Understanding Religion

This book seeks to further an understanding of religion from the inside, so to speak - that is, from the point of view of someone who is committed to a religion. It aims both at increasing this understanding in readers who already have it and, where it is absent, at bringing it about without presupposing any religious commitment at all. Identifying the fundamental characteristic of religion as a transcendental concern - that is, belief in divinity or in existence beyond death - the author argues that this concern, above all, makes religion unlike anything else in human life. Material for the book's themes is drawn from five great world religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism. Besides considering the transcendental concerns that make religion unique, the book discusses the varieties of religious experience and the ways in which religion deals with the existence of evil and human suffering.