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RELIGIONS
OF THE WEST
TODAY
RELIGIONS
OF THE WEST
TODAY
Fourth Edition

JOHN L. ESPOSITO
Georgetown University

DARRELL J. FASCHING
University of South Florida

TODD T. LEWIS
College of the Holy Cross

New York Oxford

OX FOR D U NIV ERSIT Y PR ESS
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective
of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered
trademark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries.

Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press

198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America.

© 2018, 2015, 2012, 2009 by Oxford University Press

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 or titles covered by Section 112 of the US Higher Education Opportunity
Act, please visit www.oup.com/us/he for the latest information about
pricing and alternate formats.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University
Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate
reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above
should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above.

You must not circulate this work in any other form

and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Esposito, John L., author. | Fasching, Darrell J., 1944– author. |
Lewis, Todd, 1952– author.
Title: Religions of the West today / John L. Esposito, Georgetown University,
Darrell J. Fasching, University of South Florida, Todd T. Lewis, College
of the Holy Cross,.
Description: Fourth Edition. | New York: Oxford University Press, 2017.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017009333 | ISBN 9780190642419 (student edition)
Subjects: LCSH: Western countries—Religion—Textbooks. |
Religions—Textbooks.
Classification: LCC BL689 .E87 2017 | DDC 200.9182/1—dc23 LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2017009333

987654321
Printed by Sheridan Book, Inc., United States of America
This edition is dedicated to the memory of our colleague and
co-author Darrell J. Fasching, a masterful teacher and scholar.
BRIEF CONTENTS
Prefacexv

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION: UNDERSTANDING

WORLD RELIGIONS IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE3

Chapter 2 INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS35

Chapter 3 THE MANY STORIES OF JUDAISM:

SACRED AND SECULAR67

Chapter 4 CHRISTIAN DIVERSITY AND THE ROAD

TO MODERNITY125

Chapter 5 ISLAM: THE MANY FACES OF THE

MUSLIM EXPERIENCE183

Chapter 6 GLOBALIZATION: FROM NEW TO

NEW AGE RELIGIONS261

GlossaryG-1

Art CreditsA-1

IndexI-1

vii
CONTENTS
Prefacexv

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION: UNDERSTANDING WORLD

RELIGIONS IN GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE3

Why Study World Religions? 4

Our Task 7
Understanding Religious Experience and Its Formative Elements 8
The Sacred 9
Myth, Scripture, and Beliefs 10
Ritual 13
Community and Morality 14
Religious Leaders/Experts 15
The Great Religious Stories of the World 16
Myths of Nature 16
China and the Myths of Harmony 16
India and the Myths of Liberation 18
The Middle East and the Myths of History 19
Religious Diversity and Historical Change: The Structure of This Book 20
Historical Overview: From Premodern to Postmodern 23
The Modern/Postmodern Transition: Colonialism, Socialism,
and the End of Modernity 27
Postmodern Trends in a Postcolonial World 30
Conclusion: We Are All Heretics in Our Postmodern Situation 31
Discussion Questions 32 • Key Terms 33 • Notes 33

Chapter 2 INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS35

OVERVIEW35

Origins of Homo religiosus: Prehistory 36

Religion’s Origins Among Hunter-Gatherers 41

ix
x CONTENTS

Fertility, Childbirth, and Survival 42

Religion in Prehistory: The Secret of Early Cave Rituals 42
Indigenous Religious Traditions: Soul Belief and Afterlife 44
Totemism: Australian Aboriginal Religion 47
Shamans: “Technicians of the Sacred” 49
Case Studies in Indigenous Religious Practices Today 50
Bear Sacrifice: A Widespread Arctic and Pacific
Rim Tradition 52
Shamans Who Repair the World 53
Indigenous Religions Today 55
The Cataclysms of Colonialism 55
Shamanism in Modern Asia: Division of Labor
Within the World Religions 59
Global Neo-Shamanism: Expropriation by “White Shamans” 61
Conclusion 62
Discussion Questions 63 • Key Terms 64 • Suggested
Readings 64 • Notes 65 • Additional Resources 65

Chapter 3 THE MANY STORIES OF JUDAISM:

SACRED AND SECULAR67

OVERVIEW67

Encounter with Modernity: Modern Judaisms and the

Challenge of Ultra-Orthodoxy 71
The Conflict over Public Life: Religion and Politics
in the State of Israel 71
Premodern Judaism: The Formative Era (2000 BCE–500 CE) 73
The Biblical Roots of Judaism 73
The Historical Roots of Diversity 78
Exodus and Exile: Story, History, and Modernity 80
From Torah to Talmud 81
Premodern Judaism: The Classical Era (500 CE–1729 CE) 87
The Premodern Rabbinic World: God, Torah, and Israel 87
The Medieval Journey of Judaism 89
Two Great Medieval Scholars: Rashi and Maimonides 96
Kabbalah—Jewish Mysticism 96
Hasidism 97
 CONTENTS xi

Judaism and Modernity (1729–1967 CE) 98

The Emergence of Modern Religious Forms of Judaism 98
The Emergence of Secular Forms of Judaism 103
Judaism and Postmodern Trends in a Postcolonial World (1967–) 110
Challenges to Jewish Faith After the Holocaust 110
Challenges to Jewish Existence After the Holocaust 114
Conclusion 120
Discussion Questions 121 • Key Terms 122 • Suggested
Readings 122 • Notes 122 • Additional Resources 123

Chapter 4 CHRISTIAN DIVERSITY AND THE ROAD TO

MODERNITY125

OVERVIEW125

Overview: The Beliefs of Christians 126

Encounter with Modernity: The Fundamentalist–
Modernist Controversy (1859–) 130
The Protestant Confrontation with Modernity 130
The Catholic Confrontation with Modernity 131
Premodern Christianity: The Formative Era (31–451 CE) 132
The New Testament and the Life of Jesus 132
Apocalypse: The Book of Revelation 136
Christianity’s Emergence from Judaism 138
The Fall of the Temple 140
The Origins of Christian Anti-Jewish Sentiment 141
Jesus as Son of God 142
Constantinianism: The Marriage of Christianity and Empire 143
Augustine, Architect of Western Christianity 145
The Eastern Orthodox Churches 147
Premodern Christianity: The Classical Era (451–1517 CE) 148
The Medieval Worldview: Sacraments and Festivals 149
The Two Cities Revisited 151
The Promise and Threat of Christian Mysticism 154
Christianity, Judaism, Islam: Crusades and Inquisition 154
Christianity and Modernity (1517–1962) 156
The Early Roots of Modernity 156
xii CONTENTS

Millennialism: History as Progress 156

The Via Moderna and Devotio Moderna 157
Devotio Moderna and the Protestant Reformation 158
Calvin and the Protestant Ethic 160
Other Reform Movements 160
Religious Diversity: Church and State in War and Peace 162
Enlightenment Rationalism and Christian Pietism 163
Nineteenth-Century Romanticism and Existentialism 166
From the Holocaust to Hiroshima: The Global Collapse of the Modern
Myth of History as Progress 169
Christianity and Postmodern Trends in a Postcolonial
World (1962–) 171
From Colonial to Postcolonial Christianity 171
Conclusion: The Challenge of Religious Pluralism 179
Discussion Questions 180 • Key Terms 180 • Suggested Readings 181
• Additional Resources 181

