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Overview

Refined by over forty years of dialogue and correspondence with religious experts and practitioners around the world, Noss's A History of the World's Religions is widely regarded as the hallmark of scholarship, fairness, and accuracy in its field. It is also the most thorough yet manageable history of world religion available in a single volume, treating many subjects largely neglected in other texts. The book's depth, breadth, and, organization free instructors from having to "cover" everything in lectures, enabling them to select specific assignments and use class time for questions, discussion, and their own favorite materials.

NEW TO THE ELEVENTH EDITION!

  • Updated coverage on Islam—In central Africa, Iran, Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Southeast Asia.
  • New material on quasi-religious movements—Includes the Wahhabi-derived agencies of terrorism in the Islamic world; the Falun Gong in China; and "spirituality" on the American scene.
  • Enhanced interior design, including new categories of illustrations and generous, color-highlighted primary source materials throughout—integrates a wealth of original short passages quoted from sacred texts and accompanied by explanatory comments.

STANDARD CONTENT AND PEDAGOGIC FEATURES OF A HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS

  • Comprehensive, in-depth coverage in concise presentation, offering the most detailed treatment of world religions available in a single-volume text.
  • Demonstrates historical influences of religions on social, political, and ethical arenas.
  • Updates material on the contemporary relevance of worldreligions.
  • Attention to differing varieties of Islamic fundamentalism.
  • Appropriate attention to female divinities and the role of women.
  • Includes complete chapter on Zoroastrianism, often absent in other texts.
  • Detailed table of contents and extensive subheads.
  • In-text highlighted terms which are keyed to chapter-end glossaries.
  • Brief boxed quotations.
  • Special color inserts to highlight key quotations.
  • Comprehensive index and current list of further readings.

FROM THE PREFACE:

"My elder brother, John B. Noss, spent ten years preparing the first edition of this book (published in 1949). His preface to the first edition spoke of two special needs to be met: to include descriptive and interpretative details from the original source materials, and to bridge the interval between the founding of religions and their present state ....The study of world religions needs to encompass the immediate and the existential as well as the rational; the empathic as well as the analytical. Serving as the editor of John's book has been, on the one hand, a challenge to emend each inaccuracy and enhance each strength, but also a profound experience of what it is like to look out on the world through the eyes of a wise person."

— DAVID S. NOSS

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Editorial Reviews

Booknews
A textbook for introductory college courses in the history of religions, published since 1949 as Man's religions. Surveys the origins, development, and divisions of the major religions of India, the Orient, and the Middle East. Each chapter includes a glossary, most with pronunciation indicated. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780023884801
  • Publisher: Prentice Hall Professional Technical Reference
  • Publication date: 1/28/1990
  • Edition description: 8th ed
  • Edition number: 8
  • Pages: 978

Table of Contents

I. SOME PRIMAL AND BYGONE RELIGIONS.

1. Religion in Prehistoric and Primal Cultures.
2. Bygone Religions That Have Left Their Mark on the West.

II. THE RELIGIONS OF SOUTH ASIA.

3. Early Hinduism: The Passage from Ritual Sacrifice to Mystical Union.
4. Later Hinduism: Religion as the Determinant of Social Behavior.
5. Jainism: A Study in Asceticism.
6. Buddhism in Its First Phase: Moderation in World Renunciation.
7. The Religious Development of Buddhism: Diversity in Paths to Nirvana.
8. Sikhism: A Study in Syncretism.

III. THE RELIGIONS OF EAST ASIA.

9. Native Chinese Religion and Daoism.
10. Confucius and Confucianism: A Study in Optimistic Humanism.
11. Shinto: The Native Contribution to Japanese Religion.

IV. THE RELIGIONS OF THE MIDDLE EAST.

12. Zoroastrianism: A Religion Based on Ethical Dualism.
13. Judaism in Its Early Phases: From Hebrew Origins to the Exile.
14. The Religious Development of Judaism.
15. Christianity in Its Opening Phase: The Words and Work of Jesus in Apostolic Perspective.
16. The Religious Development of Christianity.
17. Islam: The Religion of Submission to God: Beginnings.
18. The Shi'ah Alternative and Regional Developments.
References for Quotations.
Suggestions for Further Reading.
Index.
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Preface

Just as the Nazi Holocaust incinerated naive assumptions about human nature and historical progress, so the flaming collapse of the World Trade Center in 2001 shattered assumptions about status quo, religion, and peace.

Those of us who inquire into the history of the world's religions soon become aware that from the perspective of some of the religions the study of history is bound to be fruitless. Religions are about "what matters most" and to some that means transcending the temporal and in effect abandoning the search for meaning in the historical scene. Picking up a book like this may signify a desire to confirm that view, but it is more likely to signify a kind of bias, an underlying hope that the transcendent/immanent may indeed manifest itself in historical events—that the study of any religion should include its historical influence in social/political arenas as, for example, ethical policy in regard to the earth's resources and the degree to which all of humankind is in its purview. Given our biases, our best course is to try to present the views of others fairly. Will knowledgeable believers find our characterizations accurate?

My elder brother, John B. Noss, spent ten years preparing the first (1949) edition of this book. At that time he found that most publications in the field tended to focus on the biographies of the founders and then jumped to comparing and evaluating the religions' contemporary practices. His preface to the first edition spoke of two special needs to be met: the first was to include "descriptive and interpretative details from the original source materials" and second "to bridge the interval between the founding of religionsand their present state" (italics mine).

Those who have used successive editions will recognize an increasing attentiveness to those needs. Primary source materials are not spliced in as undigested chunks but carefully embedded in interpretative commentary. Now color-highlighted, and sometimes further emphasized in color-framed quotations, the sources gain even more of the prominence they deserve. Illustrations have come to play a larger part: in addition to classic art and architecture, there are now depictions of ceremonial realia and explanations of ritual practices. Extended teaching captions go beyond the perfunctory identifications of the subjects.

Resisting trends toward the abbreviating and "dumbing down" of college textbooks to accommodate diminished reading skills, this edition maintains a standard of thoroughness. Instead of abridgement, it offers enhancements: highlighted terms keyed to chapter-end glossaries, reinforcement of key ideas in color-framed quotations, line drawings to relieve solid columns of text, and the inclusion of some novels and light reading suggestions in the bibliography.

Many teachers find a kind of liberation in putting a thorough text in the hands of students. This ensures a ready and reliable reference, relieves the pressure on the instructor to "cover" everything in lectures, and frees up the class time for questions and discussions on topics of immediate interest.

The author is grateful for editorial assistance and expertise in ancient intellectual history generously contributed by David J. Noss of Washington, D.C. Special thanks are also due to Ross Miller, Carla Worrier, and Louise Rothman of Prentice Hall and to Lee Shenkman and Janet Stone of Victory Productions.

David S. Noss

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