By Trevor Ling
The spiritual traditions of Asia and Europe, the 'East' and 'West' of the name, are often considered as being in sharp distinction with one another, the single 'mystical', the opposite 'prophetic'. at any time when their religions aren't so contrasted they're often taken care of in isolation from one another: the faith of Israel, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. Dr Ling, even if, stresses that there's significant overlap and interpenetration among the 2 varieties and components, and that you will need to see the ancient inter-relation among those religions and to watch how, in the course of given sessions of historical past, there are parallel advancements or major divergences. He covers the interval 1500 B.C. to the current time, offering an overview of the improvement of Asian and ecu spiritual traditions and associations, and discussing the social and financial elements concerned with the improvement of religous traditions, even if he indicates that such components on my own don't account for the spiritual lifetime of guy. Dr Ling is going directly to interpret the modern importance of those religions and their power for the longer term lifetime of humanity. He means that the current degree of spiritual strengthen is characterized by way of open-endedness in the direction of the longer term; no longer all religions convey this personality, yet none has but exhausted the chances of improvement. This booklet is meant to be used an an creation to the research of faith. even though reference is made within the textual content to assets of extra info, the booklet can be utilized irrespective of them.
Read or Download A history of religion East and West; an introduction and interpretation PDF
Best religious history books
The be aware Islam ability Peace, yet for almost 1,400 years its adherents have waged war—frequently at the grandest and so much winning scales in background. This ebook introduces a few of Islam's maximum army figures and analyzes major occasions which are shaping the fashionable global. Nafziger and Walton aspect the wealthy and various army histories of dozens of empires, countries, tribes, clans, and peoples.
An End to Enmity: Paul and the "Wrongdoer" of Second Corinthians
An finish to Enmity casts gentle upon the shadowy determine of the perpetrator of moment Corinthians by means of exploring the social and rhetorical conventions that ruled friendship, enmity and reconciliation within the Greco-Roman international. The publication places ahead a singular speculation concerning the identification of the perpetrator and the character of his offence opposed to Paul.
New York Glory: Religions in the City
Is ny a post-secular urban? significant immigration and cultural adjustments have created an more and more complicated social panorama during which non secular existence performs a dynamic position. but the importance of religion's effect on New York's social existence has long past unacknowledged. manhattan Glory gathers jointly for the 1st time the easiest study on faith in modern manhattan urban.
- The Dead Sea scrolls : a very short introduction
- Human Sacrifice in Jewish and Christian Tradition
- Civic Christianity in Renaissance Italy: The Hospital of Treviso, 1400-1530
- Dionysos in Archaic Greece: An Understanding Through Images (Religions in the Graeco-Roman World)
- Christian martyrdom in late antiquity (300-450 AD) : history and discourse, tradition and religious identity
- Believing In The Text: Essays From The Centre For The Study Of Literature, Theology And The Arts, University Of Glasgow (Religions and Discourse)
Extra resources for A history of religion East and West; an introduction and interpretation
Sample text
5. Various other sources of archaeological evidence relating to the period of Israel's origin and development, the more important of which are: the Code of Hammurabi, the Babylonian Epics, and certain Hittite and Assyrian tablets (Winton Thomas, 1958). It will be seen that there is a considerable amount of independent historical evidence outside the Hebrew documents of the Old Testament, and it is on the basis of this kind of evidence that Old Testament scholarship now proceeds, as well as on that of the Hebrew texts.
19 Religions aspects of the Indus valley civilisation The main evidence upon which some reconstruction of religious practices may be based consists of the seals and statuettes found throughout the area. First, there are the many terracotta statuettes of a female figure evidently intended to suggest motherhood; so many of these have been found that they are generally regarded as evidence of the worship of a mother-goddess. In some cases vegetation is shown issuing from the womb of the figure, and this would seem to indicate the idea of a mother-earth goddess.
The Australoid peoples are represented by small pockets of Munda-speaking tribes. The Mediterranean element is broadly represented by the Dravidian languagegroups of South India. Mongolian stock is found largely in the north along the Himalayan foothills, but has spread into other areas as well. 31 Religious features of pre-Aryan India What we know of the religious practices of the Indus valley civilisation provides a rough, rather indistinct picture from which we may possibly infer a little about the religion of the other parts of preAryan India.