Chapter 5 ISLAM: THE MANY FACES OF THE MUSLIM

EXPERIENCE183

OVERVIEW183

Encounter with Modernity: The Challenge of Western Colonialism 189

The Islamic Resurgence 190
Islam in the West 191
Premodern Islam: The Formative Era 191
Muhammad’s Early Life 192
After the Hijra 194
The Message of the Quran 197
A Golden Age of Expansion, Conquest, and Creativity 198
Diversity, Division, and Dissent 201
The Origins of the Sunni–Shiah Split 203
Premodern Islam: The Classical Era 204
Law and Mysticism: The Exterior and Interior Paths to God 205
The Five Pillars of Islam 206
Women and Muslim Family Law 211
The Interior Path of Love: Islamic Mysticism 215
Islam and the State 217
 CONTENTS xiii

Islam and the West (Christendom): The Crusades 219

Premodern Revivalist Movements 222
Islam and Modernity 223
Islamic Modernism 224
Modern Islamic Revivalist Movements 224
Radical Islam 226
Islam and Postmodern Trends in a Postcolonial World 228
The Impact of the Islamic Resurgence 228
Islam in Modern State and Society 228
The Failure of Modernity and the Islamic Revival 229
The Religious Worldview of Contemporary Islamic Activism 230
From the Periphery to Mainstream Politics and Society 231
The Road to 9/11 232
Globalization and Hijacking of Jihad 234
Jihad as Armed Struggle 234
Suicide Bombing: War of the Fatwas 236
Post 9/11: Impact and Response 236
European Muslims 238
A Common Word Between Us and You 239
Islam and the Arab Awakening: Between
Authoritarianism and Pluralism 240
Questions for Postmodern Times: Issues of Authority
and Interpretation 241
Islam in the West 242
Islam: Postmodern Challenges 249
Islamization of the Law 251
Women and Minorities 251
Islamic Reform 254
Conclusion 255
Discussion Questions 256 • Key Terms 257 • Suggested Readings 257
• Notes 258 • Additional Resources 258

Chapter 6 GLOBALIZATION: FROM NEW TO NEW AGE

RELIGIONS261

OVERVIEW261

Encounter with Modernity: The Challenge of Global Diversity to the

“Purity” of Tradition 262
xiv CONTENTS

New Religions 263

Old Religions and New Religions in the History of Religions 263
The New Age and New Age Religions 268
Postmodernism and the New Age 268
Theosophy, Christian Science, and
the Unity School of Christianity 272
Scientology 273
The Baha’i Global Religious Vision 275
Conclusion: The Postmodern Challenge—Can There Be a
Global Ethic in a World of Religious Diversity? 278
Beyond Atheism: The Challenge
of Postmodern Secular Relativism 279
“Passing Over”: A Postmodern Spiritual Adventure
That Responds to the Challenge of Globalization 282
Tolstoy, Jesus, and “Saint Buddha”: An Ancient
Tale with a Thousand Faces 285
The Children of Gandhi: An Experiment in
Postmodern Global Ethics 288
The Future of Religion in an Age of Globalization 290
Discussion Questions 291 • Suggested Readings 291
• Notes 292 • Additional Resources 292

GlossaryG-1

Art CreditsA-1

IndexI-1
PREFACE
Religion is unquestionably a dynamic spiritual and political force in the world today.
Around the globe religious experiences and beliefs profoundly change individual lives
even as they influence politics and play a powerful role in international affairs. This
new volume, Religions of the West Today, comprises one-half of the new sixth edi-
tion of our textbook World Religions Today and addresses this reality by providing an
introductory volume for college and university students.
Religions of the West Today grew out of our several decades of experience in teaching
world religions. It is a product of our conviction that, for our students to understand the
daily news accounts of religions in our global situation, they need more than just the
ancient foundations of the world’s religions. Textbooks on world religions too often
have tended to emphasize historical origins and doctrinal developments, focusing on the
past and giving short shrift to the “modern” world. Many stressed a textual, theological/
philosophical, or legal approach, one that gave insufficient attention to the modern alter-
ations of these traditions. Most gave little attention to their social institutions and their
connections to political power. As a result, students came away with a maximum appreci-
ation for the origins and development of the classical traditions but a minimum awareness
of the continued dynamism and relevance of religious traditions today. So, despite the
growing visibility and impact of a global religious resurgence and of the unprecedented
globalization of all world religions, most textbooks have not quite caught up. Religions of
the West Today extends our commitment to address this situation for Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam, with short chapters also devoted to indigenous religions and global religions.
A short comment on the selection of this volume’s title, Religions of the West
Today, and that of its companion volume, Religions of Asia Today. These titles, while
illustrating our contemporary emphasis, also highlight the difficulties of choosing apt
language in our postmodern, globalized world. The authors engaged in a spirited
debate to find agreement on the question of what terms to use as titles of the two new
volumes. Going back to the nineteenth century, a Eurocentric vantage point on the
world created the dichotomy “Western” religions versus “Eastern” (or “Oriental”)
religions. While it is true that any geographic, directional terms are arbitrary, the
fact remains that the power of imperial Europe and its creation of the new field of
knowledge of religious studies coined these terms. As Kipling wrote, “East is East, and
West is West, and never the twain shall meet.” In so doing, Islam was commonly—
and erroneously—shunted away from the “West” and distanced from the “Western”
monotheisms of Christian and Judaism. All of Asia was likewise lumped together,
misleadingly, as “Eastern religions,” despite the extraordinary diversity found there.
So we, as authors, found it problematic either to assent to this now-archaic dichotomy
or to find a completely satisfactory alternative. How could we craft a textbook for the

xv
xvi P R E FA C E

twenty-first century that highlights postcolonial and postmodern perspectives while label-
ing our textbooks with nineteenth-century, colonial terms? Such words recall stereotypes
of the East as mysterious, mystical, and unchanging (and therefore backward and unscien-
tific). And yet today, in an age of globalization, our students learn advanced mathematics,
chemistry, and physics from their professors from India, China, Japan, and other Asian
countries. Moreover, they are most likely to associate the term the East with the superiority
of Japanese and Korean automobiles, cutting-edge electronic technology, and the grow-
ing international dominance of the Chinese economy. Nevertheless, there are those who
remember the preglobalization era and fear that the old colonial stereotypes may still linger.
Our solution is an awkward one that suggests we are still in transition to a new
way of looking at the world. We chose to mix geographic metaphors. So we have
Religions of the West Today to highlight the grouping of the Abrahamic faiths together;
and we grouped Hinduism, Buddhism, and the traditions of East Asia all under the
title Religions of Asia Today, with the plural word religions underlining their plurality.
One of the problems with this choice is that Islam today is also a major religion in Asia,
with substantial communities in Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and
China. We include a chapter on Islam in Religions of Asia Today to reflect this reality.
We believe that this addition empowers instructors to include in their courses the dis-
cussion of Islam in Asia, a possibility that recent events in the world certainly justify.
Of course, this still leaves the growing role of Christianity in China and the major
social and political role of Christianity in South Korea, treated only in passing (in the
“East Asian Religions” chapter). One can see why we, as authors, had an extended
and not fully resolved conversation about both content and titles. It is a conversation
that mirrors the complexities and perplexities of our new global situation.
Religions of the West Today continues the approach of the previous five editions of
World Religions Today, using historical coverage of religious traditions as a framework
to help students understand how faiths have evolved to the present day. Indeed, we
open most chapters with an “Encounter with Modernity.” These encounters illustrate
the tension between the premodern religious views and modernity. Each chapter
then returns to the origins of the tradition to trace the path that led to this confron-
tation with “modernity.” We attempt to show not only how each tradition has been
changed by its encounter with modernity but also how each religion in turn has influ-
enced modernity. We would like to point out that we have included the short chapter
“Indigenous Religions” in this new edition. While we realize that many instructors do
not cover indigenous religions in their courses, growing numbers do; however, those
who wish can skip this chapter without negative impact.

