Narrative histories of the six great religious traditions of East and West, along with brief sections on the scriptures, places of worship, and terminologies, as well as the numerous denominations, orders, and schools that make up world religion.

"If this book moves, I hope it moves in the way pop songs do. There will be a lot of talk about songs, but inasmuch as this is a book about listening to music, it's also about how listening to music makes us who we are, or at least about how it makes me who I am, and so it is an exploration, an idiosyncratic and opinionated and particular one, of a self shaped by the oddly intersecting forces of the American evangelical Protestant church and the American popular music scene. I don't mean for that to sound hoity-toity--if this were fifteen years ago, I would say that this book was about Christian music, and I would know exactly what I meant. My purpose now is not only to talk about "Christian music." I am not here to explicate Christian music, to explain why it exists and whether it is any good. Instead, think of what you're about to read as like an iPod playlist, a collection of essays and thoughts on listening to music and having faith and how they have made me, and a lot of people like me, and maybe you. Also, there will be some jokes about Stryper."

Surpassing the scope and the thoroughness of the first edition, this new edition of The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions is the most wide-ranging and accessible resource on the historically significant and more obscure, sinister, and bizarre religious groups. Including many entries by scholarly specialists, this volume explains more than 1,000 diverse groups and movements, from such well-known sects as the Branch Davidians, Aum Shinrikyo, and Heaven's Gate, to obscure groups like Ordo Templi Satanas, Witches International, and the Nudist Christian Church of the Blessed Virgin Jesus. In addition to an exhaustive index and handy cross-references, the second edition includes over a hundred new topical entries on subjects relevant to understanding sectarian movements, from snake-handling and satanic ritual abuse to brainwashing and exorcism.This book, a must for all libraries and schools, will endure as the first and only point of reference for researchers, scholars, students, and anyone interested in fringe religious groups.

All the fundamental themes of the world's major religions--from Amish to Zen--are presented in this thorough, yet accessible study of religious tradition. Here are detailed narrative histories of the six great religious traditions of East and West--Hindui

Explores the historical claims of the Two by Twos, a supposedly nameless worldwide religion. A glimpse into a religious system all but unknown to outsiders, and even families and acquaintances. The group has unofficial and official names, including "The Truth," "Home Meetings," "The Testimony of Jesus," "Cooneyites," "Christian Conventions," "Assemblies of Christians," "the Workers and Friends," "Les Anonymes," "Die Namenlosen," "Gospel Meetings," etc.

The interfaith movement, which began with the 1893 World¿s Parliament of Religions in Chicago, has grown worldwide. Although this movement has been largely unknown to the public, it now provides a spiritual face for globalization, the economic and political forces leading us all from nationalism to ¿One World¿. The most ambitious organization in today¿s interfaith movement is the United Religions Initiative (URI), founded by William Swing, the Episcopal Bishop of California. Investigative reporter Lee Penn, a Catholic ex-Marxist, exhaustively documents the history and beliefs of the URI and its New Age and globalist allies, the vested interests that support these movements, and the direction they appear to be taking. The interfaith movement is no longer merely the province of a coterie of little-heeded religious idealists with grandiose visions. The URI¿s proponents have ranged from billionaire George Soros to President George W. Bush, from the far-right Rev. Sun Myung Moon to the liberal Catholic theologian Hans Küng, and from the Dalai Lama to the leaders of government-approved Protestant churches in the People¿s Republic of China. The interfaith movement, including the URI, is being promoted by globalist and New Age reformers who favor erosion of national sovereignty, marginalization of traditional religions, establishment of ¿global governance¿, and creation of a new, Earth-based ¿global spirituality¿¿in effect, a one-world religion. Therefore, the URI and the interfaith movement are poised to become the spiritual foundation of the New World Order: the ¿new civilization¿ now proposed by Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union. In The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times, French metaphysician René Guénon spoke of the ¿anti-tradition¿ (the forces of materialism and secular humanism) finally giving way to the ¿counter-tradition¿ (the satanic inversion of true spirituality), leading to the regime of Antichrist. The ¿anti-tradition¿ weakens and dissolves traditional spiritualities, after which the ¿counter-tradition¿ sets up a counterfeit in their place. Since Guénon¿s time, as is well known, anti-traditional forces have greatly advanced worldwide. It is less well-known that counter-traditional movements have also made great strides, and now stand closer to the centers of global political and religious power than ever before. The ¿counter-tradition¿ is making inroads on the political and cultural Right, as much as it is doing on the Left. False Dawn painstakingly documents these trends, and speculates on their future development. In so doing, the author takes investigative reporting to the threshold of prophecy, and gives us a stunningly plausible picture of the global religious landscape of the 21st century. This extraordinary project is the literary equivalent of turning over a flat rock. There is much to be seen and learned here¿all of it unsettling, disquieting, occasionally downright scary. ¿William Murchison, Radford Distinguished Professor, Baylor University When a bishop of a Christian church happily worships alongside a Wiccan invoking other gods, something has gone horribly wrong. In False Dawn, Lee Penn has produced a comprehensive and critical history of the United Religions Initiative. This book sounds a clear warning: Anyone who makes theological truth subservient to utopianism denigrates all religions. ¿Douglas LeBlanc, Editor, GetReligion.org

A history of philosophy without any gaps. Volume 2, Philosophy in the Hellenistic and Roman worlds by Peter Adamson (2015).