Expands students' understanding of their own religious history and practice by examining other religions of the world. Each religion is introduced with a brief history, and explored through each religion's scripture or major writings, beliefs and practices, and sacred spaces and times.

Exploring the Philosophy of Religion, 7th Edition, combines the best features of a text and a reader by offering clear analysis coupled with important primary-source readings. Professor David Stewart called upon his 30-plus years of teaching experience to introduce students to the important study of philosophical issues raised by religion. Beginning students often find primary sources alone too difficult so this text offers primary source materials by a variety of significant philosophers?including a balanced blend of classical and contemporary authors?but the materials are supported by clearly written introductions, which better prepare students to understand the readings.

Exploring Religious Community Online is the first comprehensive study of the development and implications of online communities for religious groups. This book investigates religious community online by examining how Christian communities have adopted internet technologies, and looks at how these online practices pose new challenges to offline religious community and culture.

On comparative religion

Introduction to the spiritual pathways of the major world religions, exploring the core beliefs, values and practices of each tradition.

Why is religion still around in the twenty-first century? Why do so many still believe? And how do various traditions still shape the way people experience everything from sexuality to politics, whether they are religious or not? In Why Religion? Elaine Pagels looks to her own life to help address these questions. These questions took on a new urgency for Pagels when dealing with unimaginable loss—the death of her young son, followed a year later by the shocking loss of her husband. Here she interweaves a personal story with the work that she loves, illuminating how, for better and worse, religious traditions have shaped how we understand ourselves; how we relate to one another; and, most importantly, how to get through the most difficult challenges we face. Drawing upon the perspectives of neurologists, anthropologists, and historians, as well as her own research, Pagels opens unexpected ways of understanding persistent religious aspects of our culture. A provocative and deeply moving account from one of the most compelling religious thinkers at work today, Why Religion? explores the spiritual dimension of human experience.

This topical introduction to the study of religion for undergraduates implements a phenomenological approach.