Gods in the Global Village: The World's Religions in Sociological Perspective (Sociology for a New Century Series)

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 352 pages
• Published by: Pine Forge Press
• Edition: 2nd Edition July 6, 2006
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1412927153
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1412927154
• Book Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Weighs: 1.1 pounds

Product Description


In an era plagued by religious conflict, the Second Edition of Gods in the Global Village directly responds to issues of social problems prevalent in the world today. Using an engaging, though-provoking style, author Lester R. Kurtz focuses on the relationship among the major faith traditions that inform the thinking and ethical standards of most people in the emerging global social order.

Key Features:

• Explores religious life in today’s world: This book introduces students to the basics of each of the major world religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and considers the various global interconnections among beliefs and believers, as well as among those who oppose them. The author offers a comparative study of the world’s religions, including personal reflection upon the time he spent living in India and China that further shaped his own beliefs.
• Challenges students to overcome biases: This book assumes that all knowledge is shaped by the social context of the knower; therefore, both religious traditions and our studies of them are shaped by the context in which we construct them. The question that faces us as a human community is not "Which religious tradition is true?" but "How can we enable the various religious and secular traditions to coexist peacefully?"
• Reexamines conventional understandings about the role of religion: The sociology of religion provides invaluable insight into the most pressing social problems. This book does not suggest sociologists should lead the way in solving these problems, rather it encourages them to assess the role of religion in the global community and become involved in the lively debates about the future of humanity.

Intended Audience:
This book is designed for undergraduate and graduate students studying the Sociology of Religion. Due to the high level of interest in religion and religious conflict, it is also an great textbook for a variety of courses such as Introductory Sociology, Social Movements, and Social Problems.A current user of Gods in The Global Village said, "the bottom line is this is a terrific book, the best I’ve found for this course in twenty years of teaching. It reflects solid scholarship, but is written in an accessible style, and addresses what I believe are the most important issues in our world today. It offers what I want my students to learn! I look forward to the revised edition, which I will certainly use in my class."

About The Author
Lester R. Kurtz is professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin where he teaches comparative sociology of religion, peace and conflict, and both western and nonwestern social theory. He was previously director of Religious Studies at Texas and holds a Master’s in Religion from Yale Divinity School and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Chicago. He is the editor of a 3-volume Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace and Conflict (Academic/Elsevier), co-editor of Nonviolent Social Movements (Blackwell’s), and The Web of Violence (U. of Illinois Press). He is the author of numerous books and articles on religion and peace, including The Nuclear Cage (Prentice-Hall) and The Politics of Heresy (U. of California Press), which received the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion’s Distinguished Book Award. He is currently working on books on Gandhi’s Paradox and Gods and Bombs, as well as a documentary film, “Peaceful Warriors: The History of Nonviolence,” with James Otis. Dr. Kurtz is the past chair of the Peace and Justice Studies Association as well as the Peace, War, and Social Conflict Section of the American Sociological Association, which awarded him its Robin Williams Distinguished Career Award in 2005. He has lectured in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America and taught at the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Delhi University in India, and Tunghai University in Taiwan.

Reader Reviews
This review is from: Gods in the Global Village: The World's Religions in Sociological Perspective (Sociology for a New Century Series) (Paperback) Exceptional. Unlike most Sociology of Religion texts, this one is not stuck in the mechanics and jargon of the author's pet method for analyzing, nor does it assault one with crude reductionisms. One learns a great deal about the various religions, whose major themes are compared utilizing ample sociological acumen. Thus the book is informative enough for the student of sociology and is readable enough for the non-sociologist. Kurtz discusses the challenges encountered by the world's religions and the responses they make to pluralism, modernism, and social conflict. I especially appreciated the discussion of religion's response to violence and the rise of feminism, both not inconsiderable issues in today's world, but seldom treated in previous texts. I would have liked to have seen something about Sikhism, the dissemination of Native American tradition, and more about newer religions. Any reader may have his or her own favorite. If all were included the book would be a library and probably not yet available. We can only hope for further work on religion from this author. Useful for the students of religion as well as of sociology and likely to provide fertile discussion. This is the kind of book I longed to read for years. This is a book I will assign.