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| Note: Each chapter begins with an Overviewand ends withNotes, Key Words, Review Questions,and Suggestions for Further Readings | |
| The Study of Religion | |
| What Is Religion? | |
| How Is It Studied? | |
| Defining Religion | |
| Why Are Humans Religious? | |
| Why Study Religion? | |
| The Perspective of the Studentndash;Commitment and Objectivity | |
| The Ways Religion Is Studied | |
| Interpreting and Explaining Religion | |
| Universal Forms of Religious Experience and Expression | |
| The Sacred and the Holy | |
| The Concept of Sacred Power | |
| The Ambivalence of Sacred Power | |
| The Holy as Mysterium Tremendum and Fascinans | |
| Sacred Space and Sacred Time | |
| Religion as Ultimate Concern | |
| Sacred Symbol, Myth, and Doctrine | |
| Symbolic Communication | |
| Religious Symbols | |
| Metaphor, Parable, and Story | |
| Religious Myths | |
| Models and Doctrines | |
| Sacred Ritual | |
| Ritual Action | |
| Types of Sacred Ritual | |
| Ritual and Sacrifice | |
| Rituals as Sacraments | |
| Sacred Scripture | |
| The Pervasive Role of Sacred Scripture | |
| Using the Term Scripture | |
| Some Distinctive Features of Sacred Scripture | |
| The Authority and Canonicity of Scripture | |
| The Reception and Uses of Scripture | |
| The Interpretation of Scripture | |
| Society and the Sacred: The Social Formations and Transformations of Religion | |
| The Reciprocal Relationship between Religion and Society | |
| Types of Religious Communities | |
| Voluntary Religious Communities | |
| Protest and Change in Voluntary Religious Communities | |
| The Sect | |
| The Cult: New Religious Movements | |
| Universal Components of a Religious Worldview | |
| Deity: Concepts of the Divine and Ultimate Reality | |
| Polytheism and the Worship of Nature | |
| Dualism | |
| Pantheism and Monism | |
| Monotheism | |
| Cosmogony: Origins of the Natural and Social Order | |
| The Practical Basis of Cosmogony | |
| Emergence or Procreation from a Primal Substance or Being | |
| The Sexual Union of a Primal Male and Female | |
| Creation by Conflict and the Ordering of Chaos | |
| Creation by a Divine Craftsman | |
| Creation by Decree or from Nothing | |
| The Rejection of Cosmogonic Speculation | |
| Cosmogony Today | |
| Anthropology: The Human Problem | |
| Modern Views of Our Human Plight | |
| Stoicism | |
| Christianity | |
| Theravada Buddhism | |
| Confucianism | |
| Theodicy: Encountering Evil | |
| The Persistent Demand for Theodicy | |
| Theodicy of "Mystical Participation." | |
| A Future, This-Worldly Theodicy | |
| Other-Worldly Theodicy | |
| Dualism | |
| The Karma-SamsaraTheodicy | |
| Monotheistic Theodicies | |
| Ethics: Patterns of Moral Action | |
| Virtues and Obligations | |
| The Sources and Norms of Moral Authority | |
| Soteriology: Ways and Goals of Salvation and Liberation | |
| Ways of Salvation and Liberation | |
| The Way of Grace through Faith | |
| The Way of Devot | |
| Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved. |
