Ethical Issues in Six Religious Traditions

The need for a parallel study of the values held by different religious communities has never been stronger, and this book draws together authors respected in six significant traditions to explore the ethical foundations for Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths. Each section introduces a different religion and sets the wider context within which specific, topical and often controversial questions can be asked. The following themes are then addressed as appropriate to the given traditions: Religious identity and authority, Personal and private, Marriage and family, Influences on and use of time, money and other personal resources, The quality and value of life, Questions of right and wrong, Equality and difference, Conflict and violence, Global issues.

The result is an informative and well-balanced examination which helps to address the issue of areas for debate between communities and any common values in society. The first edition has been a bestseller and has become the standard text for all those working in this area. This expanded edition - with two new authors - serves a growing area of interest even more fully.

A new edition of this bestseller, the only book to cover this range of ethical issues with attention both to the roundedness and individual integrity of each religious tradition and to focused issues which are of contemporary interest.

The format of the book has not changed. It provides for parallel study of the values held by different communities, exploring the ethical foundations of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Each section introduces a different religion and sets the wider context within which more specific questions can be asked. Individual topics can be accessed and understood not only within a tradition as a whole but also across traditions through careful indexing. The following topics are then addressed as appropriate to the given traditions:

Religious Identity and Authority

Personal and Private?

Marriage and Family

Influence on and Use of Time and Money

Quality and Value of Life

Questions of Right and Wrong

Equality and Difference

National Divisions, War and Peace

Global Issues

Key features

* Each section is written by a specialist in that religious tradition, who in some cases is also an 'insider' and in the other cases has worked closely and in a respected and respectful way with members of that tradition.

* Individual topics can be accessed and understood not only within a tradition as a whole but also across traditions through careful indexing

* Additions to the text include subsections on reproduction, vegetarianism, just war and terrorism; and new material on weapons of mass destruction and pre-emptive strikes and genetic modification

Journal of Buddhist Ethics - Martin Baumann

This book's comparative approach is both instructive and stimulating....[T]he presentation and explanation of ethical issues in six religious traditions [is] a fruitful and beneficial approach to provide information on topics, increasingly disputed in societal discourse. The book thus can contribute in fostering mutual understanding and an acceptance of difference, desperately needed in today's multifaith and multicultural societies.

Peggy Morgan is lecturer in Study of Religions at Mansfield College, Oxford and a member of the University of Oxford Faculty of Theology. Clive Lawton is UJIA Fellow in Jewish Education and Community Development at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Chair of the North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust and the weekly lead columnist for the London Jewish News.