Spanning the gamut from "Aaron" to "Zwingli," this dictionary includes nearly 3,000 entries written by about sixty authors, all of whom are specialists in their various theological and religious disciplines. The editors have designed the dictionary especially to aid the introductory-level student with instant access to definitions of terms likely to be encountered in, but not to substitute for, classroom presentations or reading assignments. - Publisher.

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"A wider range than usual of Sanskrit texts: not only interesting Vedic, epic, and mythological texts but also a good sampling of ritual and ethical texts. . . . There are also extracts from texts usually neglected, such as medical treatises, works on practical politics, and guides to love and marriage. . . . Readings from the vernacular Hindi, Bengali, and Tamil traditions [serve to] enrich the collection and demonstrate how Hinduism flourished not just in Sanskrit but also in its many mother tongues."—Francis X. Clooney, Journal of Asian Studies

This is the full edition of the early Upanisads, the central scriptures of Hinduism. Featuring Patrick Olivelle's acclaimed new English translation (Oxford, 1996), it also includes the complete Sanskrit text, as well as variant readings, scholarly emendations, and explanations of Olivelle's choices of particular readings. The volume also contains a concordance of the two recensions of the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad, and an extensive bibliography.

One question that has been bothering mankind since time immemorial is, what happens to us, where do we go once our body is dissolved. Various theories have been proposed by systems after systems, the dualists speak of threefold eschatology, where when a man dies he goes to heaven or goes to the sphere of the wicked persons to roam as ghosts and demons or falls back to earth only to be reborn as animals, here the non-dualists or Advaitists ask, how can one come and go, and to what place, especially when one is infinite? The very question of birth and death concerning this soul turns out to be nonsensical, as the soul or the self of the man is omnipresent and everywhere and the talks of birth and death, of havens and higher, havens, are a childish dream and vanishes the moment one realizes the truth.

An Introduction to Religious and Theological Studies walks students through topical issues to be encountered in the study of the Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as these religions encounter other religions in the context of the wider ecumenism. The text is written from a Christian point of view and aims at helping students understand that to be Christian is to be ecumenical. African Traditional Religions (ATRs) has been included in this survey to provide background for the religious traditions and cultures of peoples of Africa as Christianity moves inexorably southward. The book has been written with undergraduate general education students in mind—including meeting the needs of those in seminaries and theological institutes.