Faith, Religion & Theology: A Contemporary Introduction

Frustrated by a dearth of up-to-date, meaningful texts for their undergraduate introductory courses, three Xavier University theology professors have created their own resource book. The result offers students and serious adults an overarching perspective on faith, religion, and theology. A distinctive feature of the book is the use of real-life student stories and their responses to religious questions. The "What Is Faith?" section focuses on the nature of Christian faith. It includes a general delineation of human development theories and the growth of faith, and concludes with a cogent analysis of the link between faith and social justice. In the "What Is Religion?" unit, the authors present an enlightening dialogue between Jesus Christ and Buddha, as well as instructive definitions of religion. The final section, "What Is Theology?," serves as a trenchant introduction to the bewildering array of theologies-fundamental, systematic, historical, biblical, practical-and provides fine treatments of religious myth, religious feminism, liberation theology, and contemporary concerns such as poverty, ecological destruction, and the threat of nuclear war.