Six Ways of Being Religious
This is a very good textbook to introduce world religions to the students from a comprehensively comparative approach. The author divided the contents into three parts: Part I focuses on the theoretical framework, in which he discussed the 6 ways of being religious such as sacred rite, right action, devotion, shamanic mediation, mystical quest, and reasoned inquiry in six chapters. In Part II, the author applied the framework to two major world religious traditions, i.e., Buddhism with an Indian origin but popularly practiced in East and Southeast Asian countries; and Christianity with a Middle Eastern origin and practiced worldwide. Moreover, these two selected world religions represent polytheism and monotheism respectively. It evidently demonstrates the 6 ways of being religious can be found in either of them. Lastly, the author in Part III further applied the framework to different traditions in comparison by discussing each of 6 ways individually. The comprehensive discussion in these 7 chapters is excellent that helps students understand better the common characteristics shared by world religions. The text covers almost all the areas and ideas of the subjects appropriately and provides an effective index of subjects and names, index of religious traditions, and glossary of terms.
This textbook emphasizes on the academic study of religion. The author provided a framework and applied it to world religions. He may have his opinion on some “ways” much clearly shown in one religion than the other. Overall, it is quite objective in terms of content, diagrams and supplementary materials.
Although published 22 years ago, the theoretical framework can work in the contemporary times because its application stays true. The textbook could be easily updated considering the arrangement and organization of its contents. It would be nice if the religions of East Asia or Chinese religions, i.e., Confucianism and Daoism included in the updated edition.
It is written very clearly for professionals and students. The terms are in bold and italics that are very well defined in the text and in the glossary at the end of the textbook. The text shows scholarly integrity in its lucid and clear writing style.
The terminology used through the text in chapters demonstrates its consistency, and framework of six ways of being religious applied in the entire book consistently.
The textbook is organized by chapters that makes easy to read by sections especially in chapters 7-15. The first 6 chapters that explain the theoretical framework probably should read in its order.
It is well-structured and well-organized that is presented in a logical order and clear fashion: from theory to application.
Images/charts in this textbook greatly help readers without any distortion.
Grammatical/spelling error not found except a few minor typo mistakes.
This is a textbook discussing 6 ways of being religious. The title already says its cultural relevance; in particular, the examples used from Buddhism and Christianity further exhibits its inclusive of various race, ethnicity and background.
It is a good textbook for students who are interested in comparative study of religions at the beginning.