The definitive dictionary of the world's religions, compiled by two of the 20th century's most distinguished religion scholars. This highly accessible resource distils Mircea Eliade's lifework of detailing and comparing humanity's entire religious heritage, providing fascinating insights into the character and worldview of the 33 principal religions. Including Buddhism, Christianity, Jainism, Judaism, Islam, Shinto, Shamanism, Taoism, South American religions, Baltic and Slavic religions, Confucianism, and the religions of Africa and Oceania, The HarperCollins Concise Guide to World Religions covers all kinds of religious figures, histories, sacred texts, mythologies, and mystical techniques.
A comprehensive guide to the thirty-three major religions includes information about their origins, founders, sacred teachings, and spiritual traditions.
Why are there so many religions? Do they basically teach the same thing? Bruce and Stan address these questions and more as they take a close look at some of the world's major religions and belief systems. From Islam to Jehovah's Witnesses and from New Age Spirituality to Atheism, Darwinism, and Naturalism, World Religions and Cults 101 features— key teachings of each religion quick-glance belief charts brief biographies of leaders study questions for group or individual use suggested reading Readers will also discover why spiritual searching is universal, how each religion compares to Christianity, the characteristics of cults, and what makes Christianity unique. Formerly titled Bruce & Stan's® Guide to Cults, Religions, and Spiritual Beliefs
It is a widespread prejudice of modern, scientific society that "magic" is merely a ludicrous amalgam of recipes and methods derived from primitive and erroneous notions about nature. Eros and Magic in the Renaissance challenges this view, providing an in-depth scholarly explanation of the workings of magic and showing that magic continues to exist in an altered form even today. Renaissance magic, according to Ioan Couliano, was a scientifically plausible attempt to manipulate individuals and groups based on a knowledge of motivations, particularly erotic motivations. Its key principle was that everyone (and in a sense everything) could be influenced by appeal to sexual desire. In addition, the magician relied on a profound knowledge of the art of memory to manipulate the imaginations of his subjects. In these respects, Couliano suggests, magic is the precursor of the modern psychological and sociological sciences, and the magician is the distant ancestor of the psychoanalyst and the advertising and publicity agent. In the course of his study, Couliano examines in detail the ideas of such writers as Giordano Bruno, Marsilio Ficino, and Pico della Mirandola and illuminates many aspects of Renaissance culture, including heresy, medicine, astrology, alchemy, courtly love, the influence of classical mythology, and even the role of fashion in clothing. Just as science gives the present age its ruling myth, so magic gave a ruling myth to the Renaissance. Because magic relied upon the use of images, and images were repressed and banned in the Reformation and subsequent history, magic was replaced by exact science and modern technology and eventually forgotten. Couliano's remarkable scholarship helps us to recover much of its original significance and will interest a wide audience in the humanities and social sciences.
In this book, John Bowman helps novice and out-of-practice classifiers to understand how to use Dewey to classify works. He outlines the content of the scheme and its structure and then, through worked examples based on real and imaginary titles, teaches readers how to use the scheme. Fully worked out answers and notes are provided. The book's contents include: introduction and background outline and description of the schedules how to classify simple subjects number-building, 1: standard subdivisions number-building, 2: other methods preference order exceptions special subjects how to cope with difficult items WebDewey. Readership: Written in an engaging and direct style and as a sister publication to the best-selling Essential Cataloguing, this text is ideal for library students, public, school and solo librarians and classifiers who are just starting to use Dewey and want some simple examples.
The Facts On File Guide to Research is a comprehensive guide to doing thorough and accurate research. It includes a detailed listing of available resources and explains general research methods and proper citation of sources. An invaluable reference, this book helps researchers make use of the many new resources available today. Divided into four sections, this easy-to-use guide helps students and general readers prepare for research papers and class studies. Step-by-step guides, detailed explanations, and valuable appendixes covering style guides, such as APA. MLA, and The Chicago Manual of Style, combine to create an incredibly authoritative accessible reference.
The academic study of Indigenous Religions developed historically from missiological and anthropological sources, but little analysis has been devoted to this classification within departments of religious studies. Evaluating this assumption in the light of case studies drawn from Zimbabwe, Alaska and shamanic traditions, and in view of current debates over 'primitivism', James Cox mounts a defence for the scholarly use of the category 'Indigenous Religions'.
An award-winning sociologist’s “fascinating and excellent” history of the origins of the great religions from the Stone Age to the Modern Age (Newsweek). In Discovering God, Rodney Stark surveys the birth and growth of religions around the world—from the prehistoric era of primal beliefs; the history of the pyramids found in Iraq, Egypt, Mexico, and Cambodia; and the great “Axial Age” of Plato, Zoroaster, Confucius, and the Buddha, to the modern Christian missions and the global spread of Islam. He argues for a free-market theory of religion and for the controversial thesis that under the best, unimpeded conditions, the true, most authentic religions will survive and thrive. Many modern biologists and psychologists claim that religion is a primitive survival mechanism that should have been discarded as humans evolved—that in modern societies, faith is a misleading crutch and an impediment to reason. Stark responds to this position, arguing that it is our capacity to understand God that has evolved—that humans now know much more about God than they did in ancient times. Winner of the 2008 Christianity Today Award of Merit in Theology/Ethics
