Religious Worlds: The Comparative Study of Religion - Softcover

Paden, William E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0807012297 ISBN 13: 9780807012291

Publisher: Beacon Press, 1994

Synopsis

From Gods, to ritual observance to the language of myth and the distinction between the sacred and the profane, Religious Worlds explores the structures common to all spiritual traditions.

About this title

About the Author

William Paden is professor of religion at University of Vermont.

From Publishers Weekly

This comprehensive study by a professor of religion at the University of Vermont provides a useful overview of contemporary trends in the study of the faiths of today's world. Early chapters present the previously held models that were used to interpret "exotic religions" to the Western world. Most often these religions were compared unfavorably with Protestant Christianity. After the French Revolution, a rationalist approach to "foreign" religions was popular among European intellectuals. More recently, the universalist reading has gained a wide following. Moving beyond these models, Paden presents a synthesis of the work of the acknowledged deans of modern comparative studies, Eliade and Van der Leeuw, that focuses on understanding religious practices and beliefs through an analysis of structure and pattern. However, much of the book's second half reads as lists of parallels between otherwise differing faiths. An unfortunate bias is the author's tendency to lump together Judaism and Christianity under the rubric of "the phenomena of biblical religions," thus ignoring recent work in comparative studies that emphasizes the sharp distinctions between them.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0807012297
• ISBN 13: 9780807012291
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208