Faced with the difficulties of growing up and choosing a religion, a twelve-year-old girl talks over her problems with her own private God.

"When does the Jewish Sabbath begin? Who are Vishnu and Shiva? What are Buddhism's Four Noble Truths? What are the Five Pillars of Islam? These questions are more than an academic exercise. Religious belief has been innate to humans everywhere and in every age, from the time of the Neanderthals to the 21st century. It's also one of the strongest motivators of human behavior and has a profound impact on all aspects of our culture-- our spiritual beliefs,...

Professor Muesse examines the four religious giants both separately and comparatively in an effort to grasp the essential features of their lives and to explore the factors that contributed to their greatness. He discusses the similarities and differences in their messages, in the patterns of their lives, and in the ways they impacted their followers and the rest of the world.

The religious ideas and practices of African peoples have much in common with each other, and with related religions in the Caribbean and the Americas. African Islam and African Christianity have developed separately since their earliest time in Ethiopia, Egypt, and the Sudan.

Anthony Pagden presents a sweeping history of the long struggle between East and West, from the Greeks to the present day. Throughout we learn a tremendous amount about what 'East' and 'West' were and are, and how it has always been competing worldviews and psychologies, more than religion or power grabs, that have fed the mistrust and violence between East and West.