Religion Toolkit

John Morreall is Professor of Religious Studies at the College of William and Mary. He has published widely in the philosophy of religion, and on the comic dimensions of world religions. His book Comedy, Tragedy, and Religion (1999) won the Choice Outstanding Academic Book 2000. He is also the author of Comic Relief: A Comprehensive Philosophy of Humor (2009), published by Wiley-Blackwell. 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.

• List of Figures and Maps xiiiTimeline xviAcknowledgments xxiiCredits xxiii1 Introduction: Prepare to Be Surprised 2Part I The Tools 152 An Overview of Religion: Making Sense of Life 16Explaining Suffering and Evil 18Explaining Death 22Ghosts 23Resurrection 24Souls 25Reincarnation 26The Importance of Order 26Order Out of Chaos 27Order and Predictability: Eschatology, Prophecy, Divination 27Social Order 30Group Identity 31Ethics/Morality and Law 34Authority and Power 37The Role of Ritual 39Conclusion 413 The Early Development of Religious Studies 44Philosophy, Theology, and Religious Studies 47The Relationship between Philosophy and Theology 48Two Kinds of Christian Theology 50Scriptural (Biblical) Studies and the Impact of the Printing Press 52Baruch Spinoza (d. 1677): The Beginnings of Source Criticism 53William Robertson Smith (d. 1894): Historical Criticism 54The Rise of Modernity and New Academic Disciplines: Oriental Studies, Anthropology, Sociology, and Psychology 55Max Müller (d. 1900): Oriental Studies and Religion 57Edward Burnett Tylor (d. 1917): Anthropology and Religion 58James Frazer (d. 1941): Evolution and Religion 61Negative Views of Religion 65Karl Marx (d. 1883): Religion as the Opiate of the Masses 65Sigmund Freud (d. 1939): Religion as Neurosis 68Sociology of Religion 71Emile Durkheim (d. 1917): Modernization Theory 71Max Weber (d. 1920): The Protestant Ethic and the Secularization Thesis 72Conclusion 744 Religious Studies in the 20th Century 76Back to Philosophy 80Analytic Philosophy: Antony Flew (d. 2010) 81Phenomenology and Religious Studies 82Rudolf Otto (d. 1937) 82Mircea Eliade (d. 1986) 83Philosophy of Religion 85John Hick (b. 1922) 85William Lane Craig (b. 1949) 87Anthropology of Religion 89Clifford Geertz (d. 2006) 89Mary Douglas (d. 2007) 91Sociology of Religion 94Peter L. Berger (b. 1929) 94Robert N. Bellah (b. 1927) 95Psychology of Religion 96William James (d. 1910) 96Carl Jung (d. 1961) 98Conclusion: Theories and Methods 99Philosophical Theories 99Genetic/Historical Theories 100Functionalist Theories 100Part II Using the Tools: Surveying World Religions 1035 Early Traditions 104Prehistoric Religions? 107Animism and Anthropomorphism 108Death Rituals 112Fertility Goddesses 113Hunting Rituals 114Shamans 114Ancient Traditions, Oral Traditions, and Religion 115The Neolithic Revolution and the Rise of Historic Religions 118Conclusion 1216 The Family of Western Monotheisms: Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Traditions 124Unit I Judaism 126The Torah, the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament 127The History and Teachings of Judaism 135The First Five Centuries 135The Middle Ages (500–1500 CE) 137The Modern Period (1750 to the present) 141The Enlightenment 141The Development of Reform Judaism 142Conservative Judaism 148Reconstructionist Judaism 148The Rituals of Judaism 149Judaism Today 150Unit II Christianity 151The History and Teachings of Christianity 151Origins 151The Development of Christian Doctrine 154The Institutionalization and Politicization of Christianity 157Eastern and Western Christians 159The Western/Roman Church 160The Eastern Orthodox Churches 163The Protestant Reformation 164Christian Rituals 166Christianity Today 166Unit III Islam 167The History and Teachings of Islam 167Core Teachings 167Early History: The Life of Muhammad and the Rashidun Caliphs 174The Dynastic Caliphates 176The Modern Period: Reform and Recovery 179Islamic Rituals 180Major Divisions Today 182Unit IV The Impact of Religious Studies on the Western Monotheisms 183Biblical Studies 184Rudolf Bultmann (d. 1976): “Demythologizing” Scripture 185John Dominic Crossan (b. 1934): The Historicity of Scripture 186Theology 192Liberation Theology 192Gustavo Gutierrez (b. 1928) 192Farid Esack (b. 1959) 194Feminist Theology 196Judith Plaskow (b. 1947) 198Rosemary Radford Ruether (b. 1936) 199Amina Wadud (b. 1952) 201Conclusion 2037 330 Million Gods – or None: Two Traditions from India 206Hinduism and Buddhism 208Hinduism 209History and Teachings of Hinduism 211Indus Valley Civilization (3000–1500 BCE) 211The Aryans and the Vedas (1500–600 BCE) 211The Mystical Worldview of the Upanishads 213Classical Hinduism (3rd century BCE–7th century CE) 216The Ramayana 216The Mahabharata 217The Puranas 221The Laws of Manu 223Hinduism Today 226Rituals 226Buddhism 229History and Teachings of Buddhism 230Understanding the Four Noble Truths 233The Ethics of “Awakening” 235The Core of All Buddhist Traditions 235The Development of the Three Main Traditions 237Theravada (Hinayana) 238Mahayana 238Vajrayana 240Buddhism Today 242Rituals 243Conclusion: Religious Studies and Indian Traditions 2448 Balancing and Blending: Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism in China 246The Tao, Yin and Yang 248The History of Chinese Religious Thought 251The Shang Period (18th–11th centuries BCE) 251The Zhou Period (11th–3rd centuries BCE) 253Confucius (551–479 BCE) 255Taoism 258Buddhism in China 260Pure Land Buddhism 262Chan (Zen) Buddhism 262Chinese Folk Traditions 265Rituals in Chinese Traditions 266Weddings 267Funerals 267Chinese Traditions Today 269Conclusion: Religious Studies and the Traditions of China 2719 Zoroastrianism, Shinto, Baha’i, Scientology, Wicca, and Seneca Traditions: What Makes a “World Religion”? 274What Makes a “World Religion”? 276Zoroastrianism 278History and Teachings of Zoroastrianism 278Zoroastrian Rituals 281Shinto 283History and Teachings of Shinto 283Shinto Rituals 285Baha’i 287History and Teachings of Baha’i 287Baha’i Rituals 289Scientology 291History and Teachings of Scientology 291Scientology Practices 292Scientology Rituals 293Wicca 294History and Teachings of Wicca 294Wiccan Rituals 296The Traditions of the Seneca 298History and Teachings of the Seneca 298Seneca Rituals 302Conclusion: To Be or Not to Be a Religion? 30410 Closing Questions 308Can We Define Religion? 310Secularization? 311Contemporary Atheist Views 311Contemporary Opposition to Secularization Theory 313Resurgent Islam 313Resurgent Religion in the U.S.? 315Secularization in Europe 318Religion Revisited 319Other Issues 322The Range of Research Areas in the American Academy of Religion 322Medical Science and Religion 326Religion and Physical Health 327Religion and Mental Health 329Does Prayer Work? 330Brain Science and Mystical Experience: Neurotheology 330Conclusion: Another Surprise? 335Glossary 338Index 344