The Phenomenon of Religion: A Thematic Approach

by Momen, Moojan

• ISBN13: 9781851681617
• ISBN10: 1851681612
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-04-01
• Publisher: Pgw

Summary

From earliest civilizations to the modern world, this text is a completetudy of the role of religion in human culture. It does not offer ahapter-by-chapter presentation of the key practices and beliefs of the majoreligious traditions of the world, but rather explores the phenomenon ofeligion from a thematic point of view by posing questions on the nature ofeligion. Arranged into three main fields of enquiry - the religiousxperience, conceptual aspects of religion and religion in society - thistudy draws examples from all the major religious traditions, East and West,ncient and contemporary.

Table of Contents

List of Maps and Timelines	xii
Notes and Acknowledgements	xiii
Introduction	1	(1)
The Study of Religion	2	(2)
Three Aspects of Religion	4	(3)
The Religions of the World	7	(9)
Concept and Category	16	(3)
PART I UNDERSTANDING RELIGION	19	(66)
The Concept of Religion	21	(10)
What is Religion?	21	(5)
Definitions of Religion	26	(2)
The Religious Person or Society	28	(3)
Religion East and West -- A General Survey	31	(21)
The Nature of Ultimate Reality	31	(3)
Concepts of Suffering and Evil	34	(1)
The Path to Salvation	34	(1)
The Goal of Salvation	35	(1)
Ritual and Religious Practices	36	(1)
Time and Creation	36	(1)
Theism and Monism	36	(2)
The Universality of Modes of Religious Thought	38	(3)
Mutual Attitudes of Theism and Monism	41	(1)
Relativism	41	(2)
Chinese and Japanese Religion	43	(3)
Primal Religions	46	(4)
The Modern World	50	(2)
Theories of Religion	52	(33)
Sociological and Anthropological Theories	52	(9)
Psychological Theories	61	(4)
Philosophical and Historical Theories	65	(4)
Theological and Normative Theories	69	(4)
Typologies of Religion	73	(4)
Approaches to the Study of Religion	77	(5)
The Goal of the Study of Religion	82	(3)
PART II THE RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND ITS EXPRESSION	85	(98)
The Religious Experience	87	(30)
Describing the Central Experience of Religion	87	(5)
Types of Religious Experience	92	(6)
The Religious Crisis	98	(1)
A Psychological Model of the Stages of Religious Experience	99	(1)
Mediators of Religious Experience	100	(14)
The Social Influence on Religious Experience	114	(3)
Pathways to Religious Experience	117	(24)
Ritualism	117	(3)
Legalism	120	(3)
Evangelism	123	(3)
Social Reformism	126	(3)
Asceticism	129	(1)
Monasticism	130	(2)
Gnosticism	132	(3)
Mysticism	135	(2)
The Evolution of the Pathways	137	(1)
A Classification of Religious Groups	138	(3)
Faith, Belief and Conversion	141	(25)
The Nature of Faith and Belief	141	(4)
Acquisition of Religious Belief and Behaviour	145	(3)
The Language of Faith	148	(3)
Conversion, Reform and Renewal	151	(2)
The Social Psychology of Conversion and Religious Commitment	153	(5)
Motifs of Religious Conversion	158	(3)
The Conversion of Whole Societies	161	(2)
The Religious Life	163	(3)
Towards a Scientific Understanding of Religious Experience	166	(17)
Piaget and the Perceptual Development of Children	167	(3)
State-Dependent Learning and State-Bound Knowledge	170	(3)
Fischer and a Map of Mental States	173	(3)
The Neurophysiological Basis of Religious Experience	176	(2)
Sperry and Split-Brain Experiments	178	(1)
Types of Religious Experience	179	(1)
Cautionary Notes	180	(3)
PART III CONCEPTUAL ASPECTS OF RELIGION	183	(116)
The Nature of Reality	185	(28)
The Nature of Ultimate Reality	186	(13)
Transcendent Worlds and Beings	199	(4)
Revelation and Enlightenment	203	(1)
Human Nature	204	(2)
The Physical World	206	(1)
Time, the Origins and the End of the World	207	(4)
Epistemology	211	(2)
Suffering, Sacrifice and Salvation	213	(29)
Evil, Sin and Suffering	213	(12)
Sacrifice and Detachment	225	(5)
Martyrdom	230	(1)
Concepts of Liberation and Salvation Before and After Death	231	(11)
The Promise of a Future Saviour	242	(26)
Descriptions of the Coming of the World Saviour	242	(12)
A Typology of Future Saviours and Millennialist Movements	254	(8)
Eschatology and the New Religious Movements	262	(1)
Disconfirmed Prophecy	262	(2)
Causes of Millennialist Movements	264	(4)
Archetype, Myth and the Sacred	268	(31)
Some Religious Archetypes and Myths	269	(8)
Sacred Place and Sacred Time	277	(1)
Religious Symbols	278	(1)
Ritual	279	(2)
Rites of Passage	281	(3)
The Function of Myth and Symbol	284	(2)
Myth and Religious History	286	(9)
Myth and Modernity	295	(4)
PART IV RELIGION IN SOCIETY	299	(239)
Comparative Religious History	301	(37)
The Founders of the Religions	301	(16)
The Development of a Religion	317	(5)
Schism and Heresy	322	(1)
From Personal Piety to Organized Religion	323	(9)
The Nature of the Historical Record	332	(6)
Religion and Ethics	338	(25)
Moral Development	341	(1)
The Foundations of Religious Ethics	342	(4)
The Boundaries of Ethical Action	346	(6)
Ethics and Social Laws	352	(1)
Social and Environmental Ethics	352	(11)
Fundamentalism and Liberalism	363	(23)
Characteristics of Fundamentalism and Liberalism	364	(11)
Towards a Social Definition of Fundamentalism and Liberalism	375	(1)
The Social and Intellectual Basis	376	(2)
The Psychological Basis	378	(2)
Fundamentalism and Modernity	380	(2)
A Historical Perspective	382	(4)
Official Religion and Popular Religion	386	(18)
The Relationship between Official and Popular Religion	386	(5)
The Evolution of Popular Religion	391	(3)
Three Examples of Popular Religion	394	(10)
Religion, Power and Government	404	(28)
Religion and Legitimation	405	(7)
Religion and the State	412	(7)
Religion and Politics	419	(6)
Civil Religion	425	(1)
Power and the Religious Professional	426	(6)
Religion and Gender	432	(23)
The History and Characteristics of Patriarchy	432	(3)
The Suppression of Women by Religion	435	(7)
The Eternal Female Archetype	442	(2)
Religion and Sexuality	444	(3)
The Modern Debate	447	(2)
The Feminist Study of Religion	449	(6)
Religion and the Arts	455	(20)
Art and Popular Religion	455	(4)
Art and the Symbolic Universe	459	(3)
The Historical Development of Religious Art	462	(13)
Religion in the Modern World	475	(53)
Social Challenges to Religion	476	(5)
The Intellectual Challenge to Religion	481	(4)
Religious Adaptations to the Modern World	485	(5)
The Response of Religion in Traditional Societies	490	(2)
Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue	492	(1)
A Survey of Religions Today	493	(15)
New Religious Movements	508	(8)
Religious Freedom	516	(3)
Religion and the Media	519	(5)
Religion as Meaning	524	(4)
CONCLUSION	528	(10)
From Individual Experience to Social Expression	530	(2)
The History of a Religion	532	(2)
Analysis and Categorization	534	(1)
The Definition of Religion	535	(3)
Glossary	538	(8)
Notes	546	(24)
Bibliography	570	(16)
Index	586