This wide-ranging and highly readable introduction focuses on the contemporary fascination with the big questions about God and the supernatural, setting out clearly and fairly what people believe and their reasons for believing it. All the major faiths are covered, along with new and alternative movements, neo-pagan and New Age thought, and spiritualities of human potential and self-enhancement. Offering a wealth of information on key concepts, movements, and thinkers, A Brief Guide to Beliefs will be especially helpful to students of religion or related subjects, and to all who want to know more about the most popular and influencial beliefs in the world today.
| Acknowledgments | xi | |
| Chronology of Faiths and Movements | xii | |
| Introduction | 1 | |
| 1 | Postmodernism and the Challenge to Religion | 9 |
| 2 | Philosophy and Religion: The Existence of God | 19 |
| 3 | Ethics and Religion: The Meaning of Morality | 31 |
| 4 | Science and Religion | 45 |
| 5 | The Problem of Evil and Suffering | 55 |
| 6 | Aspects of Religion | 67 |
| 6:1 | God and Religious Language | 72 |
| 6:2 | Salation | 81 |
| 6:3 | Death and the Afterlife | 89 |
| 6:4 | Moral Action | 96 |
| 6:5 | Prayer and Meditation | 104 |
| 6:6 | Gender and Religion | 113 |
| 6:7 | Mysticism | 121 |
| 6:8 | Scripture and Sacred Text | 125 |
| 7 | Twelve World Faiths | 135 |
| 7:1 | Hinduism | 135 |
| 7:2 | Buddhism | 148 |
| 7:3 | Sikhism | 162 |
| 7:4 | Judaism | 173 |
| 7:5 | Christianity | 192 |
| 7:6 | Islam | 213 |
| 7:7 | Shintoism | 230 |
| 7:8 | Taoism | 237 |
| 7:9 | Confucianism | 245 |
| 7:10 | Zoroastrianism | 252 |
| 7:11 | Jainism | 261 |
| 7:12 | Baha'i Faith | 269 |
| 8 | Some Alternative and Indigenous Religions | 277 |
| 8:1 | Elan Vital (The Divine Light Mission) | 277 |
| 8:2 | ISKCON (Hare Krishna) | 279 |
| 8:3 | Nichiren Shoshu/Soka Gakkai | 283 |
| 8:4 | Osho International (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh) | 286 |
| 8:5 | Transcendental Meditation | 289 |
| 8:6 | Rastafarianism | 291 |
| 8:7 | Native American Religion | 297 |
| 9 | Christianity: A Brief History | 305 |
| 9:1 | The Earliest Christians | 306 |
| 9:2 | The Second Century: Heresies and Martyrs | 312 |
| 9:3 | Constantine, Creeds, and Councils | 318 |
| 9:4 | The Eastern Church | 326 |
| 9:5 | The Western Church in the Dark Ages and Middle Ages | 337 |
| 9:6 | Renaissance and Reformation | 345 |
| 9:7 | The English Reformation and the Evangelical Awakening | 352 |
| 9:8 | The Rise of Puritanism and Separatism | 360 |
| 9:9 | Millennarianism | 369 |
| 9:10 | The Twentieth Century: Protestantism and the Rise of Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism | 374 |
| 9:11 | Roman Catholicism | 384 |
| 10 | Some Alternative Christian Movements | 394 |
| 10:1 | Christian Science | 395 |
| 10:2 | The Unification Church (The Moonies) | 398 |
| 10:3 | Seventh-day Adventists | 403 |
| 10:4 | David Koresh and the Branch Davidians | 407 |
| 10:5 | Armstrongism and the Worldwide Church of God | 409 |
| 10:6 | The Mormons | 416 |
| 10:7 | Christadelphianism | 420 |
| 10:8 | Spiritualism | 424 |
| 10:9 | Unitarianism | 429 |
| 10:10 | The Swedenborgian Church | 433 |
| 10:11 | Jehovah's Witnesses | 437 |
| 10:12 | The Family (The Children of God) | 440 |
| 11 | Pagan, Esoteric, and Occult Thought | 445 |
| 11:1 | The Rosicrucians | 450 |
| 11:2 | Gurdjieff and Ouspensky | 454 |
| 11:3 | Theosophy and Anthroposophy | 459 |
| 11:4 | The Raelian Religion | 466 |
| 11:5 | New Age Religion | 471 |
| 11:6 | Magick and Thelema | 477 |
| 11:7 | Wicca | 482 |
| 11:8 | Druidry | 488 |
| 11:9 | Satanism | 493 |
| 12 | Belief in Human Potential | 501 |
| 12:1 | Humanistic Psychology | 501 |
| 12:2 | Humanism | 507 |
| 12:3 | Scientology | 512 |
| Appendix | 517 | |
| Glossary | 535 | |
| Bibliography | 557 | |
| Index | 565 |
Overview
This wide-ranging and highly readable introduction focuses on the contemporary fascination with the big questions about God and the supernatural, setting out clearly and fairly what people believe and their reasons for believing it. All the major faiths are covered, along with new and alternative movements, neo-pagan and New Age thought, and spiritualities of human potential and self-enhancement. Offering a wealth of information on key concepts, movements, and thinkers, A Brief Guide to Beliefs will be especially...