50 Ideas You Really Need to Know
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Despite frequent prognostications regarding the 'death of God' and the triumph of secular materialism, religion remains a central component in the lives of most people around the world. There are currently thought to be 2 billion Christians, 1.2 billion Muslims, 800 million Hindus, along with some 700 million followers of other religions.
50 Religious Ideas You Really Need to Know offers a clear path through the conceptual and denominational thickets of global religion. Award-winning religious affairs correspondent Peter Stanford begins with an examination of sacred texts, the divine principle and good and evil, before moving on to a discussion of the different traditions within Christianity, Islam, Judaism and the myriad customs of the East.
Contents: The Divine Principle, Baptists, Buddha's teachings, Sacred Texts, Presbyterians, Dhama, Good and Evil, Sects and cults, Forms of Buddhism, Life and Death, Rapture, Confucianism, Golden Rule, God & Torah, Taoism, Rites and Rituals, Anti-Semitism, Shintoism, Life of Christ, Kabbalah, Missionary impulse, God and Mammon, Being Jewish, Just War, Reformation, Mohammed, Church and State, Papacy, Pillars of Islam, Spirituality, Guilt and Misogyny, Shari'ah law, Fundamentalism, Holy Spirit, Sunni & Shia, Darwinist challenge, Saints and sinners, Sufism, People and Creation, Orthodoxy, Islamism, The poor, Lutheranism, Hindu trinity, Sea of faith, Anglicanism, Sansara, Methodism, Sikhs & Jains.
The need to understand religion and the role it plays in our world has never been more pressing. The beliefs and actions of the planet's 2 billion Christians, 1.2 billion Muslims, 800 million Hindus and 700 million followers of other religions has an impact on every aspect of war and peace, ethics, politics, reproduction, family and social structure across every civilization and continent.
50 Religion Ideas You Really Need to Know aims to lift the clouds of confusion surrounding religion and to address its key issues. What is the 'Golden Rule' and how does it unite religious people? How did the divisions arise between Catholics and Protestants and what do they mean for us today? What are the differences between Anglicanism, Methodism, Baptism and Presbyterianism? What separates Sunni Muslims from Shi'a Muslims? What does it mean to be Jewish?
Award-winning writer Peter Stanford answers these and a myriad other questions in 50 Religion Ideas You Really Need to Know. Both readable and informative, it will appeal to anyone who wants to understand one of the most powerful and enduring forces shaping our world.