Comparative Religious Ethics

"It is indeed a very rare thing to have the opportunity and privilege to work with a book that engages, challenges and provokes the student to wrestle with the fundamental ethical questions of our time. Comparative Religious Ethics is such a book. Intellectually rigorous, profoundly insightful and beautifully written, it is an invaluable resource for the instructor and student alike." Louise M. Doire, College of Charleston "Comparative Religious Ethics invites the reader to comprehend the ethical teachings of the world's religions by means of narratives drawn from those traditions and from human historical experience. The stories range from Gilgamesh to Gandhi and from Hiroshima to globalization. Beneath the engaging narratives lies an approach rich in theoretical insights from the study of comparative religion and ethical theory." Ronald M. Green, Dartmouth College The new edition of this popular textbook has been thoroughly revised and updated to reflect recent global developments. The book retains the unique and compelling narrative-style approach that has proved so successful with students; reflecting the ways in which ancient stories from diverse religions, such as the Bhagavad Gita and the lives of Jesus and Buddha, have been used by twentieth-century social activists, such as Gandhi, M. L. King, Jr., and Thich Nhat Hanh, to project an ethical framework and provide ethical orientation in the modern world. New to this edition are discussions of globalization and its influence on cross-cultural and comparative ethics, ecological dimensions to ethics, and Gandhian traditions of non-violence and global ethics in an age of terrorism. The book considers Augustine's Confessions in relation to the stories of Gilgamesh and the Buddha as quest narratives. It also considers Chinese Daoist influences on Thich Nhat Hanh's Zen Buddhism. Greater in-depth discussions are included on Asian religions, the role of virtue in quest narratives, and the religious and philosophical approach to ethics in the West. Exploring a broad range of important and complex moral issues in a clear and absorbing style, this is a truly reader- friendly and comparative introduction to religious ethics.