What distinguishes humans from nonhumans? Two common answers – free will and religion – are in some ways fundamentally opposed. While free will enjoys a central place in our ideas of spontaneity, authorship, and the conscious weighing of alternatives...

This comprehensive survey of Catholic history in what became the United States spans nearly five hundred years, from the arrival of the first Spanish missionaries to the present. Distinguished historian Leslie Tentler explores lay religious practice...

The central figure of the Qur'an is not Muhammad but Allah. The Qur'an, Islam's sacred scripture, is marked above all by its call to worship Allah, and Allah alone. Yet who is the God of the Qur'an? What distinguishes the qur'anic presentation of God...

When world renowned Buddhist writer Stephen Batchelor turned sixty, he took a sabbatical from his teaching and turned his attention to solitude, a practice integral to the meditative traditions he has long studied and taught. He aimed to venture more...

"Citizenship is salvation", preached Noble Drew Ali, leader of the Moorish Science Temple of America in the early twentieth century. Ali's message was an aspirational call for black Americans to undertake a struggle for recognition from the state, on...

This magisterial work traces American Judaism from its origins in the colonial era through the present day, exploring how Judaism adapted, how American culture affected Jewish religion and culture, and how American Jews shaped their own communities a...

When Americans fight about "religion", we are also fighting about our conflicting identities, interests, and commitments. Religion-talk has been a ready vehicle for these conflicts because it is built on enduring contradictions within our core politi...

Encouraging personal engagement with Tibetan Buddhism, this dynamic book presents spectacular Himalayan art and explores the philosophical tenets encoded in its imagery. Taking as its theme the universally accessible experience of Awakening, the book...

The past couple of decades have witnessed Buddhist communities both continuing the modernization of Buddhism and questioning some of its limitations. In this fascinating portrait of a rapidly changing religious landscape, Ann Gleig illuminates the as...

Not for sale in the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic! "The Atlas of Religions in Czechia" represents the first comprehensive geographical analysis of the religious landscape of Czechia and its transformation since the fall of communism in 198...