Religion, Ethics, & Society: Religion & Society

As the first comprehensive work to assemble ideas, concepts, discourses, and extensive essays in this vital area, the Encyclopedia of African Religion explores such topics as deities and divinities, the nature of humanity, the end of life, the conquest of fear, and the quest for attainment of harmony with nature and other humans. Editors Molefi Kete Asante and Ama Mazama include nearly 500 entries that seek to rediscover the original beauty and majesty of African religion. Features: Offers the best representation to date of the African response to the sacred; Helps readers grasp the enormity of Africa’s contribution to religious ideas by presenting richly textured concepts of spirituality, ritual, and initiation while simultaneously advancing new theological categories, cosmological narratives, and ways to conceptualize ethical behavior; Provides readers with new metaphors, figures of speech, modes of reasoning, etymologies, analogies, and cosmogonies; Reveals the complexity, texture, and rhythms of the African religious tradition to provide scholars with a baseline for future works The Encyclopedia of African Religion is intended for undergraduate and graduate students in fields such as Religion, Africana Studies, Sociology, and Philosophy." - SAGE Publications

"The Routledge Encyclopedia of Buddhism is a complete...[up-to-date work], documenting the history, doctrines, schools, rituals, sacred places, basic ideas and concepts, and globalization of the entire Buddhist tradition. In addition, it provides bibliographic references to the leading scholarship by scholar from around the world. As such, it is an indispensable tool for students, teachers, and researchers from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds, as well as to the general reader. The Encyclopedia is characterized by its wide range of contents, primary sources, and both the depth and quality of its entries. It allows its readers to quickly access information on all topics included in the volume. It covers the study of Buddhism, Buddhist canons and literature, Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, Nikaya Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism, Vajrayana Buddhism, Buddhist meditational systems, sacred places in Buddhism, practices and rituals, biographies of famous Buddhists (including ideal types), Buddhist ethics, Buddhist art(s), engaged Buddhism, Buddhism and technology, women in Buddhism, Buddhism in India, South and Southeast Asia, Tibet, China, Korea, Japan, and Buddhism in the Western World." -Routledge

"The classic Dictionnaire Critique de Thèologie (Nouvelle Edition), is now accessible to a wide English-speaking readership in need of an authoritative, incisive, and up-to-date ecumenical reference to this enduring field of study. This monumental set covers over 500 events, doctrines, individuals, theories, and schools of thought that comprise the study of the Christian religion across all of its denominations. The 250 contributors—all carefully selected specialists at the world's leading centers for religious scholarship—analyze both the essential building blocks of theology as well as its most complex aspects and concerns, making this work an invaluable resource for laypersons as well as university-level students and scholars at the highest levels." - Routledge

"The Encyclopedia, the first of its kind, introduces Confucianism as a whole, with 1,235 entries giving full information on its history, doctrines, schools, rituals, sacred places and terminology, and on the adaptation, transformation and new thinking taking place in China and other Eastern Asian countries. An indispensable source for further study and research for students and scholars." -Routledge

"Hinduism is the world's third largest religion and still growing. It is the oldest major religion with a tradition reaching back millennia and having many notable peaks and periods of glory. It has influenced and been affected by other world religions, including Islam and Buddhism, as well as Christianity. Despite repeated attempts to contain it, it has maintained an exceptional vigor and boasts a rich spiritual culture with celebrated thinkers and teachers and an extensive literature. It relates the history of Hinduism through a chronology, an introductory essay, photos, an extensive bibliography, and over 1,000 cross referenced dictionary entries on Hindu terminology, names of major historical figures and movements, gods and goddesses, prominent temples, terms for items used in Hindu practice, major texts, philosophical concepts, and more. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Hinduism." Rowman & Littlefield

"The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies covers all the main areas currently taught and researched as part of Jewish studies in universities throughout the world, especially in Europe, the United States, and Israel. The span of the volume chronologically and geographically is thus enormous, but all international contributors have in common their expertise in the study of the history, literature, religion, and culture of the Jews. Jewish studies is a comparatively young discipline which has grown over the past fifty years in a somewhat undisciplined way. In a period of great upheaval for Jews following the Holocaust, the creation of the State of Israel, the emergence of new forms of dialogue between Jews and Christians, deepening divisions between secular and religious Jews, and unprecedented assimilation by diaspora Jews to the wider culture, the study of Jewish traditions and history has rarely been dispassionate. There have been some attempts in recent years to encapsulate current conclusions about particular aspects of Jewish studies, but these other works aim to provide compendia of agreed facts rather than a survey of interests and directions such as is found in this text. The book begins with an examination of Jewish studies as an academic discipline in its own right. The first half of the volume is organized chronologically, followed by sections on languages and literature, general aspects of religion, and other branches of Jewish studies which have each accumulated a considerable corpus of scholarship over the past half-century." - Oxford University Press

"The Routledge Encyclopedia of Taoism provides comprehensive coverage of Taoist religion, thought and history, reflecting the current state of Taoist scholarship. It contains hundreds of entries authored by an international body of experts which cover areas such as schools and traditions, texts, persons and sacred sites. Terms are given in their original characters, transliterated and translated. The encyclopedia is thoroughly cross-referenced and indexed, and also includes a chronology and bibliography. It is invaluable for students and scholars in the fields of religious studies, philosophy and religion, and Asian history and culture." -Routledge

"This important new reference covers African and African-American religion in sub-Saharan Africa, North America, South America, and the Caribbean, and provides vital insights into its growing worldwide influence in Europe, Asia and the South Pacific. Entries encompass individuals, concepts, specific religions, religious movements and churches, and include: Akan, Aladura, Azusa Street Mission, Black theology, candomble, Dominican vodun, the Harrist movement, Jamaa, Macumba, Mission des Noirs, Mt. Sinai Holy Church, Nuer, Pentecostalism, Pocomania, Santería, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Unification Church, Yoruba, and many more. Photos, illustrations, and source material round out the package." - Routledge