Ninian Smart believes that the modern study of religion should occur in the context of a radical reappraisal of our educational system. This is a worldview analysis of religion appropriate to today's global city. It attacks narrowness whether found in Western philosophy or Christian theology, and argues for a disestablishmentarian stance.
Religion and the Western Mind presents the explosive possibilities of religions -- of world views that have the power to shape history. It offers a theory regarding the need of nations for religious justifications. It examines three fundamental backlashes: the Moral Majority, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Gush Emunim. It looks at the contrasting Indian and Sri Lankan responses to Western influence and delineates the Indian tradition in a new way. And finally it diagnoses the future, exploring the ethical inferences of the worldview and supporting a position that runs like a thread through this book.
Ninian Smart is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has given the Gifford Lectures and is author of several books including The Long Search, The Religious Experience of Mankind, and Beyond Ideology.