NEW TO THIS EDITION

The major theme and chapter structure of the earlier editions of World Religions
Today have been retained, though they have been updated and revised. Chapter 2, on
“Indigenous Religions,” has been revised to reflect current scholarship on the beliefs
 P R E FA C E xvii

and practices that predate or live outside the global traditions that make up the bulk
of this book. Each of these indigenous practices could fill an entire book on its own,
but we hope this chapter manages to survey the range of traditions without making
artificial generalizations.

FEATURES

Each chapter is enriched by four kinds of thematic boxes. “Teachings of Religious

Wisdom” are designed to offer examples of the primary texts and formal teachings of
the faiths. The “Tales of Spiritual Transformation” describe the religious experiences of
believers in their own words. The “Contrasting Religious Visions” boxes compare the
beliefs of two significant adherents of a faith who see the demands of their religion calling
believers in very different directions in the modern age. Finally, each chapter features a
wide variety of special-topic boxes to explore particular ideas or practices in some depth.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS

Supplementary materials are available on the Oxford University Press Ancillary

Resource Center (ARC), a convenient, instructor-focused single destination for
resources to accompany your text. Accessed online through individual user accounts,
the ARC provides instructors with access to up-to-date ancillaries at any time while
guaranteeing the security of grade-significant resources. In addition, it allows OUP to
keep instructors informed when new content becomes available. Available on the ARC:

• The Instructor’s Manual, which includes the following:

Chapter Summaries
Chapter Goals
Key Terms with definitions
Lecture outlines
Suggested web links and other resources
• A Computerized Test Bank, including 40 fill-in-the-blank, 40 m
­ ultiple-choice,
40 true/false, and 12 essay/discussion questions per chapter
• Lecture outlines as PowerPoint ®-based slides

A link to the ARC is available on the Companion Website (www.oup.com/us/esposito).

For the student: The Companion Website (www.oup.com/us/esposito) includes
the following student resources:

• Chapter goals
• Flashcards of Key Terms
xviii P R E FA C E

• Suggested web links and other resources

• Self-quizzes, containing 20 fill-in-the-blank, 20 multiple-choice, 20
true/false, and 6 essay/discussion questions per chapter, selected from the
Test Bank in the ARC

The Instructor’s Manual and Computerized Test Bank, as well as the student material
from the Companion Website, is also available in Learning Management System
Cartridges, in a fully downloadable format for instructors using a learning management
system in their courses.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This fourth edition of Religions of the West Today has been substantially revised in light
of the valuable comments we continue to receive from colleagues across the country
who have used it and in light of our own subsequent experiences and reflections. We
offer special thanks to the following professors and to the other, anonymous, review-
ers. This edition is much stronger because of their thoughtful comments:

Kenneth Bass, Central Texas College

Todd M. Brenneman, Faulkner University
Clayton Crockett, University of Central Arkansas
Dennis G. Crump, Lindsey Wilson College
Jonathan Ebel, University of Illinois–Urbana Champaign
Jim Gustafson, Florida Southwestern State College
B. N. Hebbar, George Washington University
Samuel Hopkins, Northern Arizona University
Ernest P. Janzen, University of Winnipeg
Scott Kenworthy, Miami University of Ohio
Kristin Beise Kiblinger, Winthrop University
Lee Krahenbuhl, Mercy College of Ohio
Andrew Pavelich, University of Houston–Downtown
Judith Poxon, California State University–Sacramento
Bassam Romaya, University of Massachusetts–Lowell
Patricia Walters, Rockford University
Alice L. Wood, Bethune-Cookman University

Thanks also to the reviewers of the previous editions for their lasting input on the
work: Constantina Rhodes Bailly, Eckerd College; Herbert Berg, University of North
­Carolina–Wilmington; Sheila Briggs, University of Southern California; Robert Brown,
James Madison University; Terry L. Burden, University of Louisville; Dexter E. Callender
Jr., University of Miami; David Capes, Houston Baptist University; James E. Deitrick,
 P R E FA C E xix

University of Central Arkansas; Sergey Dolgopolski, University of Kansas; Joan Earley,

State University of New York at Albany; James Egge, Eastern Michigan University; John
Farina, George Mason University; Debora Y. Fonteneau, Savannah State University;
Liora Gubkin, California State University–Bakersfield; William David Hart, University
of North Carolina–Greensboro; William Hutchins, Appalachian State University; Father
Brad Karelius, Saddleback Community College; Sandra T. Keating, Providence College;
Mohammad Hassan Khalil, University of Illinois; Louis Komjathy, University of San Diego;
David Kitts, Carson-Newman University; Ian Maclean, James Madison University; Peter
David Lee, Columbia College—California; Sean McCloud, University of North Carolina
at Charlotte; Tim Murphy, University of Alabama; Nancy Nahra, Champlain College;
Jason Neelis, University of Florida; Patrick Nnoromele, Eastern Kentucky University;
Catherine Orsborn, University of Denver; Robin L. Owens, Mount St. Mary’s College;
Linda Pittman, College of William and Mary; Kris Pratt, Spartanburg Methodist College;
Rick Rogers, Eastern Michigan University; Barry R. Sang, Catawba College; Brooke
Schedneck, Arizona State University; D. Neil Schmid, North Carolina State University;
Paul Schneider, University of South Florida; Martha Ann Selby, University of Texas at
Austin; Caleb Simmons, University of Mississippi; Theresa S. Smith, Indiana University
of Pennsylvania; Yushau Sodiq, Texas Christian University; Phillip Spivey, University of
Central Arkansas; Bruce Sullivan, Northern Arizona University; Aaron J. Hahn Tapper,
University of San Francisco; James H. Thrall, International College–­University of Bridge-
port; Eglute Trinkauske, Nazareth College; Peter Umoh, University of Bridgeport; Hugh
B. Urban, Ohio State University; Anne Vallely, University of Ottawa; Andrew Christian
Van Gorder, Baylor University; Glenn Wallis, University of Georgia; Tammie Wanta,
University of North Carolina at Charlotte; Mlen-Too Wesley, Penn State University;
Catherine Wessinger, Loyola University New Orleans; Mark Whitters, Eastern Michigan
University; Simon A. Wood, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
We have been fortunate to work with an excellent, supportive, and creative team
at Oxford University Press, led by Robert Miller, Executive Editor in Oxford’s Higher
Education Group. Senior Production Editor Barbara Mathieu, Editorial Assistant Kel-
lylouise Delaney and Assistant Editor Alyssa Palazzo, and Senior Development Editor
Meg Botteon have been extraordinarily supportive throughout the writing process.
Our thanks also to Robin Tuthill, who prepared the student and instructor support
materials for the first four editions of World Religions Today, and to Kate Kelley, who
updated them for the fifth and sixth editions.
Although this is a multiauthored text, with each of us taking primary responsibil-
ity for different chapters, it has truly been a collaborative project from start to finish.
Throughout the entire process we shared and commented on one another’s material.
Finally, just as these volumes were going to press, we learned of the sudden death of
our long-term collaborator and co-author in these textbooks, Darrell J. Fasching. We
dedicate these new editions to a fine scholar and generous colleague.
John L. Esposito
Todd T. Lewis
 GREENLAND

