Comparing Religions - Jeffrey J. Kripal

Aug 7, 2026

135

Comparing Religions presents a structured introduction to the comparative study of religion, tracing major historical practices and the emergence of modern approaches from biblical and Asian sources. It analyzes how myth and ritual, religion’s relationships to nature and science, and themes of sex, charisma, imagination, angels, aliens, and eschatology shape religious worldviews. The work culminates in re-readings through faith, reason, and reflexive scholarship, emphasizing justice-oriented comparison and the problem of insiders and outsiders.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryReligion & Spirituality

FormatPDF

Pages801

Reading Time33 h 39 min

AccessFree to download

Part I: Prehistory, Preparation, and Perspective

Introduction: Beginnings

1 Comparative Practices in Global History

2 Western Origins and History of the Modern Practice

3 The Skill of Reflexivity and Some Key Categories

PART II: Comparative Acts

4 The Creative Functions of Myth and Ritual

5 Religion, Nature, and Science

6 Sex and the Bodies of Religion

7 Charisma and the Social Dimensions of Religion

8 The Religious Imagination and Its Paranormal Powers

9 The Final Questions of Soul, Salvation, and the End of All Things

PART III: Putting It All Together Again

10 Faithful Re-readings

11 Rational Re-readings

12 Reflexive Re-readings

Glossary, Index, and Epilogue

Contents An Important Note to the Instructor: Or Why You Should (or Should Not) Teach This Text A Comment on the Cover Image and the Paintings Illustrations Acknowledgments PART I: Prehistory, Preparation, and Perspective Introduction: Beginnings Notes 1 Comparative Practices in Global History: If Horses Had Hands The Comparative Practices of Polytheism The Comparative Practices of Monotheism: Early Judaism The Comparative Practices of Monotheism: Early Christianity The Comparative Practices of Monotheism: Early Islam The Comparative Practices of Asia: Hinduism The Comparative Practices of Asia: Sikhism The Comparative Practices of Asia: Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism in China The Tough Questions Notes 2 Western Origins and History of the Modern Practice: From the Bible to Buddhism Deep Upstream: Mystical Humanists, Protesters, Rationalists, and Romantics Mid-Upstream: “Not as Moses Said,” or the Biblical Beginnings of Critical Theory Just Upstream: Colonialism and the Modern Births of Spirituality and Fundamentalism The Immediate Wake: Counterculture, Consciousness, Context, and Cosmopolitanism The Tough Questions Notes 3 The Skill of Reflexivity and Some Key Categories: The Terms of Our Time Travel The History of Religions Patterns of Initiation The Humanities: Consciousness Studying Consciousness Cultural Anthropology and Initiation Rites Working Definitions and Their Histories The Uncertainty Principle: The Insider–Outsider Problem (and Promise) Religious Questions as Ultimate Concerns The Tough Questions Notes PART II: Comparative Acts 4 The Creative Functions of Myth and Ritual: Performing the World Myth: Telling the Story Telling Us Ritual: Acting Out the Story Acting Us Patterns in Myth Patterns in Ritual Comparative Practice: The Awakened One and the Great Heroin Ancient India Beginning a Toolkit The Tough Questions Notes 5 Religion, Nature, and Science: The Super Natural Religion and Contemporary Science The Paradox of the Super Natural Food and Purity Codes: “You Are What You Eat” New Directions: Space Exploration, Dark Green Religion, and Popular Culture Comparative Practice: The Human Plant The Toolkit The Tough Questions Notes 6 Sex and the Bodies of Religion: Seed and Soil In the Beginning … The Social Body: Sexuality, Gender, and Sexual Orientation Sex and Transgression Super Sexualities The Sexual Ignorance of the Religions Comparative Practice: The Two Ann(e)s The Toolkit The Tough Questions Notes 7 Charisma and the Social Dimensions of Religion: Transmitting the Power Charisma and Community The Institutionalization of Charisma: Passing on the Charge Patterns of Special Institutions The Miracle and the Saint: Signs of the (Im)possible Comparative Practice: The Flying Saint and the Levitating Medium The Toolkit The Tough Questions Notes 8 The Religious Imagination and Its Paranormal Powers: Angels, Aliens, and Anomalies System and Anomaly: Paranthropology The Sixth Super Sense The Imaginal: Not Everything Imagined Is Imaginary The Comparative Practices of Popular Culture Miracles in the Making: The Fortean Lineage Fact and Fraud: On the Trick of the Truth Comparative Practice: Supernatural Assault Traditions Adding to Our Toolkit The Tough Questions Notes 9 The Final Questions of Soul, Salvation, and the End ofAll Things: The Human as Two Two Scenes The Nature of Embodied Consciousness Patterns of the Soul and Salvation in the History of Religions Soul Practices Traumatic Technologies of the Soul Comparative Eschatologies Comparative Practice: Re-Death, Near-Death, and After-Death Experiences The Toolkit The Tough Questions Notes PART III: Putting It All Together Again 10 Faithful Re-readings: Exclusivism, Inclusivism, Pluralism, and Justice The Task of Theology: Relating Reason and Rev

FAQs

How does the book frame comparative practice across religious traditions?

It organizes comparative practice around recurring themes—myth, ritual, initiation, and key historical categories—while tracing how different traditions and modern scholarly methods develop.

What relationships does the book explore between religion, nature, and science?

It examines tensions and parallels between super natural religion and contemporary science, including discussions of purity codes, space exploration, and popular culture.

What do “faithful,” “rational,” and “reflexive” re-readings mean in the concluding part?

They refer to different scholarly stances for interpreting religious worldviews: linking reason and revelation, applying suspicion-based critique, and analyzing the observer’s position through reflexive methods.

Aug 7, 2026

135

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