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Carregando... Understanding World Religions: An Interdisciplinary Approachde Irving Hexham
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Globalization and high-speed communication put twenty-first century people in contact with adherents to a wide variety of world religions, but usually, valuable knowledge of these other traditions is limited at best. On the one hand, religious stereotypes abound, hampering a serious exploration of unfamiliar philosophies and practices. On the other hand, the popular idea that all religions lead to the same God or the same moral life fails to account for the distinctive origins and radically different teachings found across the world's many religions. Understanding World Religions presents religion as a complex and intriguing matrix of history, philosophy, culture, beliefs, and practices. Hexham believes that a certain degree of objectivity and critique is inherent in the study of religion, and he guides readers in responsible ways of carrying this out. Of particular importance is Hexham's decision to explore African religions, which have frequently been absent from major religion texts. He surveys these in addition to varieties of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
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I purchased this book to read what it had to say about Hinduism. As an IT professional, I work for one of the largest companies in India and have many Indian coworkers. There is a large cultural gap between India and the USA. I think that part of the worldview difference stems from Hinduism. I am still on a quest to understand Indian culture and how to work effectively in a company that is horrendously inefficient, labyrinthine, and bureaucratic. I am able to wrap my monotheistic head around Hinduism a little better after reading this book, though.
The section of a chapter on Sikhism was of interest to me. I find that religion fascinating, but I was disappointed in how little this religion was covered in this book. The 5 signs of Khalsa are covered, but very little is mentioned of the essential doctrines of Sikhism. More and more Sikhs are moving to the USA and understanding Sikh beliefs will lead to good inter-faith relations.
This book was published by an evangelical publisher, but it is very respectful of other religions and seeks to show what theologians/philosophers/adherents of each religion say that they believe. The author does an excellent job of explaining to someone coming from a Christian/monotheistic worldview how a person of a polytheistic or nontheistic religion differs in their underlying assumptions of how the world works. The book is actually preachy in the sense of highlighting the failures of Christianity as practiced by its followers and how followers of other religions can see those failures and hypocrisies.
I would rate the book 10 stars out of 5 just for its coverage of African religions. I don't know of any other comparative religion textbook with as thorough coverage of that. ( )