Arctic Circle

ICELAND
CANADA
UNITED KINGDOM

IRELAND

FRANCE

NORTH UNITED STATES NORTH

PORTUGAL SPAIN
PACIFIC ATLANTIC
OCEAN OCEAN
MOROCCO

HAITI WESTERN
Tropic of Cancer MEXICO CUBA SAHARA
DOMINICAN
REPUBLIC
BELIZE PUERTO RICO MAURITANIA
CAPE VERDE IS. MALI
TRINIDAD
JAMAICA and TOBAGO
GUATEMALA SENEGAL
EL SALVADOR GUYANA GAMBIA
NICARAGUA VENEZUELA GUINEA BISSAU
SURINAM
COSTA RICA GUINEA
FRENCH SIERRA LEONE
PANAMA COLOMBIA GUIANA LIBERIA
Equator BURKINA FASO GHANA
ECUADOR IVORY COAST
SÃO TOMÉ AND PRÍNCIPE
PERU EQUATORIAL GUINEA
BRAZIL
WESTERN
SAMOA

BOLIVIA
TONGA

Tropic of Capricorn PARAGUAY

CHILI

SOUTH ARGENTINA
SOUTH
PACIFIC URUGUAY ATLANTIC
OCEAN OCEAN

Antarctic Circle
 ARCTIC
OCEAN

NORWAY
N
EDE

FINLAND RUSSIA
SW

27
17 26
15 25
24
16 18
9 8 23 KAZAKHSTAN
14 22
13 10 7
6 21 UZBEKISTAN MONGOLIA
12 28
5 3 4 TURKMENISTAN NORTH
20 KOREA
11 2
KYRGYZSTAN SOUTH
19 TURKEY 29 KOREA
ALBANIA 1
TAJIKISTAN JAPAN
SYRIA 30 CHINA
CYPRUS
AFGHANISTAN
LEBANON IRAQ IRAN NEPAL
BHUTAN BANGLADESH
TUNISIA ISRAEL QATAR
ALGERIA PAKISTAN
LIBYA
JORDAN
MYANMAR
PACIFIC
EGYPT KUWAIT (BURMA) OCEAN Tropic of Cancer
BAHRAIN
TOGO INDIA TAIWAN
SAUDI ARABIA UNITED
ERITREA
OMAN ARAB
NIGER EMIRATES LAOS
CHAD
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SUDAN PHILIPPINES
DJIBOUTI THAILAND
VIETNAM MARSHALL
NIGERIA MICRONESIA ISLANDS
CENT. AFR. SOUTH SRI LANKA
ETHIOPIA
REP. CAMBODIA BRUNEI
CAMEROON SUDAN
SOMALIA MALDIVES
BENIN MALAYSIA
RWANDA UGANDA Equator NAURU
KENYA
PAPUA KIRIBATI
DEMOCRATIC SINGAPORE NEW GUINEA
REPUBLIC BURUNDI SEYCHELLES
OF CONGO INDONESIA SOLOMON
TANZANIA ISLANDS
GABON
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REPUBLIC COMOROS
OF ANGOLA
CONGO ZAMBIA
FIJI
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MADAGASCAR INDIAN VANUATU

BOTSWANA MAURITIUS
OCEAN
MOZAMBIQUE Tropic of Capricorn
NAMIBIA AUSTRALIA

SWAZILAND
SOUTH
AFRICA
LESOTHO
Key to numbered countries
NEW
1. MACEDONIA 16. GERMANY ZEALAND
2. MONTENEGRO 17. DENMARK
3. BOSNIA 18. POLAND
4. SERBIA 19. GREECE
5. CROATIA 20. BULGARIA
6. SLOVENIA 21. ROMANIA
7. HUNGARY 22. MOLDOVA
8. SLOVAK REPUBLIC 23. UKRAINE
9. CZECH REPUBLIC 24. BELARUS
10. AUSTRIA 25. LITHUANIA
11. SWITZERLAND 26. LATVIA
12. ITALY 27. ESTONIA Antarctic Circle
13. LUXEMBOURG 28. GEORGIA
14. BELGIUM 29. ARMENIA
15. NETHERLANDS 30. AZERBAIJAN
RELIGIONS
OF THE WEST
TODAY
INTRODUCTION 1
Understanding World Religions
in Global Perspective

I
n an age of globalization, human events reach through time and around the ● globalization:
world to transform our personal, social, economic, and political lives. Until the in terms of world
religions, the idea that
modern period, the great world religions had largely divided the globe among all the world’s religions
them, with some modest overlap. But in our postmodern era, all the world’s reli- have members in
gions have members in every country or society. Just as Christians had migrated to almost every country
every city in the world by 1850, today Hindus, Buddhists, and Muslims are now or society; and
that technology
found in significant numbers in all large American and European cities and increas- affords access to all
ingly in smaller ones. Today, anyone using the Internet can observe and even par- key religious sites,
ticipate in live webcam services in major temples, shrines, churches, mosques, and practices, and teachers
monasteries from around the world; devotees can offer prayers, order rituals, or make
monetary offerings through their websites. This is globalization.
Essential to understanding globalization in the United States is the Immigration
Act of 1965, signed by President Lyndon Johnson. This act abolished the immigra-
tion system set up in 1924 and modified in 1952. The earlier system heavily favored
immigration from Europe and severely restricted immigration from other parts of the
world, especially Asia. The 1965 legislation dramatically changed the face of America.
As of 1950 in the United States, according to government figures, about 3.6 percent
of immigrants were from Asia; by the year 2000, more than 30 percent were.
In the 1950s, when people thought about religious diversity, it was limited
largely to Protestants, Catholics, and Jews. In the twenty-first century the situation is

 With the Space Age, awareness that all humans share life in a global village has come to the
religions and cultures of the earth.

