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Tamara Sonn is the Wm. R. Kenan Distinguished Professor of Humanities in the Department of Religious Studies at the College of William and Mary. Her books include Comparing Religions through Law: Judaism and Islam (with J. Neusner, 1999) and Islam: A Brief History, 2nd edition (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010). She was senior editor of the Oxford Dictionary of Islam (2003), and associate editor of The Islamic World Past and Present (2004). She is currently an editor of Oxford Islamic Studies Online, and of Encyclopedia of the Islamic World (2009). In addition, Sonn is editor-in-chief of Oxford Bibliographies Online: Islamic Studies, and co-editor-in-chief of Wiley-Blackwell's Religion Compass.
| Introduction: Prepare To Be Surprised | |
| The Tools | |
| An Overview of Religion: Making Sense of Life | |
| Explaining Suffering and Evil | |
| Explaining Death | |
| Ghosts | |
| Resurrection | |
| Souls | |
| Reincarnation | |
| The Importance of Order | |
| Order Out of Chaos | |
| Order and Predictability: Eschatology, Prophecy, Divination | |
| Social Order | |
| Group Identity | |
| Ethics/Morality and Law | |
| Authority and Power | |
| The Role of Ritual | |
| Conclusion | |
| 3 | |
| The Relationship between Philosophy and Theology | |
| Two Kinds of Christian Theology | |
| Scriptural (Biblical) Studies and the Impact of the Printing Press | |
| Baruch Spinoza | |
| William Robertson Smith: Historical Criticism | |
| The Rise of Modernity and New Academic Disciplines:Oriental Studies, Anthropology, Sociology, and Psychology | |
| Max Mller: Oriental Studies and Religion | |
| Edward Burnett Tylor: Anthropology and Religion | |
| James Frazer: Evolution and Religion | |
| Negative Views of Religion | |
| Karl Marx: Religion and the Opiate of the Masses | |
| Sigmund Freud: Religion and Neurosis | |
| Sociology of Religion | |
| Emile Durkheim: Modernization Theory | |
| Max Weber: The Protestant Ethic | |
| Conclusion | |
| 4 | |
| Back to Philosophy | |
| Analytic Philosophy: Antony Flew | |
| Phenomenology and Religious Studies | |
| Rudolf Otto | |
| Mircea Eliade | |
| Philosophy of Religion | |
| John Hick | |
| William Lane Craig | |
| Anthropology of Religion | |
| Clifford Geertz | |
| Mary Douglas | |
| Sociology of Religion | |
| Peter L. Berger | |
| Robert N. Bellah | |
| Psychology of Religion | |
| Wiliam James | |
| Carl Jung | |
| Conclusion | |
| Using the Tools: Surveying World Religions | |
| 5 | |
| Prehistoric Traditions | |
| Animism and Anthropomorphism | |
| Death Rituals | |
| Fertility Goddesses | |
| Hunting Rituals | |
| Shamans | |
| Ancient Religions, Oral Religions | |
| The Neolithic Revolution, Patriarchy, and the Rise of Historic Religions | |
| Conclusion | |
| 6 | |
| Judaism | |
| The Torah, the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament | |
| The History and Teachings of Judaism | |
| 1 | |
| 2 | |
| 3 | |
| The Enlightenment | |
| The Development of Reform Judaism | |
| Conservative Judaism | |
| Reconstructionist Judaism | |
| The Rituals of Judaism | |
| Judaism Today | |
| Christianity | |
| The History and Teachings of Christianity | |
| 1 | |
| 2 | |
| The Institutionalization and Politicization of Christianity | |
| Eastern and Western Christians | |
| The Western/Roman Church | |
| The Eastern Orthodox Churches | |
| 3 | |
| Christian Rituals | |
| Christianity Today | |
| Islam | |
| The History and Teachings of Islam | |
| 1 | |
| Early History: The Life of Muhammad and the Rashidun Caliphs | |
| 3 | |
| The Modern Period: Reform and Recovery | |
| Islamic Rituals | |
| Major Divisions Today | |
| The Impact of Religious Studies on the Western Monotheisms | |
| Biblical Studies | |
| 1 | |
| 2 | |
| Theology | |
| 1 | |
| Gustavo Gutierrez | |
| Farid Esack | |
| 2 | |
| Judith Plaskow | |
| Rosemary Radford Ruether | |
| Amina Wadud | |
| Conclusion | |
| Two Traditions of India: Hinduism and Buddhism | |
| Hinduism and Buddhism | |
| Hinduism | |
| 1 | |
| Indus Valley Civilization (3,000-1,500 BCE) | |
| The Aryans and the Vedas (1,500-600 BCE) | |
| The Mystical Worldview of the Upanishads | |
| Classical Hinduism | |
| The Ramayana | |
| The Mahabharata | |
| The Puranas | |
| The Laws of Manu | |
| 2 | |
| 3 | |
| Buddhism | |
| History and Teachings of Buddhism | |
| Understanding the Four Noble Truths | |
| The Ethics of "Awakening" | |
| The Core of All Buddhist Traditions | |
| The Development of the Three Main Traditions | |
| Theravada (Hinayana) | |
| Mahayana | |
| Vajrayana | |
| 2 | |
| 3 | |
| Conclusion: Religious Studies and Indian Traditions | |
| 8 | |
| The Tao, Yin and Yang | |
| The History of Chinese Religious Thought | |
| 1 | |
| The Zhou Period (12th-3rd c. BCE) | |
| Confucius | |
| Taoism | |
| Buddhism in China | |
| 1 | |
| 2 | |
| Chinese Folk Traditions | |
| Chinese Traditions Today | |
| 9 | |
| What Makes a "World Religion"? | |
| Zoroastrianism | |
| 1 | |
| 2 | |
| Shinto | |
| 1 | |
| 2 | |
| Baha'i | |
| 1 | |
| 2 | |
| Scientology | |
| 1 | |
| 2 | |
| 3 | |
| Wicca | |
| 1 | |
| 2 | |
| The Traditions of the Seneca | |
| 1 | |
| 2 | |
| Conclusion: To Be or Not To Be a Religion? | |
| 10 | |
| Can We Define Religion? | |
| Secularization? | |
| 1 | |
| 2 | |
| Resurgent Islam | |
| Resurgent Religion in the U.S.? | |
| Secularization in Europe | |
| Religion Revisited | |
| Other Issues | |
| 1 | |
| 2 | |
| Religion and Physical Health | |
| Religion and Mental Health | |
| Does Prayer Work? | |
| Brain Science and Mystical Experience | |
| Conclusion: Another Surprise? | |
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