"One of the best thought out and written introductions to the study of religion I have seen thus far. It
not only explains but invites discussion and comment."
--Charles H. Long, University of California, Santa Barbara
Beacon Press Web Site, Aug., 2001
Summary
This comprehensive study by a professor of religion at the University of Vermont provides a useful overview
of contemporary trends in the study of the faiths of today's world. Early chapters present the previously held
models that were used to interpret "exotic religions" to the Western world. Most often these religions
were compared unfavorably with Protestant Christianity. After the French Revolution, a rationalist approach to
"foreign" religions was popular among European intellectuals. More recently, the universalist reading
has gained a wide following. Moving beyond these models, Paden presents a synthesis of the work of the acknowledged
deans of modern comparative studies, Eliade and Van der Leeuw, that focuses on understanding religious practices
and beliefs through an analysis of structure and pattern. However, much of the book's second half reads as lists
of parallels between otherwise differing faiths.
Table of Contents
1 Religion and Comparative Perspective 1. Some Traditional Strategies of Comparison
2. Religion as a Subject Matter
3. Worlds
2. Structures and Variations in Religious Worlds
4. Myth
5. Ritual and Time
6. Gods
7. Systems of Purity
8. Comparative Perspective: Some Concluding Points
