Anatomy of the Sacred: An Introduction to ReligionAnatomy of the Sacred: An Introduction to Religion presents a uniquely comprehensive introduction to the nature and variety of religious belief and practice. Organized into three sections, Part One explores such questions as: What is religion? Why study religion? And how does one go about the study of religion? It includes illustrations of specific methods and disciplines drawn from the work of eminent scholars in the field of religion. Part Two examines universal forms of religious experience and expression and includes discussions of the sacred or holy; the nature of religious symbolism, myth, and doctrine; religious ritual; sacred scripture; as well as the social forms and dimensions of religion. Part Three consists of a comparative analysis of six fundamental components that make up a religious world-view. These include: deity or ultimate reality; cosmogony; the nature of the human problem, theodicy or the problem of evil; ethics or moral action; and the ways and goals of salvation or enlightenment. Examples are selected from a wide range of primal and archaic religions as well as from the great historical religious traditions of the present. An epilogue explores the challeng |
Contents
What Is Religion? | 3 |
PART II | 51 |
Sacred Space and Sacred Time | 60 |
Copyright | |
17 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
achieve action ancient behavior belief Bible biblical Brahman Buddha Buddhism called canon Catholic century C.E. chaos Chapter Christian Church classic conception Confucian Confucius cosmic cosmogony creation critical cults culture death deity describe dharma distinctive divine doctrine dukkha earth Eliade eternal ethical evil example experience faith gion God's gods Greek Heaven Hebrew Hindu Hinduism holy human problem Ibid important Indian individual interpretation Islam Israel Izanagi Jewish jihād John Frum Judaism living Lord Mahayana Marduk meaning meditation Mencius Mircea Mircea Eliade monism monotheism moral movements Muslim mystical myth nature Nirvana pantheism person philosophical polytheism primal prophet Protestant questions Qur'an reality religious communities religious traditions rites ritual role sacred power sacred scripture sacred texts salvation samadhi scholars sect sense social society soul spiritual study of religion suffering symbolic teaching Testament theodicy Theravada things tion Torah understanding Unification Church unique Upanishads word worship Yahweh York