3
4 CHAPTER 1 • I ntroduction

dramatically different. Almost daily the media takes note of new religious members
of the community—for example, a meditation retreat at a Korean Zen center in the
suburbs of Providence, Rhode Island; the opening of an Islamic mosque in St. Louis,
Missouri; or the dedication of a Hindu temple in Tampa, Florida.
Figure 1.1, compiled from Pew Foundation reports, census data, and other stud-
ies, offers an approximation of the number of adherents of the various religions found
in the world today, and their numbers in relation to one another. There is no reliable
exact count available or even possible for many reasons: the lack of surveys utilizing
the same criteria; disagreements about what is a branch of a world religion and what
is a “new religion”; and the paucity of census/survey data from the world’s two most
populous nations, India and China. Existing surveys that summarize religious identity
on a global level are extremely problematic due to these issues of definition, limited
global scope, and affiliation.
Central to any survey data is the assumption that a person can be listed under
one variable and be only that; but such an exclusive choice of one and only one reli-
gion does not very well capture the reality of world religions today. (For this reason,
the estimated percentages assigned to each tradition in Figure 1.1 exceed 100%.)
Even among those professing to be monotheists, there are now many hyphenated
identities (such as Buddhist Jew, Zen Christian, or agnostic Yoga devotee). Singu-
lar identity is even more problematic for representing the religious reality for most
people in Asia and the various indigenous peoples across the world, where many
follow more than one tradition. Demographers too often give a false sense of cer-
tainty to the pluralistic and fluid boundaries of the world’s religions today.O ● O

Why Study World Religions?

In the emerging global economy, most neighborhoods, workplaces, and schools

reflect this diversity as well. The beliefs and practices of world religions have become
part of the mosaic of American society. It is more and more likely that our neigh-
bors, classmates, and colleagues are ethnically, politically, and, yes, even religiously
diverse—coming from many parts of the globe (see Map 1.1). Understanding diverse
religions is necessary because it is now about understanding our neighbors. If we do
not understand each other, our misunderstandings may well lead to prejudice, con-
flict, and even violence.
The academic study of religion is one of the newest disciplines in the modern uni-
versity. Its beginnings go back to the emergence of the social sciences in the nineteenth
century, with the appearance of such fields as anthropology, sociology, and comparative
linguistics. One of the great founding fathers of this study was the Indologist Max Müller
(1825–1900), who argued that “the person who knows only one religion understands
none.”1 It is only by studying the diverse expressions of religion throughout history and
across cultures that we come to understand its unity and diversity.
 W h y S tud y W or l d R e l i g ions ? 5

23.8 million Sikhs (0.38%) Figure 1.1 The world’s

major religions
30 million “New Religions” (0.4%) [5] (percentage of global
14 million Jews (0.2%)
population).
88 million Shinto practitioners (1%) [4]
4.2 million Jains (0.06%)
300 million Indigenous religions (5.2%) [3]

500 million Buddhists (7%)

2.2 billion Christians
700 million “East Asian (32%)
Diffuse Religion” (10.5%) [2]

1.0 billion No Religious

Affiliation (15%) [1]

1.6 billion Muslims (23%)

1.1 billion Hindus (16%)

Notes:
[1] Includes atheists, agnostics, and people who do not self-identify with any particular religion in surveys. Studies
have also revealed that many of the “religiously unaffiliated” do have some religious beliefs. Some of the
religiously unaffiliated, for example, do express belief in God or a higher power, a view shared, for example, by 7%
of Chinese unaffiliated adults, 30% of French unaffiliated adults, and 68% of unaffiliated U.S. adults. Some of the
unaffiliated also engage in certain kinds of religious practices. For example, 7% of unaffiliated adults in France and
27% of those in the United States say they attend religious services at least once a year.
[2] A combination of Confucian, Daoist, and local religious devotions. This figure was estimated based on a
Chinese government statistic indicating that 44% of adults reported that they had worshipped at a graveside or
tomb in the survey year.
[3] Practice various folk or traditional religions, including African traditional religions, Indian tribal traditions, Native
American religions, and Australian aboriginal religions.
[4] This number for adherents to Shinto in Japan is based on recent surveys that have shown that 80% of
Japanese register their newborn children at a Shinto shrine, and that roughly the same number visit these temples
on New Year’s Day and other major traditional holidays.
[5] The formation of new religions has been a key hallmark of global religious life since 1750, and it has been
recorded on every continent. Some have come and gone (such as the “Shakers” in Colonial America); some have
arisen but to this day command the loyalty of few; most have arisen and spread in a particular region; a few have
become global in membership.

Prior to the 1960s, in the United States, one could not have studied religions
comparatively in secular and state universities. Only religious colleges and universities
offered courses and degrees in religion, and these were typically on the teachings of
their own denominations. If other religions came up for discussion it was usually to
6

ARCTIC
OCEAN

NORTH
NORTH ATLANTIC NORTH
PACIFIC OCEAN PACIFIC
OCEAN OCEAN

World population by religion (2007)

Christian 2,133,806,000
Muslim 1,308,942,000
Hindu 860,133,000 INDIAN
Nonreligious ca. 840,000,000 OCEAN
Buddhist 378,808,000
Tribal religion ca. 257,000,000
SOUTH
Atheist ca. 150,000,000 ATLANTIC
New religions 108,131,000 OCEAN
Sikh 25,378,000
Daoist ca. 20,000,000
Jewish 15,073,000
Baha’i 7,650,000
Confucian 6,470,900
Jain 4,589,800
Shinto 2,790,000
Parsi (Zoroastrian) 2,648,000

Christianity Buddhism Traditional and Tribal

Islam Hinduism Tribal and Christian
Mostly Eastern Orthodox Chinese religions, including Buddhism Tribal, Christian, and Muslim
Judaism Shinto and Buddhism

Map 1.1 Distribution of world religions today.

 O ur T as k 7

point out their “errors.” Then in the 1960s departments of religious studies began to
appear in nonreligious colleges and secular state universities. Responding to the new
diversity brought on by globalization, these departments began to offer courses on
non-Western as well as comparative religions. What they attempted was completely
new in history: They sought to understand and appreciate the diverse religious tradi-
tions of the world without prejudice toward any of them.
The academic study of religion requires the courage and compassion to empathet-
ically understand the diverse worldviews of others and the willingness to learn from
each. Its goal is not to show one religion is “right” and all others “wrong,” but rather
In surveying world reli-
to show what humans have found compelling in each and how each tradition has gions today, we shall
shaped history. The task in the study of world religions today is to overcome stereo- not be able to cover
types and glimpse the wisdom found in each of these traditions. To judge another’s everything that could
religion without understanding it and what it means to its members is to “prejudge” be said about them.
Our selection will be
them—that is the meaning of the word prejudice. When encountering beliefs and prac- governed primarily by
tices we do not understand, it is easy to fall into the trap of ridiculing them, saying, the following question:
“How can anyone possibly believe that?” Certainly each of us wants to be understood What do we need to
and respected, not stereotyped and dismissed. We need to extend that same courtesy know about the past to
understand the role of
to all others as well. So in the academic study of religion we agree to set aside our religion in the world we
own beliefs and prejudices and to simply try to understand and appreciate the meaning live in today?
others find in their beliefs and practices.

