Why religions matter /
Bowker, John, 1935-,
Why religions matter / [print] John Bowker. - New York : Cambridge University Press, (c)2015. - viii, 352 pages ; 23 cm
Includes bibliographies and index.
Introduction -- The paradox of religions -- Religions and sciences : I. Myth and meaning : "the warfare between science and religion" -- Religions and sciences : II. Dogmatism and doubt -- Religions and sciences : III. The selfless gene : genetic determinism and human freedom -- Religions and sciences : IV. Causes and constraints -- Understanding religions : I. Issues of translation and interpretation -- Understanding religions : II. Being religiously human : the internalisation of constraint in ethics and art -- Understanding religions : III. Ritual and the human imagination of death -- Understanding religions : IV. Religions and imagination : communities of shared exploration and discovery.
What are religions? Why is it important to understand them? One answer is that religions and religious believers are extremely bad news: they are deeply involved in conflicts around the globe; they harm people of whom they disapprove, and they often seem irrational. Another answer claims that they are in fact exteremly good news: religious beliefs and practices are universal and so fundamental in human nature that they have led us to great discoveries in our explorations of the cosmos and of who we are. The sciences began as part of that religious exploration. --
9781107085114 9781107448346
2014032790
GBB4D3422 bnb
016954596 Uk
Religion--Philosophy.
Religions.
BL51.B786.W497 2015
Why religions matter / [print] John Bowker. - New York : Cambridge University Press, (c)2015. - viii, 352 pages ; 23 cm
Includes bibliographies and index.
Introduction -- The paradox of religions -- Religions and sciences : I. Myth and meaning : "the warfare between science and religion" -- Religions and sciences : II. Dogmatism and doubt -- Religions and sciences : III. The selfless gene : genetic determinism and human freedom -- Religions and sciences : IV. Causes and constraints -- Understanding religions : I. Issues of translation and interpretation -- Understanding religions : II. Being religiously human : the internalisation of constraint in ethics and art -- Understanding religions : III. Ritual and the human imagination of death -- Understanding religions : IV. Religions and imagination : communities of shared exploration and discovery.
What are religions? Why is it important to understand them? One answer is that religions and religious believers are extremely bad news: they are deeply involved in conflicts around the globe; they harm people of whom they disapprove, and they often seem irrational. Another answer claims that they are in fact exteremly good news: religious beliefs and practices are universal and so fundamental in human nature that they have led us to great discoveries in our explorations of the cosmos and of who we are. The sciences began as part of that religious exploration. --
9781107085114 9781107448346
2014032790
GBB4D3422 bnb
016954596 Uk
Religion--Philosophy.
Religions.
BL51.B786.W497 2015