Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices (The Library of Religious Beliefs and Practices)

by Julius Lipner (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1998

  $3.28

  'Hinduism' is a vastly complex phenomenon, a world religion with a history of over 3000 years. It has produced men and women who have made outstanding contributions across the range of civilised human behaviour, and played a crucial part in the rise of two other great religions - Buddhism and Sikhism. Julius Lipner was born and raised in India and is able to draw on his own experience of Hindu beliefs and practices to explain what it means to be Hindu in a changing world. Hindus examines the religion as a plural phenomenon - that is, as a family of religions, rather than a monolithic entity. The approach is thematic, and the author considers various topics - such as the status of women - in more than one place and from more than one angle. He also tells and sometimes analyses Hindu stories, stressing the narrative quality of Hindu religion and giving us an insight into the nature of the Hindu phenomenon itself. Hindus provides a new perspective on what it means to live as a Hindu and enables readers to appreciate this great and marvellous religious phenomenon, its extraordinary richness, and the way it encompasses human experience from the sublime to the ridiculous.

• New

  Paperback
  2009

  $41.47

  Julius Lipner's Hindus is widely recognised as essential reading for everyone wishing to understand one of the world's great religious traditions. Hinduism comprises the religion and culture of the great majority of the people of India, a country tipped to become a world superpower politically, economically and culturally in the course of the present century. The vast array of diverse beliefs and practices usually described as 'Hindu' has been notoriously difficult to corral under a single regulating theme. Julius Lipner provides not only a wide-ranging introduction to Hindu religious and cultural diversity but also suggests a way to characterize Hinduism as a distinct tradition that has survived and adapted to changing circumstances from ancient times to the present day. Lipner is a recognised authority on Hinduism's polycentric emphasis, and his book is based on a lifetime of research and personal experience of his subject. In this thoroughly revised and substantially enlarged second edition, students of Hinduism will find more coverage of the debate about Hindu origins, the nature and practice of Hindu worship, the role of women, the scope of dharma and morality, Hindu philosophical thought and the use of reason, and the way caste functions.

• New

  Hardcover
  2009

  $142.85

  Offers us a study of religious Hinduism. This title explains the evolution and multidimensional nature of the religion. It provides coverage of popular Hinduism, the polycentric emphasis of Hinduism, and the place and role of women. It presents a discussion of caste, and includes a section on pilgrimage.