Research Paper on:
William E. Paden's Religious Worlds

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
perspectives. When people discuss or think of other religions they are often subconsciously comparing the religion to their own, or to another religion. And, with each religions contact with another  comes more religious perspectives, all of which clearly relate to a comparative stance. It has, perhaps, more often than not been the case that our inability to objectively examine  religions has caused problems. One author notes some of this in the following, which illustrates how we are closely linked and never seem to know it "Clearly, the diversity of  religions in the world has been a fact throughout the entire history of all the worlds major living religious traditions. Nevertheless, this diversity has been made the basis for contention  rather than community in many cases, and the monotheistic religions have often been among the worst offenders on this score" (Gross, 2002; gross.htm). In William E. Padens book "Religious Worlds"  we are presented with numerous elements contained in religions. And, in presenting us with these religious elements he is also presenting us with comparative perspectives. In the following paper we  examine Padens book, as well as the opinions of others, as it relates to comparative perspectives in religious thought and examination. Comparative Perspectives In first examining the work  of Paden as it addresses comparative perspectives, we look at the notions of Jaffee (2002) who specializes in comparative perspectives in religion. He states, "My way of teaching about religion  within the conventional boundaries of Judaism, Christianity and Islam is to focus attention on the complex means by which cultures transmit their fundamental pictures of reality--what William E. Paden has  called their religious worlds. How, I routinely ask, do Judaic, Christian or Islamic cultures create people who are either capable of drawing nourishment from specific conceptions of the world or