What role do indigenous religions play in today's world?
Beyond Primitivism is a complete appraisal of indigenous religions - faiths integrally connected to the cultures in which they originate, as distinct from global religions of conversion - as practiced across America, Africa, Asia and the Pacific today. At a time when local traditions across the world are colliding with global culture, it explores the future of indigenous faiths as they encounter modernity and globalization. Beyond Primitivism argues that indigenous religions are not irrelevant in modern society, but are dynamic, progressive forces of continuing vitality and influence. Including essays on Haitian vodou, Korean shamanism, and the Sri Lankan 'Wild Man', the contributors reveal the relevance of native religions to millions of believers worldwide, challenging the perception that indigenous faiths are vanishing from the face of the globe.

This is a subset of the Sacred Books of the East Series which includes translations of all the most important works of the seven non-Christian religions which have exercised a profound influence on the civilizations of the continent of Asia. The works have been translated by leading authorities in their field.

This is a subset of the Sacred Books of the East Series which includes translations of all the most important works of the seven non-Christian religions which have exercised a profound influence on the civilizations of the continent of Asia. The works have been translated by leading authorities in their field.

First Published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

First Published in 2000. This is Volume XI of sixteen of the Oriental series looking at Buddhism. It was written in 1922 and cover the period of 600 B.C to 100 B.C. and the early Buddhist Monachism, an investigation into the history of Buddhist monks and Hindu Sannyasis of ancient India.

First Published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

First Published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Contents:
Herman, A L, Indian Theodicy:Samkara and Ramanuja on Brahmasutrabhasya II, Philosophy East and West 21 [1971]
Biderman, Shlomo, A 'Constitutive' God - a An Indian Suggestion, Philosophy East and West 32 [1982]
Nagel, Bruno M I, Untiy and Contradiction: Some Arguments in Utpaladeva and Abhinavagupta for the evidence of the self as Siva, Philosophy East and West 45 [1995]
Lipner, J J, The World as God's 'Body': In Pursuit of Dialogue with Ramanuja, Religous Studies 20 [1984]
Betty, L Stafford, A Death-Blow to Sankara's Non-Dualism?, Religous Studies 20 [1976]
Bilimoria, Purosottama, Hindu Doubts About God: Towards a Mimamsa Deconstruction, International Philosophical Quarterly 30 [1990]
Hayes, Richard P, Principled Atheism in the Buddhist Scholastic Tradition, Journal of Indian Philosophy 16 [1988]
Griffiths, Paul J, Buddha and God: a Contrastive Study in Maximal Goodness, Journal of Religion 69 [1989]
Taber, John, Reason, Revelation and Idealism in Sankara's Vedanta, Journal of Indian Philosophy 9 [1981]
Hayes, Richard P, The Question of Doctrinalism in the Buddhist Epistemologists, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 52 [1983]
Perrett, Roy W, Rebirth, Religous Studies 23 [1987]
Potter, Karl H, The Naturalistic Principle of Karma, Philosophy East and West 14 [1964]
Deutsch, Eliot, Karma as a 'Convenient Fiction' in the Advaita Vedanta, Philosophy East and West 15 [1965]
Griffiths, Paul J, Notes Towards a Critique of Buddhist Karmic Theory, Religous Studies 18 [1982]
Forrest, Peter, Inherited responsibility, karma and Original Sin, Sophia 33 [1994]
Biderman, Shlomo, Religion and Imperatives, eligous Traditions 4 [1981]
Perrett, Roy W, Religion and Politics in India: Some Philosophical Perspectives, Religous Studies 33 [1997]
McDermott, A C S, Towards A Pragmatics of Mantra Recitation, Journal of Indian Philosophy, 3 [1975]
Staal, Frits, The Meaninglessness of Ritual, Numen 26 [1979]
Smart, Ninian, Analysis of the Religious Factors in Indian Metaphysics, Doctrine and Argument in Indian Philosophy [London:George Allen & Unwin, 1964]
Krishna, Daya, Three Myths about Indian Philosophy, Diogenes 55 [1966]

