The Religion Factor: An Introduction to How Religion Matters - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0664256880 ISBN 13: 9780664256883

Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996

Synopsis

In this companion to the best-selling World Religions in America: An Introduction, renowned contributors explore the importance of religion in the lives of people, communities, and nations. Their concern is not with particular doctrines within the various religious traditions, but with how real people live these traditions today and the impact this has on the larger social order.

About this title

About the Authors

William Scott Green is Professor Emeritus of Religion and Judaic Studies and Dean Emeritus of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York.

Jacob Neusner is Distinguished Service Professor of the History and Theology of Judaism and Bard Center Fellow at the Bard College Institute of Advanced Theology in Annondale-on-Hudson, New York. He is the author of several books, including Judaism When Christianity Began, The Emergence of Judaism, and the popular textbook World Religions in America, all of which are available from WJK.

From the Back Cover

In this companion to the best-selling World Religions in America: An Introduction, renowned contributors explore the importance of religion in the lives of people, communities, and nations. Their concern is not with particular doctrines within the various religious traditions, but with how real people live these traditions today and their impact on the larger social order.

Reviews

How does religion influence life in this postmodern and pluralistic era? In every way, assert the 17 diverse essayists who examine various religious influences on political discourse, gender, media and other aspects of American life. How does, for example, the American Muslim experience of media reveal hidden biases in reporting? How does a Buddhist encounter death? How does a Christian respond to political and economic issues? Some essays, like John Updike's review of religion's influence on literature, are outstanding. Others are more academic, even pedantic. All strive to model toleration and religious pluralism?which, as editor William Scott Green writes in the final essay, are not only goals of democracy but also core values of the American experience. The collection leaves unresolved, however, the question of how religions in America, each asserting its own fundamental religious truths, can also share the values of toleration and religious pluralism.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The diversity of the scholars who contributed to this volume and of the cases they examine in their discussions of how religion makes a "difference" makes this a particularly valuable introduction to the study of religion. The essays are arranged into five parts--dealing with identity, politics, ethics, the imagination, and death; each essay is accompanied by study questions and suggestions for further reading. Material is drawn from Christianity (Evangelical, mainstream Protestant, and Roman Catholic), Judaism, Islam, neopaganism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and one Australian Aboriginal tradition. Although the authors are scholars with impeccable credentials, they do not target an audience of specialists. The result is a singularly useful response to the question, So what? which the editors identify as central to learning about any subject. The book can stand alone as an introduction to the study of religion, but it could also be profitably read with its companion volume, World Religions in America (1994). Steve Schroeder

Edition details

• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0664256880
• ISBN 13: 9780664256883
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 296
• Editor: William Scott Green, Jacob Neusner