The Cambridge Companion to Religious Experience: (Cambridge Companions to Religion)

For centuries, theologians and philosophers, among others, have examined the nature of religious experience. Students and scholars unfamiliar with the vast literature face a daunting task in grasping the main issues surrounding the topic of religious experience. The Cambridge Companion to Religious Experience offers an original introduction to its topic. Going beyond an introduction, it is a state-of-the-art overview of the topic, with critical analyses of and creative insights into its subject. Religious experience is discussed from various interdisciplinary perspectives, from religious perspectives inside and outside traditional monotheistic religions, and from various topical perspectives. Written by leading scholars in clear and accessible prose, this book is an ideal resource for undergraduate and graduate students, teachers, and scholars across many disciplines.

Table of Contents:
Part I. Characterizing Religious Experience: Interdisciplinary Approaches: 1. Psychology of religion approaches to the study of religious experience Ann Tayes; 2. Philosophy of religion approaches to the study of religious experience Phillip H. Wiebe; 3. Theology, religious diversity, and religious experience Gwen Griffith-Dickson; Part II. Religious Experience in Traditional Monotheism: 4. Illumined by meaning: religious experience in classical Judaism Howard Wettstein; 5. Religious experience in early Christianity James D. G. Dunn; 6. Religious experience in traditional Islam William Chittick; Part III. Religious Experience Outside Traditional Monotheism: 7. Religious experience in ancient Confucianism and Daoism Xinzhong Yao; 8. Religious experience in Buddhism David Burton; 9. Ramanuja's eleventh century Hindu theology of religious experience: an informative, performative, transformative discourse Francis X. Clooney; Part IV. Prominent Themes and Challenges: 10. Exploring the nature of mystical experience Steven T. Katz; 11. Miraculous and extraordinary events as religious experience Fiona Bowie; 12. Evil, Suffering, and Religious Experience Michael L. Peterson; 13. Naturalism and religious experience William B. Drees; 14. Meaning and social value in religious experience Mark Owen Webb.

About the Author :
Paul Moser is Professor of Philosophy at Loyola University. His most recent publications include Understanding Religious Experience, The God Relationship, and The Elusive God, which won the national book award from the Jesuit Honor Society. Moser, with Chad Meister, serves as the co-editor of the book series Cambridge Studies in Religion, Philosophy, and Society and Cambridge Elements of Religion and Monotheism. Chad Meister is Professor of Philosophy and Theology at Bethel University. His most recent publications include Evil: A Guide for the Perplexed, 2nd edition, Christian Thought: A Historical Introduction, 2nd edition, co-authored with James Stump, and Contemporary Philosophical Theology, co-authored with Charles Taliaferro. He is also co-editor, with Charles Taliaferro, of the six-volume The History of Evil.