Winfried Corduan - Neighboring Faiths: A Christian Introduction to World Religions

Winfried Corduan

FIGURES

1.1. Religions and their percentages

1.2. Stages in the evolution of religion

1.3. Geographical layout of two hypothetical cultures.

1.4. Decay of religions

1.5. The complexities of contextualization.

2.1. Outline of the first temple

2.2. Composition of the Talmud

2.3. A page out of the Talmud

2.4. Orthodox appearance

2.5. Tzitzit

3.1. Ismailite developments.

3.2. Six beliefs and five pillars

3.3. One rakat of prayer

4.1. Osama bin Laden

4.2. Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab

4.3. Sayyid Qutb

4.4. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia

4.5. Yasser Arafat.

5.1. Early Baha'i leadership

5.2. Nine great manifestations

5.3. Covenant breakers in Baha'ullah's family

6.1. Components of the Avesta.

6.2. Fravashi spirit

6.3. Zoroastrian time

6.4. Christian time

7.1. Person and spirits

7.2. Healer and shaman

8.1. Tlingit matrilinealism

9.1. Main Hindu Bhakti deities

9.2. Hindu temple roofs

10.1. Four noble truths

10.2. Development of Buddhism

10.3. The noble eightfold path.

10.4. The transcendental Buddhas

11.1. Jain pot.

11.2. Jainism cycle of time

12.1. Ekankar

12.2. Marks of a Singh.

13.1. Some trigrams .

13.2. Development of Daoism

14.1. Shrine complex

14.2. Shinto shrine layout

14.3 Shrine of Ise .

MAPS

2.1. Areas of Jewish flourishing

3.1. The Arabian Peninsula

3.2. Distribution of Shiite Islam

3.3. Expansion of Islam

4.1. Kuwait

5.1. Baha'i origins

6.1. Two Aryan migrations.

6.2. Areas of high Parsi concentration

7.1. Four African tribes

8.1. Regions of Native American people

9.1. Indus Valley civilization

10.1. Theravada countries

10.2. Expansion of Buddhism

11.1. Jain origins.

12.1. Sikh origins

13.1. China

14.1. Japan

TABLES

1.1. Four Variations on a Simple Story

2.1. A Rough Chronology of the Hebrew People

2.2. Estimate of Membership in the Three Branches of Judaism in the United States

2.3. Elements of a Passover Seder

3.1. Brief Overview of the Sunni Succession.

3.2. The First Twelve Imams.

3.3. The Imamite and Ismailite Versions of the First Seven Imams

3.4. The Adhan, Call to Prayer

5.1. Principles of Baha'i in Short.

6.1. Aryan Religions Prior and After Zoroaster

6.2. The Six Amesha Spentas

6.3. Periods in the History of Zoroastrianism

7.1. Variations of Marriage Patterns in Different Cultures

7.2. God in the Four Tribes

7.3. Sequence of Rites of Passage in Four African Tribes

8.1. Brief Summary of Native American Regional Traits

8.2. Tlingit Moieties and Some Representative Phratries

9.1. The Three Ways of Hinduism.

9.2. Some Vedic Deities

9.3. The Four Basic Castes

10.1. The Five, Eight and Ten Precepts

10.2. Mahayana Schools

10.3. Typical Visual Arrangements of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas

10.4. Recently Established Mahayana Buddhist Organizations in Taiwan

11.1. Jain Vows

11.2. Ages of Jainism

11.3. Twenty-Four Tirthankaras of Jainism

11.4. Relationships Among Entities in the World

12.1. Sikh Gurus and the Contemporary Mughal Emperors

12.2. Distinction Between Kabir and Nanak

12.3. Possible Sikh Antecedents

13.1. Major Dynasties of China.

13.2. Yin and Yang.

13.3. Four Chinese Schools of Thought.

13.4. The Eight Immortals

13.5. The Five Relationships

13.6. Years in the Chinese Zodiac.

14.1. Some Japanese New Religions

AN UPDATED EDITION of this book has been overdue for a long time. Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, it has been slow in coming. If there is a positive side to this delay it is this: If I had provided an update ten years ago, a new one would be needed by now as well. Religions are historically unlikely to change. However, we are seeing in our time that, as the world is changing rapidly, religions are picking up the pace of change as well, and the need for us to keep up with their developments continues to grow.

One obvious development in the world of religions is the impact of Islam on the Western world. The events of September 11, 2001, have caused us in the United States to realize how much our lives are intertwined with global developments. In reality, we have been affected by developments around our planet for a long time, but perhaps we are now more aware of this fact than ever before. Specifically there has been an increased curiosity concerning Islam. Unfortunately there has also been a simultaneous increase in the dissemination of misinformation on Islam, both positive and negative. I found that in order to do a fairly adequate job of explaining what lay behind the radical face of Islam, I needed to devote another entire

chapter to it. Thus this new edition has two chapters of Islam, one that covers the basic information on this religion, and one that is particularly devoted to recent events.

The previous edition brought three religions together under the somewhat patronizing title of "off-shoot religions." Doing so had been my decision, but it was a decision that I felt needed to be reversed. This edition has three separate chapters for Jainism, Sikhism and Baha'i. After all, each of these religions makes a special point of the fact that they are the result of unique revelations or insights.

Many of the changes in this new edition are aimed at correcting mistakes, clarifying ambiguities and adding greater precision where needed. I need to thank everyone who, over the years, has pointed out various concerns, real or perceived. I am also grateful for the questions I received from both students and instructors. It was a pleasure to answer them, and I hope that in this edition I have anticipated some of them. It has also been my privilege to share without cost some of my resources, such as my computer slide presentations, with various teachers who have used the book, and I hope to be able to continue to do so. As I've said, it is more urgent than ever that Christians today will become accurately informed on the subject of world religions.

Accuracy is a goal both for its own sake and for the sake of clarifying the distinctiveness and truth of Christianity. However, this book is not an apologetics text per se. It is a survey of world religions, undertaken from a Christian point of view, and it embeds Christian responses. Classroom teachers in world religions know how fast a semester can go by, and it is imperative that we learn the facts of other religions lest we continue building apologetics against other religions based on inaccurate depictions. The Christian who is truly committed to evangelism and apologetics will consider the time it takes to study this subject matter well spent. A Christian apologetic response may not be as glib once one knows what a religion truly teaches, but it will have the advantage of being focused on a reality rather than a straw effigy. Please allow me to mention a few of the widespread misconceptions I hope we can liberate ourselves from: