A Sourcebook for Earth's Community of Religions - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0963789716 ISBN 13: 9780963789716

Publisher: Source Book Project, 1995

Synopsis

Here's the perfect whole earth catalog of major religious and spiritual traditions. Supporting the essays on 18 traditions are articles on ecological, social, and political issues. The also includes sacred texts, public declarations, prayers, hundreds of resource listings, and much more. Both a reference tool and an inspiring resource for understanding a new global ethic.

About this title

From the Publisher

This monumental reference book is a working tool for religious practitioners scientists poets activists philosophers educators and political leaders.

Couldn't make it to last summer's Parliament? Here's the next best thing.

From Booklist

The second World Parliament of Religions, held in Chicago in 1993, 100 years after the historic first parliament, provides the impetus for this volume. Indeed, the first edition was published by the Council for a Parliament of World's Religions on the eve of that meeting. This book is a collection of documents that illustrate the interests of the parliament. It has actual accounts of the parliament and the documents it produced, some of which were in draft form in the earlier edition.

The opening section contains descriptions of the various religious traditions of the world. The scope is broad, extending beyond the traditional religions to include African and Native American religions, wicca, and anthroposophy; even the nonreligion of humanism is included, as well as the controversial Unification Church. The documents in this section not only outline the beliefs of these various groups, but, in many cases, address how each tradition approaches the concerns of ecumenism, the environment, and economic and social justice that were the focus of the parliament. The second section contains documents on interfaith cooperation, notably "Towards a Global Ethic," authored by Hans Kung and adopted by the parliament. The next section examines various social and environmental problems, with responses by various faiths and by the interfaith community; the fourth section, "Choosing Our Future," looks at such groups as women, children, and dispossessed peoples, and at ways the religious community can help solve the world's problems. The final section, new to this edition, is an annotated resource guide, listing organizations, books, videotapes, and Internet resources.

This is by its nature an eclectic group of documents. Many come out of other organizations with interests similar to the World Parliament, such as the Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace. Prayers and meditations are interspersed with more discursive materials. There is a great deal of value here for patrons seeking information or source material for interfaith cooperation, or for liberal religious perspectives on global problems. Certain material may strike some as overly trendy, such as the "Twelve Steps of Ecological Spirituality." But there is enough significant material that most libraries will want this on their shelves; most will place it in the circulating collection, despite the inclusion of a detailed index in this edition.

Edition details

• Publisher: Source Book Project
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0963789716
• ISBN 13: 9780963789716
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 376
• Editor: Beversluis Joel D.