Does religion have something positive to offer the 21st century (and beyond)? Or is it a vestige of the Iron Age that ought to be contained in museums, preferably under bell jars? More critically, is it even possible to be religious and also be a rational and entirely modern participant in 21st-century civilization? Is it possible to live a devotional, religious life today without denying science or otherwise being assimilated by some religious-authoritarian Borg? Rethinking Religion argues that today's clown-shoes religiosity is an infantile caricature of religion that the great theologians, scholars, saints and sages of the past wouldn't recognize as religion at all. Religion may be salvageable, and may even be beneficial, but only if we can rediscover what it is and how to make use of it. Rethinking Religion is a proposal for how we might do that. This book is not written from any one sectarian position. The author was raised Christian in the Bible Belt, but she has been a formal student of Soto Zen Buddhism for many years and is currently the expert on Buddhism for the reference website About.com. The perspectives in Rethinking Religion apply to all the world's religious great religious traditions - Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and the rest of them. The author also is supportive of atheism and does not think everyone has to be religious. Along the way, the author explains why Christian megachurches turn Christ into McJesus; why being "spiritual but not religious" may not be a good idea; why Buddhists in Sri Lanka and Burma (Myanmar) are turning violent; and why people join cults and believe ridiculous things. This book also challenges assumptions - why "faith" is not the same as "belief"; why some atheists aren't nearly skeptical enough; why "reality" may not be what you think it is; why morality doesn't have to be tied to religion; and why there may be a God, but if so, God isn't God - or at least, any God you can imagine. Today, most of the ongoing violent conflicts around the globe have a connection to religion. Recent studies reveal that religion-based violence is on the rise, in fact. In many ways religion has become a millstone around humanity's neck, holding us back from our potential to live in peace and harmony and enjoy the blessings of science. Rethinking Religion will show you that it doesn't have to be this way, and argues that enlightened religion is the most effective weapon against oppressive and stupid religion.

How are Western, mostly secular, societies handling religion in its increasingly pluralistic and complex forms? In Reconsidering Religion, Law, and Democracy the authors study the interaction and negotiations between religious organizations and religious citizens on the one hand, and the state, the judicial system, the media, and secular citizens on the other. Religion has become increasingly visible in contemporary society and is, more often than before, recognized as a public matter and not merely a private issue. As such it presents new challenges or opportunities to scholarly research and to society at large. The contributors to this volume shed light on what follows when expressions of religion meet different spheres of society. The authors explicitly point to the need to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the roles played by religion in society today. By presenting case studies, fresh perspectives and new questions they suggest that deeper knowledge is best achieved by further, increasingly nuanced interdisciplinary research.

Looks at how nature and religion come together, where nature functions as an absolute that grounds and orients life, and religion being the way that people use this absolute of nature to form a meaningful life. Original.

Examine the evidence for Christianity and why it is worth considering. Lots of people assume that Christianity is simply a nice story for kids or a niche hobby for weirdos—or worse, unattractively restrictive. In this book, Ben Shaw invites sceptical readers to think again. He outlines seven reasons why Christianity is worth considering—or reconsidering—not least because it offers some thought-provoking and rational answers to our deepest questions. This warm, honest book shows that the Christian message is both more credible and more wonderful than we might have otherwise thought, and calls readers to investigate the person of Jesus for themselves.

This book is an ambitious attempt to develop a cognitive approach to religion. Focusing particularly on ritual action, it borrows analytical methods from linguistics and other cognitive sciences. The authors, a philosopher of science and a scholar of comparative religion, provide a lucid critical review of established approaches to religion, and make a strong plea for the combination of interpretation and explanation. Often represented as competitive approaches, they are rather, complementary, equally vital to the study of symbolic systems.

Focused in scope, and emphasizes methodological aspects of Celtic scholarship. This collection of original essays illuminates the importance of theoretical considerations in the study of early medieval sources.