Note: Supplemental materials are not guaranteed with Rental or Used book purchases.
Purchase Benefits
What is included with this book?
Religion in Personal Writing | |
Introduction: How do individuals write about religion? | |
from The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew-Three Women Search for Understanding | |
Three mothers form a group to learn, and to help their children learn, about each other's faith | |
"Physics and Grief" | |
Monaghan struggles to find meaning in the death of her husband | |
"The Water Will Hold You" | |
The writer tries to find comfort in prayer as her mother battles a terminal illness | |
from The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness | |
During a trip to Jerusalem, the author discovers beauty and compassion not only in her own religion of Christianity, but also in the unfamiliar faiths of Judaism and Islam | |
Connecting the Readings | |
Writing Projects | |
For Further Reading | |
Religion in Sacred Writing | |
Introduction: How do stories create and affirm religious belief? | |
Judaism: from the Torah (JPS) | |
The story of Abraham commanded to sacrifice his son Isaac | |
Christianity: from the New Testament (NSRV) | |
The Sermon on the Mount and the Parable of the Good Samaratin | |
Islam: from the Qur'an | |
The story of Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers | |
Hinduism: from The Bhagavad Gita | |
The story of Krisha revealing himself to the warrior Arjuna | |
Buddhism: from Dhammapada by Siddhartha Gautama | |
The story of Siddhartha's birth, temptation, and discovery of suffering in the world | |
Taoism: from Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu | |
The riddles of the Tao: If the Tao can be understood, then it is not the Tao | |
Connecting the Readings | |
Writing Projects | |
For Further Reading | |
Religion in Academic Writing | |
Introduction: How do academic disciplines write about matters of religion? | |
Literary Studies: Jack Miles, "Can God's Life Be Written?" from God: A Biography | |
The author explores God as a character who is unlike any other character | |
Religious Studies: Elaine Pagels and Karen King, "Reading Judas" from Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity | |
Two scholars investigate the recent discovery of a new, unknown gospel and consider its implications | |
Cognitive Science: Steven Pinker, "The Evolutionary Psychology of Religion" | |
The author-using biology, psychology, and neuroscience-explores how the human brain is "wired" to form beliefs | |
Sociology: Christian Smith et al., from "Mapping American Adolescent Subjective | |
Religiosity and Attitudes of Alienation toward Religion" in the journal Sociology of Religion | |
Researchers survey the attitudes of teenagers and college students | |
Psychology: Paul Harris and Melissa Koenig, from "Trust in Testimony: How Children Learn about Science and Religion" in the journal Child Development | |
Two researchers perform experiments with children to find out at what stage of development human beings form beliefs | |
Economics: Laurence R. Iannaccone, "Progress in the Economics of Religion." | |
An economist proposes that economics can be used to understand religious choices and the "marketplace" of religion | |
Questions about Content and Rhetorical Analysis | |
Connecting the Readings | |
Writing Projects | |
For Further Reading | |
Religion in Public Issues | |
Introduction: How are issues of religion written about in a pluralistic society? | |
What should the role of religion be in American society? | |
"Take Back the Faith" | |
"One Nation Under Secularism" | |
"Atheists' Bleak Alternative" | |
Student Essay, "Is the U.S. a Christian Nation?" | |
This chapter presents two readings from a liberal perspective and two from a conservative perspective | |
What is our responsibility to the environment? | |
Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action, by the Evangelical Climate Initiative | |
The Cornwall Declaration, by the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation | |
Two organizations take conservative and progressive approaches to the environment | |
Should Evolution and Intelligent Design be Taught in Schools? | |
"Teach Evolution, and Ask Hard Questions" | |
"To Debate or Not to Debate Intelligent Design?" | |
Stanley Fish, "Academic Cross-Dressing: How Intelligent Design Gets its Arguments from the Left" | |
Two professors-one in the sciences and one in the humanities-argue that schools should "teach the conflict" of evolution vs. intelligent design. A third professor explores the rhetoric of that argument | |
Is a Religious Display on Public Property Acceptable? | |
"Why the Commandments Make for Such Messy Law" | |
An expert on law explores the strengths and weaknesses of both sides of the argument: should the Ten Commandments be displayed on public property? | |
Is there a "Culture War"? | |
"This Season's War Cry: Commercialize Christmas, or Else" | |
"The Lord of Misrule is Coming to Town" | |
Is Christmas being banned from stores, schools, and public property? Two writers with different political perspectives debate this question about Christmas | |
Questions about Content and Rhetorical Analysis | |
Connecting the Readings | |
Writing Projects | |
For Further Reading | |
Religion in Our World | |
Introduction: How will we write about religion in the coming years? | |
Popular Culture | |
Student Essay, "E-Faith in the Shopping Mall" | |
The writer explores the impact of new developments such as electronic Bibles, video games, web sites, and mega-churches | |
Islam | |
"How Does It Feel?" | |
The author describes what life is like for a Muslim in the U.S. after 9/11 | |
"Muslims in America" | |
A professor of Islamic studies describes Muslim communities and their struggle against prejudice | |
Science | |
"E.T. and God" | |
A scientists speculates: if we find life elsewhere in the universe, what effect will that discovery have on faith and religion here on earth? | |
"Is God an Accident?" | |
A scientist wonders how science in the future might discover why belief exists | |
Questions about Content and Rhetorical Analysis | |
Connecting the Readings | |
Writing Projects | |
For Further Reading | |
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved. |
The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.
The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.