Religion Toolkit (eBook)

John Morreall is Professor of Religious Studies at the College of William and Mary. He has published widely in the philosophy of religion, and on the comic dimensions of world religions. His book Comedy, Tragedy, and Religion (1999) won the Choice Outstanding Academic Book 2000. He is also the author of Comic Relief: A Comprehensive Philosophy of Humor (2009), published by Wiley-Blackwell. Tamara Sonn is the Wm. R. Kenan Distinguished Professor of Humanities in the Department of Religious Studies at the College of William and Mary. Her books include Comparing Religions through Law: Judaism and Islam (with J. Neusner, 1999) and Islam: A Brief History, 2nd edition (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010). She was senior editor of the Oxford Dictionary of Islam (2003), and associate editor of The Islamic World Past and Present (2004). She is currently an editor of Oxford Islamic Studies Online, and of Encyclopedia of the Islamic World (2009). In addition, Sonn is editor-in-chief of Oxford Bibliographies Online: Islamic Studies, and co-editor-inchief of Wiley-Blackwell's Religion Compass.

List of Figures and Maps xiii

Timeline xvi

Acknowledgments xxii

Credits xxiii

1 Introduction: Prepare to Be Surprised 2

Part I the Tools 15

2 An Overview of Religion: Making Sense of Life 16

3 The Early Development of Religious Studies 44

4 Religious Studies in the 20th Century 76

Part II Using the Tools: Surveying World Religions 103

5 Early Traditions 104

6 The Family of Western Monotheisms: Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Traditions 124

Unit I Judaism 126

Unit II Christianity 151

Unit III Islam 167

Unit IV The Impact of Religious Studies on the Western Monotheisms 183

7 330 Million Gods - or None: Two Traditions from India 206

8 Balancing and Blending: Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism in China 246

9 Zoroastrianism, Shinto, Baha'i, Scientology, Wicca, and Seneca Traditions: What Makes a "World Religion"? 274

10 Closing Questions 308

Glossary 338

Index 344

"The Religion Toolkit: A Complete Guide to Religious Studies
is a unique one-stop resource. Although religion continues to be a
powerful source of personal faith and a significant factor in
domestic and international politics, astonishingly studies show
that most people are religiously illiterate. Morreall and Sonn's
tool kit will prove essential for all (students, media,
policymakers and the general public) who want to understand
religions and their impact today."

--John L. Esposito, Georgetown University

"A decade after 9/11, the world still seems to be torn between
competing religious and political ideas. John Morreall and Tamara
Sonn provide us a road-map based on objective analysis and
scholarly research that offers us a method of understanding the
nature of our world. Most important, they give us hope. Anyone
interested in making sense of our times should be reading this
book."

--Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, American University

"An invaluable guide for students of religion! The overview of
Religious Studies theory is one of the clearest I have read."

--Ravi M. Gupta, College of William and Mary

"This is a highly intelligent, accessible and thoughtful
contribution to religious studies by two of the most respected and
accomplished scholars of religion working in the field
today."

--Mumtaz Ahmad, International Islamic University,
Islamabad