Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

This New Handbook , which grew out of the Penguin Handbook of Living Religions , first published in 1984, is new in two ways. First, the various chapters have been updated in the light both of modern scholarship and of developments since the production of the first edition. Some of the chapters have been substantially revised; others have had new sections added; in the case of China the chapter has doubled in size. The chapter on North American Indians has been totally rewritten. Secondly, nine completely new chapters have been added on cross-cultural issues. It is no longer acceptable for general introductions to religions to neglect the issue of gender and that subject is now covered in chapter 17 . Contrary to the expectations of the 1970s and 1980s, and despite the evident materialism in much of the world, there is at the dawn of the third millennium a growing interest in spirituality and it was thought important that this dimension of living religion should also receive specific treatment. Chapter 18 is dedicated to it. There is also a group of seven new chapters on the subject of religion in migration, or diaspora religion. These cover black African religion in America and Britain, and include also four comparative chapters on religions from South Asia (Buddhism, Hinduism, Indian Christianity, Islam, Jainism, Parsis, Sikhism) and their settlement in Australia, Britain, ... log in or subscribe to read full text