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| Preface | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Globalization: World Religions in Everyone's Hometown | |
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| Why Study World Religions? | |
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| Our Task | |
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| Understanding Religious Experience and Its Formative Elements | |
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| The Great Religious Stories of the World | |
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| Historical Overview: From Premodern to Postmodern | |
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| The Modern/Postmodern Transition: Colonialism, the Socialist Challenge, and the End of Modernity | |
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| Postmodern Trends in a Postcolonial World | |
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| Conclusion: We Are All Heretics in the Postmodern Situating | |
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| Discussion Questions | |
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| Key Terms | |
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| Notes | |
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| Indigenous Religions | |
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| Overview | |
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| Origins of Homo religiosus: Prehistory | |
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| Religion's Origins Among Hunter-Gatherers | |
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| Indigenous Religious Traditions: Soul Belief and Afterlife | |
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| Shamans: "Technicians of the Sacred" | |
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| Indigenous Religions Today | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| Discussion Questions | |
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| Key Terms | |
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| Suggested Readings | |
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| Notes | |
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| Additional Resources | |
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| Hinduism and Other South Asian Religions: Myriad Paths to Liberation | |
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| Overview | |
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| Defining Hinduism: Unity, Diversity, Localities | |
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| Encounter with Modernity: Hindu Challenges to India as a Secular State | |
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| Premodern Hinduism: The Formative Era | |
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| Premodern Hinduism: The Classical Era (180 bce-900 CE) | |
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| Premodern Hinduism: The Postclassical Era (900 ce-1500 CE) | |
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| Hinduism and Modernity | |
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| Hinduism and Postmodern Trends in a PostcolonialWorld | |
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| Hindu Festival Practice | |
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| The Religious Institutions of Contemporary Hinduism | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| Discussion Questions | |
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| Key Terms | |
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| Suggested Readings | |
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| Notes | |
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| Additional Resources | |
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| Buddhism: Paths Toward Nirvana | |
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| Overview | |
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| Encounter with Modernity: Socially "Engaged Buddhism" | |
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| Premodern Buddhism: The Formative Era (600 bce-100 CE) | |
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| Premodern Buddhism: The Classical Era (100-800 CE) | |
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| Premodern Buddhism: Buddhist Expansion (400-1500 CE) | |
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| Buddhism and Modernity | |
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| Buddhism and Postmodern Trends in a Postcolonial World | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| Discussion Questions | |
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| Key Terms | |
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| Suggested Readings | |
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| Notes | |
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| Additional Resources | |
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| East Asian Religions: Traditions of Human Cultivation and Natural Harmony | |
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| Overview | |
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| Geographical Orientation | |
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| Encounter with Modernity: The Fall and Return of Confucianism | |
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| East Asian Religions in the Formative Era (1500 bce-200 CE) | |
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| East Asian Religions in the Early Modern Era | |
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| East Asian Religions and Postmodern Trends in a Postcolonial World | |
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| Conclusion: Have We Entered a Third Confucian Age? | |
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| Discussion Questions | |
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| Key Terms | |
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| Suggested Readings | |
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| Notes | |
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| Additional Resources | |
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| Islam in Asia | |
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| Overview | |
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| The Dawn of Islam in Asia | |
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| The Islamic Tradition | |
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| Jihad | |
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| The Challenge of European Colonialism | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| Discussion Questions | |
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| Key Terms | |
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| Suggested Readings | |
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| Notes | |
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| Additional Resources | |
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| Globalization: From New to New Age Religions | |
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| Overview | |
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| Encounter with Modernity: The Challenge of Global Diversity to the "Purity" of Tradition | |
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| New Religions | |
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| New Age Religions | |
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| Conclusion: The Postmodern Challenge-Can There Be a Global Ethic in a World of Religious Diversity? | |
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| Discussion Questions | |
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| Suggested Readings | |
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| Notes | |
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| Additional Resources | |
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| Glossary G-1 | |
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| Art Credits A-1 | |
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| Index I-1 | |