Preface1. IntroductionGlobalization: World Religions in Everyone''s HometownWhy Study World Religions?Our TaskUnderstanding Religious Experience and Its Formative ElementsThe SacredMyth, Scripture, and BeliefsRitualCommunity and MoralityReligious Leaders/ExpertsThe Great Religious Stories of the WorldThe Myths of NatureChina and the Myths of HarmonyIndia and the Myths of LiberationThe Middle East and the Myths of HistoryReligious Diversity and Historical Change: The Structure of this BookHistorical Overview: From Premodern to PostmodernThe Modern/Postmodern Transition: Colonialism, the Socialist Challenge, and the End of ModernityPostmodern Trends in a Postcolonial WorldConclusion: We Are All Heretics in the Postmodern Situation2. Indigenous ReligionsOrigins of Homo religiosus: PrehistoryReligion''s Origins Among Hunter-GatherersFertility, Childbirth, and SurvivalReligion in Prehistory: The Secret of Early Cave RitualsIndigenous Religious Traditions: Soul Belief and AfterlifeTotemism: Australian Aboriginal ReligionShamans: "Technicians of the Sacred"Bear Sacrifice: A Widespread Arctic and Pacific Rim TraditionShamans Who "Repair the World"Indigenous Religions TodayThe Cataclysms of ColonialismShamanism in Modern Asia: Division of Labor Within the World ReligionsGlobal Neo-Shamanism: Expropriation by "White Shamans"3. Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism: South Asian ReligionsDefining Hinduism: Unity, Diversity, LocalitiesEncounter with Modernity: Hindu Challenges to India as a Secular StatePremodern Hinduism: The Formative EraThe Aryans and Religion in the Vedic EraVedic ReligionKarma, Yoga, and the Quest for LiberationYogaPremodern Hinduism: The Classical Era (180 BCE-900 CE)"Early Heterodox" Indic Religions: Jainism and BuddhismJainism: The Tradition of Spiritual ConquerorsThe Reality of Karma and CasteThe Four Stages of LifeThe Four Aims of LifeEpics and the Development of Classical HinduismMainstream Hinduism and the Rise of Devotion to the Great DeitiesPremodern Hinduism: The Postclassical Era (900 CE-1500 CE)The Formation of Major Hindu Schools of ThoughtThe Early Islamic Era: Delhi Sultanate (1192-1525)Religion in the Mughal Era (1526-1707)Hinduism and ModernityHinduism Under British ColonialismChallenges and Responses to ColonialismThe Work of Gandhi: Hindu Elements in Indian NationalismHinduism and Postmodern Trends in a Postcolonial WorldThe Persistence of Traditional Religious UnderstandingsContemporary Hindu PracticesHindu and Sikh Festival PracticePilgrimage FestivalsSikh FestivalsThe Religious Institutions of Contemporary HinduismChanges and Continuities: Examples of Postcolonial HinduismThe Connection of Religion with Philanthropy and Social ReformReligious Nationalism: Secular India and its DiscontentsA Growing Global Tradition4. Buddhism: Paths Toward NirvanaEncounter with Modernity: Socially "Engaged Buddhism"Premodern Buddhism: The Formative Era (600 BCE-100 CE)The Buddha: Context and BiographyBuddhism as the Path to NirvanaThe First Community and Its DevelopmentHow Buddhism Became a World ReligionSangha and Monastery: The Institutional Vehicles of Buddhism''s ExpansionPremodern Buddhism: The Classical Era (100-800 CE)The Pan-Asian Expansion of BuddhismThe Core DoctrinesThe Classical Ideal: Buddhist CivilizationThe Mahayana: Philosophies and East Asian Monastic SchoolsPremodern Buddhism: Buddhist Expansion (400-1500 CE)South AsiaChinaSoutheast AsiaJapanThe Himalayan RegionBuddhism and ModernityEarly Modern Buddhist Polities: Monastics, Householders, KingsBuddhist MonasticismBuddhism Under Colonialism (1500-1960)Challenges from Colonialism, Communism, and Modern Critics (1800-Present)The Buddhist Twentieth-Century Revival Gains StrengthBuddhism for Western Consumption: Meditation and AtheismEffects of Japanese Imperialism on Buddhism and on AsiaBuddhism and Postmodern Trends in a Postcolonial WorldSouth AsiaTheravada Buddhism Today in Southeast AsiaTooth Relics and Anti-Muslim Riots in MyanmarThree Contemporary Faces of Thai BuddhismEast AsiaBuddhism Today in Diaspora and in AsiaBuddhism''s Elective Affinity for ModernizationThe Sangha: Adaptive Reformism?State Buddhism and the Poison of Ethnic Passion5. East Asian Religions: Confucianism, Daoism, Shinto, BuddhismGeographical OrientationCountries: China, Koreas, JapanConnections: Chinese Core and PeripheryEncounter with Modernity: The Fall and Return of ConfucianismThe Postcolonial Challenge of ConfucianismEast Asian Religions in the Formative Era (1500 BCE-200 CE)Earliest History: Shang (1766-1122 BCE)Development of the Multiple Traditions in Post-Han China, Korea, and JapanReligion Under the Early Japanese Imperial State: Buddhism and ShintoClassical Imperial China (645-1271 CE)The Development of Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism in Korea and JapanEast Asian Religions in the Late Classical Era (1400-1800)East Asian Religions in the Early Modern EraDisruptive European IntrusionsTraumatic Transitions of the Modern EraThe Appearance of New Religious Movements and ReligionsEast Asian Religions and Postmodern Trends in a Postcolonial WorldContinuities and Transformations in the East Asian ReligionsThe Religious Institutions: Monasteries, Temples, ShrinesThe Return of Religion to China: Case StudiesJapan''s Creative Diversity: Old Traditions and NewKorea''s Strong Confucian Tradition Accommodates Diversity6. Islam in AsiaThe Dawn of Islam in AsiaWhat Is Islam, and What Does It Mean to Be a Muslim?The Children of AbrahamThe Islamic TraditionMuhammad: Prophet and StatesmanThe Message of the QuranSunni and Shiah IslamIslamic Law and MysticismThe Five Pillars of IslamJihadThe Quran and Armed StruggleThe Interior Path: Islamic MysticismThe Challenge of European ColonialismThe Islamic ResurgenceThe Road to 9/11Globalization and Hijacking of "Jihad"Contemporary Islam: Issues of Authority and Reform7. Globalization: From New to New Age ReligionsEncounter with Modernity: The Challenge of Global Diversity to the "Purity" of TraditionBew ReligionsOld Religions and New Religions in the History of ReligionsThe New Age and New Age ReligionsPostmodernism and the New AgeThe New Age--Modern or Postmodern?The Age of Apocalypse or the Age of Aquarius?Wicca and the Resurgence of Goddess WorshipJ.

Z. Knight and the Ramtha School of EnlightenmentTheosophy, Christian Science, and the Unity School of ChristianityScientologyThe Baha''i Global Religious VisionEast Goes West: Zen in AmericaWest Goes East: The Aum Shinrikyo MovementConclusion: The Postmodern Challenge-Can There Be a Global Ethic in a World of Religious Diversity?Beyond Atheism: The Challenge of Postmodern Secular Relativism"Passing Over": A Postmodern Spiritual Adventure That Responds to the Challenge of GlobalizationTolstoy, Jesus, and "Saint Buddha": An Ancient Tale with a Thousand FacesThe Children of Gandhi: An Experiment in Postmodern Global EthicsThe Future of Religion in an Age of GlobalizationGlossaryArt CreditsIndex.