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Four Testaments brings together four foundational texts from world religions--the Tao Te Ching, Dhammapada, Analects of Confucius, and Bhagavad Gita--inviting readers to experience them in full, to explore possible points of connection and divergence, and to better understand people who practice these traditions.

In this third volume of his acclaimed chronicle of faith in twentieth-century America, Martin E. Marty presents the first authoritative account of American religious culture from the entry of the United States into World War II through the Eisenhower years. Under God, Indivisible, 1941-1960 is the first book to systematically address religion and the roles it played in shaping the social and political life of mid-century America. A work of exceptional clarity and historical depth, it will interest general readers as well as historians of American and church history. "The series will become a standard account of the nation's variegated religious culture during the current century. The four volumes, the fruition of decades of research, may rank as much honored Marty's most significant contribution to U.S. studies."--Richard N. Ostling, Time "When America needs some advice or commentary on the state of modern theology, the person it turns to is Martin Marty."--Publishers Weekly

This comprehensive dictionary of the Jewish religion contains nearly 2,400 alphabetically arranged entries ranging from short definitions to lengthy essays on major topics. It is the most accessible and complete one-volume resource available for information on the concepts, beliefs, andpractices of historical and contemporary Jewish religious practice.The combined effort of Israeli, American, and European scholars, this dictionary reflects the great variety of Jewish religious expression, from the traditional approaches to such recent variations as Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist Judaism. It covers all aspects of Jewish practice,law, and theology as expressed in the Bible and the Talmud and by philosophers throughout history. The work also includes biographical sketches of important personalities associated with the development of the Jewish religion over the centuries, articles on the mystical tradition and folklore, andentries addressing the more recent religious issues posed by the existence of the State of Israel.Whether brief definitions, historical sketches, or explanatory essays, all entries in the dictionary are clearly and concisely written. All Hebrew words and phrases are defined for students and general readers. Numerous cross- references within the text are designed to lead users to entries onrelated subjects, and useful bibliographies are provided as aids to further reading and research. Offering comprehensive coverage in an easy-to-use format, The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion is the ideal introduction to the Jewish religion and an indispensable resource for students,scholars, and general readers.

In the summer of 1925, the sleepy hamlet of Dayton, Tennessee, became the unlikely setting of one of our century’s most contentious dramas: the Scopes trial and the debate over science, religion, and their place in public education. This ”trial of the century” not only cast Dayton into the national spotlight, it epitomized America’s ongoing struggle between individual liberty and majoritarian democracy.Now, with this authoritative and engaging book, Edward J. Larson examines the many facets of the Scopes trial and shows how its enduring legacy has crossed religious, cultural, educational, and political lines.The ”Monkey Trial,” as it was playfully nicknamed, was instigated by the American Civil Liberties Union to challenge a controversial Tennessee law banning the teaching of human evolution in public schools. The Tennessee statute represented the first major victory for an intense national campaign against Darwinism, launched in the 1920s by Protestant fundamentalists and led by the famed politician and orator William Jennings Bryan. At the behest of the ACLU, a teacher named John Scopes agreed to challenge the statute, and what resulted was a trial of mythic proportions. Bryan joined the prosecutors and acclaimed criminal attorney Clarence Darrow led the defense--a dramatic legal matchup that spurred enormous media attention and later inspired the classic play Inherit the Wind. The Scopes trial marked a watershed in our national discussion of science and religion. In addition to symbolizing the clash between evolutionists and creationists, the trial helped shape the development of both popular religion and constitutional law in America, serving as a precedent for more recent legal and political battles. With new archival material from both the prosecution and the defense, paired with Larson’s keen historical and legal analysis, Summer for the Gods is poised to become a new classic on a pivotal milestone in American history.

Offers more than three thousand articles on the world of religion.