Our Task

In this book we focus on the diverse ways in which human beings have been religious
in the past and are religious today. Indeed, the last decades of the twentieth century
brought a global religious resurgence. This development defied earlier predictions
that civilization was becoming more secular, with a worldview increasingly based on
modern science. As a result, many scholars believed that religion would inevitably
disappear. The ongoing clash of traditional religions with contemporary scientific
and secular society is a major concern of this textbook. Awareness of this conflict is
essential if we are to understand the interactions between religions and cultures in
the world today. Every chapter thus begins with examples of a major controversy or
significant tension each religion now faces.
We describe our present time as one in transition between “modernity” and a
new “postmodern” era of globalization. To understand what is “new” about postmo-
dernity, we first have to understand the premodern period of the different religious
traditions and how the premodern worldview of each relates to and contrasts with the
modern period. In particular, we will have to compare the premodern period in each
tradition with the changes brought about by the “modern” era, which began with the
rise of modern science after 1500 and declined after World War II. In surveying world
8 CHAPTER 1 • I ntroduction

religions today, we shall not be able to cover everything that could be said about
them. Our selection will be governed primarily by the following question: What do
we need to know about the past to understand the role of religion in the world we
live in today? In order to understand many of the conflicts that we hear about in the
news, we need to understand how religious traditions profoundly shaped the world
to be the way it is today. Since religious beliefs are often at the center of the individ-
ual’s identity, and because religious communities are major actors in our world today,
studying world religions provides crucial insights for understanding our world. And
to do that, we must begin by introducing some basic concepts.

Understanding Religious Experience

and Its Formative Elements

Wherever we find religious practice, we will find certain key elements:

The Experience of Sacredness

Myth or Symbolic Story (typically embodied in sacred writing or scripture and
expressed in a system of beliefs)
Ritual
Community
Morality
Religious Leaders/Experts

religion: the sense of ● Let us begin with a working definition of the term religion. The word religion has
being tied or bound its roots in Latin, the language of the Romans. Although its exact root is uncertain,
by sacred obligations
it is probably derived from the Latin religare, which literally means “to tie or bind”
to powers believed to
govern our destiny and has the connotation of “acting with care.” It expresses our sense of being “tied
and bound” by relations of obligation to whatever powers we believe govern our
destiny—whether these powers are natural or supernatural, personal or impersonal,
one or many. Because our word religion comes from the Roman, it will be helpful to
understand their use of the word.
If you were to ask a group of Romans in the first century CE, “What religion are
you?”, they would not understand the question. However, if you asked instead, “Are
you religious?”, they would understand immediately. They might even respond: “Of
course, but who isn’t?”
In the first version of the question, the word religion is used as a noun. It sug-
gests that religion is a social group to which people can belong, and that you can be
a member of a specific religion only if you are not a member of another. This way
of understanding religion naturally arises among monotheists, who by definition
have chosen one god and excluded all others. However, the Romans did not have
 U nd e rstandin g R e l i g ious E x p e ri e nc e and  I ts  F or m ati v e E l e m e nts 9

such an exclusive concept of religion. In rephrasing the original question as “Are

you religious?” you are no longer treating religion as a noun, describing something
you join. Instead, you are treating it as an adjective, describing a way of seeing,
acting, and experiencing all things. In most times and places throughout history,
people did not think of their practices as “a religion”—a separate reality they had to
choose to the exclusion of all others. Today in Japan, for instance, it is possible for
a person to practice Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, and Shintoism. This may
seem odd from the monotheistic perspective of Western religions, where one can
be, for instance, a Muslim or a Christian or a Jew but not two or more at the same
time. And yet, paradoxically, Jews, Christians, and Muslims all claim to worship the
same God.

The Sacred
Religion is about what people hold sacred, what matters more than anything else to
them—namely, their destiny individually and collectively. For all human beings in all
places and all times throughout history, religion has been about power and meaning
in relation to human destiny. The word religion is derived from the Latin word religio
that had two roots: the verb religare, which literally means “to tie or bind,” and the
adjective religere, meaning “careful or respectful [to the supernatural].”
Ancient peoples everywhere believed that the powers governing their destiny
were the forces of nature. Why? Because nature was experienced as that awesome
collection of powers that surround and, at times, overwhelm human beings. On the
one hand, nature provides life and many of its necessities (food, clothing, shelter,
etc.); but on the other hand, nature may turn on people, destroying them through
earthquakes, storms, or floods. Therefore the forces of nature evoke in human beings
the ambivalent feeling of both fascination and dread. Rudolf Otto (1869–1937), a
pioneer in the comparative study of religions, argued that the presence of these two
ambivalent emotions is a sure sign that one is in the presence of the sacred. A defining
mark of religious experience across cultures, these emotions are stirred by the uncanny
experience of being in the presence of a power (or powers) that determines not only
how well one lives, but whether one lives or dies.
Religion as a form of human experience and behavior, therefore, is not just about
purely “spiritual” things. Nor can the study of religion globally be defined only by
gods or God. People’s religiousness has proven to be as diverse as the forms of power
they believe govern human destiny. These powers have ranged from gods as forces of
nature to the unseen ancestral spirits or spirits associated with sacred places, to more
impersonal sacred forces or energies; or even the mysterious power(s) that govern
history. Hence, whatever powers we believe govern our destiny will elicit a religious
response from us and inspire us to wish “to tie or bind” ourselves to these powers in
relations of ritual obligation. Thus tied or bound, we will act respectfully and carefully
in relation to these powers, to ensure that they will be on our side.
10 CHAPTER 1 • I ntroduction

How do we know what our obligations to these powers are? Throughout history
this knowledge has been passed down from one generation to the next through myth
and ritual.

Myth, Scripture, and Beliefs

myth: symbolic story ● Our word myth comes from the Greek mythos, which means “story.” Myth, we
about the origins and could say, is a symbolic story about the origins of the world and destiny of human
destiny of human beings
beings. Myth “ties and binds” human beings in relations of obligation to whatever
and their world
powers they believe govern their destiny and explains what these powers expect of
them. Unlike the contemporary English use of myth to indicate an untrue story or a
misunderstanding based on ignorance, every religious tradition uses myth to convey
the deepest and most profound truths about life. These truths are expressed through
grand stories of creation and destiny rather than in abstract theories. After the inven-
tion of writing (about 3000 BCE), these stories came to be written down, creating
what we now call the “scriptures” of the various religions. Because these scriptures
tell the stories about the power or powers that govern human destiny, they have been
treated as sacred scriptures and passed on from one generation to the next.
For students of world religions, understanding the symbolic nature of much of
religious language is a key challenge. To understand a religious story literally can
often lead to misunderstanding its meaning and so make it seem false. For example,

