Table of Contents

List of Figures and Maps xiii

Timeline xvi

Acknowledgments xxii

Credits xxiii

1 Introduction: Prepare to Be Surprised 2

Part I The Tools 15

2 An Overview of Religion: Making Sense of Life 16

Explaining Suffering and Evil 18

Explaining Death 22

Ghosts 23

Resurrection 24

Souls 25

Reincarnation 26

The Importance of Order 26

Order Out of Chaos 27

Order and Predictability: Eschatology, Prophecy, Divination 27

Social Order 30

Group Identity 31

Ethics/Morality and Law 34

Authority and Power 37

The Role of Ritual 39

Conclusion 41

3 The Early Development of Religious Studies 44

Philosophy, Theology, and Religious Studies 47

The Relationship between Philosophy and Theology 48

Two Kinds of Christian Theology 50

Scriptural (Biblical) Studies and the Impact of the Printing Press 52

Baruch Spinoza (d. 1677): The Beginnings of Source Criticism 53

William Robertson Smith (d. 1894): Historical Criticism 54

The Rise of Modernity and New Academic Disciplines: Oriental Studies, Anthropology, Sociology, and Psychology 55

Max Müller (d. 1900): Oriental Studies and Religion 57

Edward Burnett Tylor (d. 1917): Anthropology and Religion 58

James Frazer (d. 1941): Evolution and Religion 61

Negative Views of Religion 65

Karl Marx (d. 1883): Religion as the Opiate of the Masses 65

Sigmund Freud (d. 1939): Religion as Neurosis 68

Sociology of Religion 71

Emile Durkheim (d. 1917): Modernization Theory 71

Max Weber (d. 1920): The Protestant Ethic and the Secularization Thesis 72

Conclusion 74

4 Religious Studies in the 20th Century 76

Back to Philosophy 80

Analytic Philosophy: Antony Flew (d. 2010) 81

Phenomenology and Religious Studies 82

Rudolf Otto (d. 1937) 82

Mircea Eliade (d. 1986) 83

Philosophy of Religion 85

John Hick (b. 1922) 85

William Lane Craig (b. 1949) 87

Anthropology of Religion 89

Clifford Geertz (d. 2006) 89

Mary Douglas (d. 2007) 91

Sociology of Religion 94

Peter L. Berger (b. 1929) 94

Robert N. Bellah (b. 1927) 95

Psychology of Religion 96

William James (d. 1910) 96

Carl Jung (d. 1961) 98

Conclusion: Theories and Methods 99

Philosophical Theories 99

Genetic/Historical Theories 100

Functionalist Theories 100

Part II Using the Tools: Surveying World Religions 103

5 Early Traditions 104

Prehistoric Religions? 107

Animism and Anthropomorphism 108

Death Rituals 112

Fertility Goddesses 113

Hunting Rituals 114

Shamans 114

Ancient Traditions, Oral Traditions, and Religion 115

The Neolithic Revolution and the Rise of Historic Religions 118

Conclusion 121

6 The Family of Western Monotheisms: Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Traditions 124

Unit I Judaism 126

The Torah, the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament 127

The History and Teachings of Judaism 135

The First Five Centuries 135

The Middle Ages (500–1500 CE) 137

The Modern Period (1750 to the present) 141

The Enlightenment 141

The Development of Reform Judaism 142

Conservative Judaism 148

Reconstructionist Judaism 148

The Rituals of Judaism 149

Judaism Today 150

Unit II Christianity 151

The History and Teachings of Christianity 151

Origins 151

The Development of Christian Doctrine 154

The Institutionalization and Politicization of Christianity 157

Eastern and Western Christians 159

The Western/Roman Church 160

The Eastern Orthodox Churches 163

The Protestant Reformation 164

Christian Rituals 166

Christianity Today 166

Unit III Islam 167

The History and Teachings of Islam 167

Core Teachings 167

Early History: The Life of Muhammad and the Rashidun Caliphs 174

The Dynastic Caliphates 176

The Modern Period: Reform and Recovery 179

Islamic Rituals 180

Major Divisions Today 182

Unit IV The Impact of Religious Studies on the Western Monotheisms 183

Biblical Studies 184

Rudolf Bultmann (d. 1976): “Demythologizing” Scripture 185

John Dominic Crossan (b. 1934): The Historicity of Scripture 186

Theology 192

Liberation Theology 192

Gustavo Gutierrez (b. 1928) 192

Farid Esack (b. 1959) 194

Feminist Theology 196

Judith Plaskow (b. 1947) 198

Rosemary Radford Ruether (b. 1936) 199

Amina Wadud (b. 1952) 201

Conclusion 203

7 330 Million Gods – or None: Two Traditions from India 206

Hinduism and Buddhism 208

Hinduism 209

History and Teachings of Hinduism 211

Indus Valley Civilization (3000–1500 BCE) 211

The Aryans and the Vedas (1500–600 BCE) 211

The Mystical Worldview of the Upanishads 213

Classical Hinduism (3rd century BCE–7th century CE) 216

The Ramayana 216

The Mahabharata 217

The Puranas 221

The Laws of Manu 223

Hinduism Today 226

Rituals 226

Buddhism 229

History and Teachings of Buddhism 230

Understanding the Four Noble Truths 233

The Ethics of “Awakening” 235

The Core of All Buddhist Traditions 235

The Development of the Three Main Traditions 237

Theravada (Hinayana) 238

Mahayana 238

Vajrayana 240

Buddhism Today 242

Rituals 243

Conclusion: Religious Studies and Indian Traditions 244

8 Balancing and Blending: Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism in China 246

The Tao, Yin and Yang 248

The History of Chinese Religious Thought 251

The Shang Period (18th–11th centuries BCE) 251

The Zhou Period (11th–3rd centuries BCE) 253

Confucius (551–479 BCE) 255

Taoism 258

Buddhism in China 260

Pure Land Buddhism 262

Chan (Zen) Buddhism 262

Chinese Folk Traditions 265

Rituals in Chinese Traditions 266

Weddings 267

Funerals 267

Chinese Traditions Today 269

Conclusion: Religious Studies and the Traditions of China 271

9 Zoroastrianism, Shinto, Baha’i, Scientology, Wicca, and Seneca Traditions: What Makes a “World Religion”? 274

What Makes a “World Religion”? 276

Zoroastrianism 278

History and Teachings of Zoroastrianism 278

Zoroastrian Rituals 281

Shinto 283

History and Teachings of Shinto 283

Shinto Rituals 285

Baha’i 287

History and Teachings of Baha’i 287

Baha’i Rituals 289

Scientology 291

History and Teachings of Scientology 291

Scientology Practices 292

Scientology Rituals 293

Wicca 294

History and Teachings of Wicca 294

Wiccan Rituals 296

The Traditions of the Seneca 298

History and Teachings of the Seneca 298

Seneca Rituals 302

Conclusion: To Be or Not to Be a Religion? 304

10 Closing Questions 308

Can We Define Religion? 310

Secularization? 311

Contemporary Atheist Views 311

Contemporary Opposition to Secularization Theory 313

Resurgent Islam 313

Resurgent Religion in the U.S.? 315

Secularization in Europe 318

Religion Revisited 319

Other Issues 322

The Range of Research Areas in the American Academy of Religion 322

Medical Science and Religion 326

Religion and Physical Health 327

Religion and Mental Health 329

Does Prayer Work? 330

Brain Science and Mystical Experience: Neurotheology 330

Conclusion: Another Surprise? 335

Glossary 338

Index 344

About the Author

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-inchief of Wiley-Blackwell's Religion Compass.