When an individual or couple is considering a difficult choice such as IVF treatment or third party assisted conception, the moral and ethical basis for their decisions may often be informed by their particular faith traditions.Faith and Fertility is a comprehensive collection of essays by academics and faith leaders from around the world. The reader is introduced to the cultural and religious understanding of fertility as it is practised among diverse international faith tradition...

From the new afterword by the author:Humanity has had a long fascination with blood sacrifice. In fact, it has been by no means uncommon for a child to be born into this world only to be patiently and lovingly reared by religious maniacs, who believe that the best way to keep the sun on its course or to ensure a rich harvest is to lead him by tender hand into a field or to a mountaintop and bury, butcher, or burn him alive as offering to an invisible God. The notion that Jesus Chri...

Noted science writer Nicholas Wade offers for the first time a convincing case based on a broad range of scientific evidence for the evolutionary basis of religion.

Whether you're a student studying philosophy at any level, or simply want to gain a deeper understanding of this fascinating subject, Understand Ethics is an accessible introduction to all the key theories and thinkers. Fully updated, this latest edition includes contemporary examples and discussion of current debates including terrorism, genetics and the media, helping you to grasp how ethics applies to life today.NOT GOT MUCH TIME?One, five and ten-minute introductions to...

Shows how globalization has impacted interreligious relationships and dialogue and argues that the future of interfaith dialogue must include those marginalized voices that have not been invited to the table, especially women.

In the new edition of this widely praised text, Alan Aldridge examines the complex realities of religious belief, practice and institutions. Religion is a powerful and controversial force in the contemporary world, even in supposedly secular societies. Almost all societies seek to cultivate religions and faith communities as sources of social stability and engines of social progress. They also try to combat real and imagined abuses and excess, regulating cults that brainwash vulnerable peo...

More than almost anything else, globalization and the great world religions are shaping our lives, affecting everything from the public policies of political leaders and the economic decisions of industry bosses and employees, to university curricula, all the way to the inner longings of our hearts. Integral to both globalization and religions are compelling, overlapping, and sometimes competing visions of what it means to live well.   In this perceptive, deeply personal, and bea...

The ways in which religious communities interact with one another is an increasing focus of scholarly research and teaching. Issues of interreligious engagement, inclusive of dialogue more specifically and relations more generally, attract widespread interest and concern. In a religiously pluralist world, how different communities get along with each other is not just an academic question; it is very much a focus of socio-political and wider community attention. The study of religions and ...

This updated textbook unravels the complex issues related to methodology and theory in the study of religion. It equips students with the knowledge needed for the academic study of religion, explaining the history of the methodology, including ideas of key theorists, and discusses key issues in the field, such as gender, phenomenology, and the insider/outsider discourse.Updated throughout, additional material includes:-New chapter on colonialism and post-colonialism-N...

The decline in power, popularity and prestige of religion across the modern world is not a short-term or localized trend nor is it an accident. It is a consequence of subtle but powerful features of modernization. Renowned sociologist, Steve Bruce, elaborates the secularization paradigm and defends it against a wide variety of recent attempts at rebuttal and refutation. Using the best available statistical and qualitative evidence Bruce considers the implications for the

This book contains a description of a variety of religions, the title of the religious leader, days held sacred, beliefs related to health and illness, their customs and practices, death and dying, beliefs related to medical practices, beliefs related to reproduction, and possible implications related to health care. A book such as this is valuable given the multicultural context in which we all live and work.

Most people know something about their own religions. That knowledge is usually restricted to what is going on at the present time. When it comes to how their religions developed in their countries, their knowledge is on shakier grounds. As for religion in foreign lands, well, for many, that information is nonexistent.Author Leonard Pintos Being a Christian in Sri Lanka: Historical, Political, Social, and Religious Considerations is a critique based on the observations and...