A Shinto priest and

believers purify their
bodies in icy water
for the New Year’s
ceremony at the Teppozu
Shrine in Tokyo.
 U nd e rstandin g R e l i g ious E x p e ri e nc e and  I ts  F or m ati v e E l e m e nts 11

in Western biblical tradition, the Psalms

say: “God is my shepherd,” just as Bud-
dhist scriptures refer to their founder, the
Buddha, as “a bull of a man.” We know
such statements are not meant literally:
God is not literally a shepherd, nor is the
Buddha literally a bull.
Statements like these are metaphor-
ical. They use familiar things to help
explain what is less familiar—a real-
ity that is mysterious or even beyond
human language. Shepherds and bulls
we can see and know something about,
but God or a Buddha is more myste-
rious. A person who says “God is our
shepherd” has expressed the thought
that God is like a shepherd, in the sense
that God watches over and cares for
persons in the same way a shepherd
tends his sheep. Similarly, “Buddha
was a bull of a man” expresses the con-
viction that the man who
achieved enlightenment
was strong and powerful.
These metaphors both
assert that the Buddha and
God are realities that can
always be relied upon.
Not all religious expe-
riences are theistic, reflecting belief in one or more gods. Theravada Buddhists in To live well, have many
ancient India refused to use the Hindu words roughly equivalent to the English word descendants, and live
a long life—these are
God to describe their religious understanding. Instead they spoke of the emptiness and three great treasures
inadequacy of all spoken metaphors to explain their goal, the blissful state of nirvana. in Chinese culture. A
And yet they too used metaphors to try to help people understand what they had Chinese woman prays
experienced as the “blowing out of the flame of desire,” which leads to liberation for prosperity, posterity,
and longevity at a
from all suffering. Buddhist temple on the
In fact, the word God, which is so central to the Abrahamic religious traditions island of Lantau.
(Judaism, Christianity, Islam), is just one of many diverse terms used in different reli-
gions and cultures across the world to designate the ultimate reality, that which is ● ultimate reality: that
the highest in value and meaning for the group. This class of terms includes not only which has the highest
value and meaning to
the personal God of Western theism but also the impersonal Brahman of Hinduism,
a group
the transpersonal nirvana of Buddhism, and the impersonal power of the Dao at work
in all things that is central to Chinese religions.
12 CHAPTER 1 • I ntroduction

Here lies the challenge, mystery, and fascination of studying the religions of the
world: Do differences in religious terminology reflect experiences of different reali-
sympathetic
imagination: ties? Or are they different expressions or ways of describing the same reality? Because
empathy; necessary religious metaphors come out of particular historical contexts and because they are
to understand the symbolic forms of expression, to understand the religious languages and messages of
religious languages and
different religious traditions requires that we put ourselves in the time and place of
messages of different
times and places ● their origins. We must use our sympathetic imagination to understand the met-
aphors used. Different cultures and different generations have each contributed to
via analogia: a way the rich variety of metaphors used to illuminate the mystery and meaning of human
of explaining spiritual existence.
reality by using Religious language, as symbolic language, can take one of two forms: analogy or
analogies from
particular finite qualities
negation. The metaphor “God is my shepherd” is an example of the way of analogy
and characteristics ● (via analogia). In these metaphors, we use familiar words to create an analogy that
describes something less familiar. However, there is another form of religious lan-
via negativa: a way
of explaining spiritual ● guage, the way of negation (via negativa). This way of speaking religiously proceeds
reality by negating not by asserting what God or ultimate reality is (or is like) but by saying what it is not.
all finite qualities and This approach is very typical of mystical traditions. The Muslim mystic declares that
characteristics
Allah is “nothing,” stating that Allah (God) is beyond (i.e., transcends) or is different
from anything in our material universe and experience. Allah is not this thing and not
that thing. Allah is in fact no “thing” at all. Being beyond all finite things and thus
transcendent: beyond ● transcendent, Allah must be said to be no-thing.
all finite things
In general, Western monotheism has emphasized the way of analogy by saying
that there is one God who is like humans, able to “know” and to “love,” but in a
superior fashion. Thus, God is described as all-knowing, all-loving, or all-­powerful.
By contrast, Buddhism, of all the religions, has emphasized most strongly the way
of negation, insisting that what is most valuable or true cannot be either named
or imaged. Yet both ways are found in all traditions. Some Jewish, Christian, and
Muslim mystics have referred to God as a “Nothingness,” even as some Hindus have
referred to the ultimate reality as a cosmic person rather than an impersonal power.
Moreover, we should note that these two ways do not really conflict, for the way of
analogy itself implies the way of negation. That is, every time we say God is like some
thing, we are at the same time saying God is not literally that thing. Every analogy
implies a negation.
Our discussion of religious language should help us to appreciate just how chal-
lenging it can be to study and compare various religious traditions. Just as religious
communities and religious traditions from different parts of the world use different
metaphors and symbols, they also mix the way of analogy and the way of negation.
Therefore, two different traditions sometimes talk about the same human experience
in ways that seem to be totally contradictory. For example, it may seem that a Jewish
theist and a Theravada Buddhist hold diametrically opposed religious beliefs, for Jews
believe in a personal God who created the universe and Theravada Buddhists do not.
Yet, when we look more closely at Jewish beliefs, we discover that Jews believe that
God can be neither named nor imaged, even as Theravada Buddhists believe that
 U nd e rstandin g R e l i g ious E x p e ri e nc e and  I ts  F or m ati v e E l e m e nts 13

ultimate truth is beyond all names and images. And yet, in both traditions, expe-
riencing the nameless is said to make one more human or compassionate, not less.
After learning about the traditions covered in this book, you might conclude that
perhaps theistic and nontheistic religious experiences are really not far apart. However,
it is also possible that they might be seen as truly different. To pursue this great human
question, we must begin by withholding judgment and simply try to understand how
stories and rituals shape people’s views, values, and behavior. Perhaps the real measure
of comparison should be how people live their lives rather than the apparently diverse
images and concepts they hold. If both Jews and Buddhists, for example, are led by
their religious experiences and beliefs to express compassion for those who suffer or
are in need, then clearly the two faiths are similar in that very important respect.

Ritual ritual: actions that

link the individual and
Ritual actions, like myths, “tie and bind” the individual and the community to the ● the community to each
sacred. Such actions often involve the symbolic reenactment of the stories that are other, through the
passed on from one generation to the next. Typically myth and ritual are closely tied sacred

to the major festivals or holy days of a religious tradition and illuminate the meaning
of human destiny in relation to sacred powers. By celebrating a cycle of festivals spread
throughout the year, people come to dwell in the stories that tell them who they are,
where they came from, and where they are going.
Religious rituals recall important events in the history of each faith: the “Night
Journey” of the Prophet Muhammad, the enlightenment of the Buddha, the death of
Jesus Christ, the birthday of Confucius. In other rituals, the faithful offer gifts to the
supernatural beings to whom they ascribe a power to profoundly affect their lives. Still
other rituals require circumcision, tattoos, or burn marks to set the believers off from
nonbelievers, fostering in-group solidarity. The consumption of certain foods as part divine: highest
of some rituals suggests that the believer can acquire the “same essence” as the divine ●
spiritual reality;
representative of the
through ingestion, as in the Christian communion, Hindu puja, or tribal eating of a gods
totemic animal to affirm common identity.
We should not assume that rituals only communicate ideas or beliefs. Religions
are not confined to doctrines regarding the sacred. Rather, they include rituals that,
in their own right, tie and bind people to each other and to cosmic meaning. Being
religious thus entails taking decisive action at certain times, while abstaining from
activities at other times. For example, at specific times gifts may be offered to super-
orthopraxy: practice
natural beings or pilgrimages made to sacred places. At other times, religion might of “right actions” as
require abstaining from food (fasting). prescribed by sacred
For many believers, acting in the prescribed manner, called orthopraxy (correct ● traditions
practice), is more important than orthodoxy (correct belief)—acceptance of the doc- ● orthodoxy:
trines set forth in texts and formulated by scholars. Performing the five daily Muslim acceptance of “right
beliefs” based on sacred
prayers, visiting a Buddhist or Hindu temple to offer flowers on the full moon day,
texts as explained by
cleaning a Chinese family’s ancestral grave during the spring festival, or being baptized religious authorities
14 CHAPTER 1 • I ntroduction

as a Christian—all these acts are as central to “being religious,” as is adopting beliefs

or doctrines defined as orthodox.
The great annual festivals in the world’s religions give devotees a break from
the profane time of normal working life and reinforce important ties with family
and fellow devotees. The need to orchestrate such crucial ritual actions leads
followers to create the religious institutions that occupy central places in their
societies.

