This book combines study of the dynamic historical development of each religious tradition with a comparative thematic structure. In this way, the book helps readers to explore each of the major religions as a unique and integral system of meaning and life. At the same time, readers are encouraged to discover and explore the nature of religious experience by comparing basic themes and issues common to all religions. Covering the religions arising from India, China, Japan, and the Mediterranean world, this book introduces the key dimensions of religious experience, outlining the basic human concerns that give rise to religious experience, such as origin and identity, ultimate reality, human nature, and the good life. For anyone interested in exploring the origins and development of the diverse religions of the world.
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For people who are just beginning their study of the world's religions, the sheer immensity of the data—names, vocabulary, historical developments, teachings and practices—can be very daunting. Yet it is important that this encounter result not in perplexity and a sense of being overwhelmed, but in an awakening of interest and a desire to continue to explore and understand.
With such readers in mind, the basic approach in this volume is focused on the goal of understanding. And understanding begins with a sense of what a particular religion means for the people who practice it and live by it. It is important to realize that each religious tradition is a living and growing organism stretched out over time, and thus we pay attention to historical and cultural developments. But we also attempt to go beyond historical information and let readers find themselves in the place of the people who live by each religion—viewing the world through their sacred stories, their worldview, their rituals, and their notion of the good life.
The procedure used in this volume, then, combines the necessary discussion of historical matters with a thematic approach based on general issues that arise out of human experience—questions about personal identity, human existence and wholeness, and the right way to live. Since the reader can identify with such issues from personal experience, windows are opened toward an understanding of the meaning and guidance people find in their particular religious traditions. Further, this combination of historical and thematic approaches facilitates comparison among the religious traditions, highlighting the main motifs and concerns of that general dimension of human life we call religious experience.
Since this is a basic introduction for people who are beginning their exploration of the world's religious paths, the major focus is not on academic questions and theories about religion, nor on technical information about all the movements and historical developments that make up each religious tradition. Such theories and developments are important, of course, and this volume attempts to make readers aware of them in a beginning way. It is important that readers get the sense that each religious tradition is a highly complex living organism, with various movements arising at different points in history. Yet it is helpful for the beginning student of the world's religions to recognize first of all the general mainstream of each religious tradition in constructing an overall picture of the religious world of humankind. The excitement and challenge of this venture will carry over, it is hoped, into a continuing engagement with understanding the complex religious traditions of the world and with the various issues raised in the academic study of these traditions.
This third edition of The Sacred Paths has been revised throughout to bring material up to date and to provide the reader with greater clarity in the discussions of complex historical and theoretical materials. The general structure of the book has been retained, focused on major groupings or families of religions. But the structure now more clearly follows a geographical taxonomy, with the major sections devoted to religions arising in India, religions of China and Japan, and religions arising in the Mediterranean world. Within these geographical groupings, family resemblances between the religious traditions can be elaborated and discussed. This structure makes it possible, for example, to study the families of Abraham—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—in the context of the ancient traditions of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Greece. To fill out this context, a new chapter on the important Zoroastrian tradition has been added.
This edition retains and enhances the characteristic emphases from the previous editions. It is particularly important that readers have some encounter with the sacred texts and scriptures of each particular religious tradition—yet the comprehension and appreciation of such sacred texts is notoriously difficult for an outsider. This volume incorporates extensive quotations from the sacred texts of each tradition, providing interpretation so the reader can see the significance of these texts and comprehend what they mean for people of that religious tradition. It will be helpful, of course, if this volume is supplemented with an additional collection of sacred texts, when that is feasible.
The inclusion of material on artistic expression in the different religious traditions helps the reader see that each religion or culture has its own unique aesthetic sense. Thus it is important, for understanding each tradition, to pay attention to the special artistic expressions growing out of that religious experience. Also, this volume gives particular attention to the role of women in each tradition. Greater awareness of women's experiences and leadership roles has made possible many new understandings and insights in all the religious traditions. Further, an important development in the modern western world is the rise of new religious movements, and a special chapter is devoted to understanding some of these alternative movements.
Among the study features in this volume, the discussion questions for each chapter have been revised and expanded. These questions are designed to promote review of the material as well as further reflection on the character of each religious tradition. Other study features include maps, timelines, and a glossary of key terms. The suggestions for further reading for each religious tradition have incorporated many important books that have been published in the last few years.
Many have helped along the way in the development of this book and toward the completion of this third edition. And so I thank all those students and colleagues who have made so many helpful suggestions concerning ways in which this text can become a more helpful means for understanding the religious paths of the world.
Thank you to the reviewers of this edition: K.R. Sundararajan, Saint Bonaventure University; Charles Orzech, University of North Carolina, Greenville; and Bruce M. Sullivan, Northern Arizona University. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Resource,
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This review is from: Sacred Paths, The: Understanding the Religions of the World (Hardcover)
I bought this book in 1991 (it has been re-published since then, apparently) as the textbook for a world religions course. It is still on my shelves while others have come and gone. By constraining itself to only the major religions, it gives each religion a full treatment explaining the significance of the principal characters in the context of history and its indigenous culture as well as the dogma itself. This is an excellent book if you are looking for a "survey" of the most widely practiced religious beliefs.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Religion From All Six Dimensions,
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This review is from: The Sacred Paths: Understanding the Religions of the World (3rd Edition) (Hardcover)
I teach comparative religion at a college level and I have found this book to be one of the best I have ever found. Ludwig gives the reader a comprehensive view of the major religions of the world from a spiritual as well as academic perspective. As far as I can see the book is organized around the six dimensions developed by Ninian Smart. Each religion can be analized from the experiential, the mythical, the ritual, the doctrinal, the ethical and the social dimensions, although Ludwig uses some other terms. This is a great resource to get more than a superficial understanding of the worlds sacred paths.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Community College textbook,
This review is from: The Sacred Paths: Understanding the Religions of the World (4th Edition) (Hardcover)
I've taught as an adjunct at the community college level in Kentucky for 11 years now. I've graduated from Volume 2 to 3 and for the last five years to vol 4. I highly recommend this textbook as well as any future editions
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