Should psychology try to explain religion or try to understand it? Pioneers in psychology like Sigmund Freud and William James took opposing views on the matter, and it has been a hotly debated issue ever since. While psychology has been used in the past to attack religion, recent psychological findings have been more sympathetic to matters of faith. How should we understand their relationship today?
In "Psychology and Religion," Michael Argyle, one of the world's most famous experimental psychologists, provides a comprehensive and accessible survey of what psychologists know about religion--and what they don't. Offering fascinating and surprising insights into people and their religious worlds, Argyle examines the results of psychology's study of religion--including those of his own important experiments--and explores a wide range of topics such as: the importance of religion in the works of Freud, Jung and James; the proven effects of religion on the behavior of individuals and groups; how psychologists study religious activities like prayer, worship and ritual; and how psychologists have revealed the significance of change in religion, particularly in understanding the impact of new religious movements.

Part of a series that offers mainly linguistic and anthropological research and teaching/learning material on a region of great cultural and strategic interest and importance in the post-Soviet era.

This book is the republication of the original twenty-one journal volumes entitled Disturbing Delights, (written between 1992-1994). The additional essay, Quantum Kamakala: Seeking the Mysterious in Hidden Tantric Superstructures and Quantum Superstring Theory, is contemporary, written in 2000.

A thorough survey of great interest and value to scholars in this field.

* Gives an account of the history, the theological basis, the practice and the current state of the study of religion and religions throughout the world * Combines a clear and non-technical style of presentation with a structure and range of contributions which reflect the richness and complexity of religion itself, of the religions of the world and the study of religions * Comprehensive index, bibliographies and suggestions for further reading `Intriguing philosophical questions are raised about the nature of religion and the qualities needed for studying it.' - Times Higher Education Supplement `Excellent book ... remarkably successful, impressive as much for the sheer scale of the undertaking as for its consistent standard of analysis. It is a fine achievement which will serve both as a very suitable textbook for students and a reliable guide to the state of scholarship in the History and Study of Religions.' - Heythrop Journal

Diverse and pluralistic in scope, this book provides an overview of the complex debate between religion and science. This volume is unique in that it incorporates discussions and interviews with leading academics in the field. The informal and accessible tone will be appealing to those approaching the topic for the first time.

Religious life in early America is often equated with the fire-and-brimstone Puritanism best embodied by the theology of Cotton Mather. Yet, by the nineteenth century, American theology had shifted dramatically away from the severe European traditions directly descended from the Protestant Reformation, of which Puritanism was in the United States the most influential. In its place arose a singularly American set of beliefs marked by heightened spiritual inwardness, a new confidence in individual reason, and an attentiveness to the economic and market realities of Western life. In America's God, Mark Noll has given us the definitive history of Christian theology in America from the time of Jonathan Edwards to the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. It is a story of a flexible and creative theological energy that over time forged a guiding national ideology, the legacies of which remain with us to this day.

Although East Asian religion is commonly characterized as "syncretic", the historical interaction of Buddhist, Confucian, and other traditions is often neglected by scholars of mainstream religious thought. In this thought-provoking study, Janine Sawada moves beyond conventional approaches to the history of Japanese religion by analyzing the ways in which Neo-Confucianism and Zen formed a popular synthesis in early modern Japan. She shows how Shingaku, a teaching founded by merchant Ishida Baigan, blossomed after his death into a widespread religious movement that selectively combined ideas and practices from these traditions. Drawing on new research into original Shingaku sources, Sawada challenges the view that the teaching was a facile "merchant ethic" by illuminating the importance of Shingaku mystical experience and its intimate relation to moral cultivation in the program developed by Baigan's successor, Teshima Toan. This book also suggests the need for an approach to the history of Japanese education that accounts for the informal transmission of ideas as well as institutional schooling. Shingaku contributed to the development of Japanese education by effectively disseminating moral and religious knowledge on a large scale to the less-educated sectors of Tokugawa society. Sawada interprets the popularity of the movement as part of a general trend in early modern Japan in which ordinary people sought forms of learning that could be pursued in the context of daily life.