Teaches students the art and practice of comparison in the globalizing world, fully updated to reflect recent scholarship and major developments in the field
Comparing Religions: The Study of Us that Changes Us is a wholly original, absorbing, and provocative reimagining of the comparative study of religion in the 21st century. The first textbook of its kind to foreground the extraordinary or “paranormal” aspects of religious experience, this innovative volume reviews the fundamental tenets of the world’s religions, discusses the benefits and problems of comparative inquiry, explores how the practice can impact a person's worldview and values, and much more.
Asserting that religions have always engaged in comparing one another, the authors provide insights into the history, trends, debates, and questions of explicit comparativism in the modern world. Easily accessible chapters examine the challenges of studying religion using a comparative approach rather than focusing on religious identity, inspiring students to think seriously about religious pluralism as they engage in comparative practice. Throughout the text, a wealth of diverse case studies and vivid illustrations are complemented by chapter outlines, summaries, toolkits, discussion questions, and other learning features. Substantially updated with new and revised material, the second edition of Comparing Religions:
- Draws from both comparative work and critical theory to present a well-balanced introduction to contemporary practice
- Explains classic comparative themes, provides a historical outline of comparative practices, and offers key strategies for understanding, analyzing, and re-reading religion
- Draws on a wide range of religious traditions to illustrate the complexity and efficacy of comparative practice
- Embraces the transcendent nature of the religious experience in all its forms, including in popular culture, film, and television
- Contains a classroom-proven, three-part structure with easy-to-digest, thematically organized chapters
- Features a companion website with information on individual religious traditions, additional images, a glossary, discussion questions, and links to supplementary material
Comparing Religions: The Study of Us that Changes Us, Second Edition, is the perfect textbook for undergraduate students and faculty in comparative religion, the study of religion, and world religions, as well as a valuable resource for general readers interested in understanding this rewarding area.
Table of Contents:
Prologue: “Welcome to the Future” xvii
A Comment on the Cover Image and the Paintings xxvi
List of Illustrations xxvii
Acknowledgments … and Color xxxi
Part I Prehistory, Preparation, and Perspective 1
Introduction: Beginnings 3
1 If Horses Had Hands: Comparative Practices in Global History 9
2 From the Bible to the Buddha: Recent History of the Modern Practice 47
3 The Magic of Comparison: Reflexivity and Some Related Skills 87
Part II Comparative Acts 123
4 Telling and Performing the World: The Creative Functions of Myth and Ritual 125
5 The Super Natural: Religion, Nature, and Science 161
6 Seed and Soil: Sex, Race, and the Bodies of Religion 199
7 Transmitting the Power: Charisma, Society, Technology 239
8 Angels, Aliens, and Art: The Imagination and the Paranormal 275
9 The Human as Two: Soul, Salvation, and the End of All Things 313
Part III Putting It All Together Again 349
10 Faithful Rereadings: Exclusivism, Inclusivism, Pluralism, and Justice 353
11 Rational Rereadings: Masters of Suspicion, Classical and Contemporary 389
12 Reflexive Rereadings: Looking at the Looker 427
Epilogue: The Moonshot 465
Glossary 469
Index 483
About the Author :
Jeffrey J. Kripal is the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University. His most recent publications include The Superhumanities: Historical Precedents, Moral Objections, New Realities and The Flip: Who You Are and Why It Matters.
Ata Anzali is an Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at Middlebury College. His current research focuses on the social and intellectual history of religious thought in modern Iran. He has a special interest in mystical and fundamentalist movements. He is the author of Mysticism in Iran: the Safavid Roots of a Modern Concept.
Erin Prophet is an Assistant Instructional Professor in the Department of Religion at the University of Florida. Among her publications are “Charisma and Authority in New Religious Movements” in the Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements, Volume II.
Andrea R. Jain is a Professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University, the editor of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, and the author of Selling Yoga: From Counterculture to Pop Culture and Peace Love Yoga: The Politics of Global Spirituality. Her areas of research include religion and capitalism, global spirituality, and theories of religion.
Stefan Sanchez is a PhD candidate at Rice University’s Department of Religion. Their research focuses on themes of personal identity and conceptions of nature in Latin American and Indigenous American philosophy and mysticism.
