. He convincingly conveys the unique appeal and gifts of each of the traditions and reveals their hold on the human heart and imagination.

 

World Religions: The Great Faiths Explored & Explained - John Westerdale Bowker 2006

Amazon Synopsis: Taking a refreshing new approach to understanding different faiths, World Religions looks at the beliefs and practices of many different religions, including Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and Islam.

 

World Religions Today - John L. Esposito 2008

Amazon Synopsis: Revealing the significance of religion in contemporary life, World Religions Today, Third Edition, explores eight major religious traditions--Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, East Asian Religions, indigenous religions, and new religions--as dynamic, ongoing forces in the lives of individuals and in the collective experience of modern societies. This unique volume accomplishes two goals; it connects today's religions to their classical beliefs and practices while also focusing on how these religions have responded to and been transformed by the modern world.

The authors combine thorough coverage of the historical background of each religion with up-to-the-minute discussions of its current practices. Each discussion opens with a contemporary scenario of religious experience that illustrates the tension between premodern views and modernity. The volume is enhanced by numerous pedagogical aids--timelines, maps, illustrations, discussion questions, a comprehensive glossary of key terms--and more than 200 photographs. An Instructor's Manual and a Companion Website featuring resources for both students and instructors supplement the text.

NEW TO THE THIRD EDITION

• Vivid four-color interior design that brings the material to lift
• Updates that cover more aspects of the current international situation and developments in religious life around the globe
• "Tales of Spiritual Transformation" boxes that relate the stories of people whose lives have been changed by religious faith
• "Teachings of Spiritual Wisdom" boxes that introduce primary source material

Ideal for undergraduate courses in world religions and comparative religion, World Religions Today, Third Edition, emphasizes the interconnectedness of faith, culture, politics, and society, providing a peerless examination of the diverse ways in which contemporary human beings are religious.

 

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