Patterns of Religion

Eight scholars speak with one voice in this engaging yet comprehensive presentation of the seven main traditions in world religion. Organized in ten chapters, this text is an ideal choice for courses in length from one quarter to one semester. Each chapter follows this organization: history, beliefs, practices, contemporary perspectives, and source readings. Supporting end-of -chapter material helps to frame the material and encourage further inquiry. Expertly written and constructed, this text offers unparalleled flexibility for instructors.

Roger Schmidt was most recently chair of the Department of Religious Studies at Hsi Lai University (Rosemead, Ca.), a university grounded in Buddhist traditions and values. He is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Claremont Graduate School. He taught philosophy and religion for thirty years at San Bernardino Valley College and Crafton College, retiring as a professor emeritus in 1993. A prolific scholar and researcher, he continues to explore religious traditions in Asia and beyond.

In addition to academic studies, Gene Sager brings to this text the experience of living as a scholar and translator in Japan. He has translated articles by Kyoto University's Keiji Nishitani and authored numerous articles on environmental issues and Asian religion. He received the faculty award for teaching excellence at Palomar College (May, 2001).

Gerald Carney is the Elliott Professor of Religion at Hampden-Sydney College. He received his Ph.D. in the history of religions from Fordham University, and has published widely on Vaishnava devotional traditions, religious aesthetics, interreligious dialogue, and on Baba Premananda Bharati, an early Bengali Vaishnava missionary to the West.

A. Charles Muller is a professor in the Faculty of Humanities at Toyo Gakuen University in Chiba, Japan. His primary field of study is Korean Buddhism, having received his Ph.D. from the Program in Korean Studies at SUNY Stony Brook. He is presently engaged in a number of other Buddhist translation projects, as well as in compiling web resources for teaching and research, most of which are housed at his web site, Resources for East Asian Language and Thought (www.acmuller.net).

Kenneth J. Zanca is professor of Religious Studies at Marymount College, Palos Verdes, California, He received his Ph.D. from Fordham University, where he studied systematic theology with a concentration in Christian Ethics. He has published widely, including a text book for Contemporary Moral Issues classes entitled How to Arrive at a Considered Opinion. His research passion is American Catholic History, and he has published extensively in this field to leading journals and magazines. In 2008, his most recent book was published, The Catholics and Mrs. Mary Surratt: How They Responded to the Trial and Execution of the Lincoln Conspirator.