Community and Morality

Myth and ritual shape unique communities to foster the way of life that emerges
out of their religious experiences. Religion not only ties us to the sacred powers we
believe govern our destiny; it also binds us to each other. Consequently, in most reli-
morality: right action ● gious traditions, ritual and morality have been closely intertwined. “Right” is often
defined by “rite”—the ritual patterns of behavior that keep life sacred. Morality is
an inherent dimension of religious experience, for religion not only concerns sacred
A Tlingit shaman powers but also describes the way of life to be followed.
performing a healing The sacred—what matters most to a given
ceremony.
­community—provides the ground for the moral
experience of the virtuous life. The blueprint for
what is just or moral is expressed in myth and
ritual. Take, for example, the Jewish festival of
Yom Kippur. This is the occasion at the beginning
of a new year for each person to repent, to seek
and offer forgiveness for the ways each has harmed
others. Each person also resolves to live more com-
passionately and justly in the new year.
Once we realize that religion is about what
people hold sacred and the way of life that is called
for by such beliefs, then it makes sense to say that
all morality has a religious dimension, because
every morality is grounded in religious experience,
namely in the experience of what is held sacred in
a given community. In this sense even the morality
of atheists or others, who may not think of them-
selves as religious, can be said to have a religious
dimension—to the degree that certain values are
held sacred. Such an observation still leaves open
the philosophical question of the degree to which
a tradition’s sacred morality is truly ethical, for
ethics is the questioning of sacred moralities, asking
whether what people customarily say is good or
virtuous really is good or virtuous.
 U nd e rstandin g R e l i g ious E x p e ri e nc e and  I ts  F or m ati v e E l e m e nts 15

Religious Leaders/Experts
In every religion we will find specialists: the shamans, priests, ministers, monks,
rabbis, scholars, and teachers who mediate between the sacred power(s) and the
community by explaining the myths and performing the rituals. The world’s oldest
religious specialist is the shaman. This man or woman goes into a trance to leave his
or her body and go to the spirit realm. There, he or she communicates with sacred
ancestors and supernatural beings (spirits, gods, demons, ghosts). Practitioners of this
art (also called mediums or oracles) are depicted on cave walls across Eurasia from the
Neolithic period 25,000 years ago. Shamans still exist in many parts of the world, not
only among indigenous peoples but also within or alongside the great world religions
(see Chapter 2).
Since the invention of writing in 3000 BCE, the great world religions have
relied on written materials and on scholars who have learned to write and read and
thereby interpret the sacred texts. These keepers of the sacred writings translate
their meanings for the great majority of followers, most of whom, until the modern
era, were illiterate. The Confucian masters, the Muslim ulama, and the Hindu
brahmin are examples of this religious specialist. And then there are those who
specialize in being spiritual teachers, such as the Hindu guru, the Jewish rabbi, or
the Sufi Muslim shaykh. Although we can point to interesting comparative patterns
among religious rituals and between religious teachers, it is also true to say that each
tradition can and must be known by its own unique set of religious practitioners
and institutions.

A two-year-old
Muslim boy, living in
predominantly Catholic
East Timor, prays
alongside his father at a
mosque in Dili.
16 CHAPTER 1 • I ntroduction

The Great Religious Stories of the World

As human beings, we are not just storytellers, we are “storydwellers.” We live in our sto-
ries and make sense of the world through them. Even our understanding of what is good
and evil is shaped by the kind of story we see ourselves in and the role we see ourselves
playing in that story. Although religious stories need not be about gods and other spiri-
tual beings, most of the earliest stories that have shaped human religious life have been.
There are four main types of religious stories, each of which presents a symbolic
story of the origins and destiny of human beings and the challenges they face in striv-
ing to realize their sacred destiny. (Consult Figure 1.2, the “World Religions in Per-
spective” chart, when reading this section.) These four main types of sacred story are:

myths of nature
myths of harmony
myths of liberation
myths of history

Myths of Nature
The earliest religious stories are myths of nature. These are stories about the powers
of nature that govern human destiny and portray them as either personal beings (gods,
spirits, and sacred ancestors) or impersonal powers. Such religions tend to see time as
cyclical, always returning to the moment just before creation. Just as winter and death
are followed by spring and new life, starting the earthly cycles all over again, time is an
endless loop. Myth and ritual are the means to erase the distance between “now” and
the time of origins, “in the beginning,” when the gods or ancestral spirits first created
the world. In such stories the problem of life is time. Time inevitably brings sickness,
decline, and death. The ideal in human life is to return to the newness of life at the
beginning of creation, before time began.
The means for bringing about this return is the recitation of the myths and the
performance of rituals reenacting creation. Hunter-gatherer stories emphasize the fer-
tility of the earth, the relations with animals and plants, the need for the ritual renewal
of life in harmony with the seasons, and the role the tribe plays in maintaining the
eternal cosmic order. In many of these societies, a shaman is the spiritual leader; as
will be seen in Chapter 2, the shaman’s trance journeys restore harmony between the
human community, spirits, and the forces of nature.

China and the Myths of Harmony

In China the great cosmic story was that of the Dao (sometimes rendered Tao).
The universal Dao, which all beings share, is the source of harmony in the universe.
 Myth of Nature
Polytheism

Problem: Time as Chaos,

Decay, and Death

Ideal: Return to Sacred

Myth of Harmony Myth of Liberation Time of Origins (Cosmos) Myth of History
Means: Myth and Ritual
Mysticism Monotheism

Intra-Cosmic Extra-Cosmic Trinitarian Prophetic

(China) (India) (Mediterranean)

Daoism Confucianism Hinduism Buddhism Christianity Judaism Islam

Problem Disharmony Disharmony Desire Desire Original Sin Sin Sin (Shirk)
(emphasis on (emphasis on Ignorance Ignorance Idolatry and Idolatry and Idolatry and
nature) society) Suffering Suffering Injustice Injustice Injustice
Ideal Harmony of Dao Harmony of Dao Moksha Nirvana Kingdom of God Kingdom of God The Straight Path
Atman = Brahman Anatta Justice and Mercy Justice and Mercy Justice and Mercy
Body of Christ
New Creation
Means Wu-Wei Li and Te Four yogas Eightfold Path Incarnation Election Surrender (Islam)
(non-action) (ritual and Karma Sila Spirit/Grace Grace Grace
moral force) Jnana Prajna Commandments Commandments Commandments
Raja Samadhi Obedience Obedience Obedience
Bhakti Karuna Sacraments and Audacity Sharia
(Mahayana) The Way Halacha

Unity of Being (Becoming) Unity of Will

Identity (Unity) Harmony of Will (Distance and Division)
Avatara Prophet
17

Figure 1.2 The world’s religions in perspective.

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