The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Religion and Social Justice - (Wiley Blackwell Companions to Religion) by Michael D Palmer & Stanley M Burgess

Book Synopsis

The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Religion and Social Justice brings together a team of distinguished scholars to provide a comprehensive and comparative account of social justice in the major religious traditions.

• The first publication to offer a comparative study of social justice for each of the major world religions, exploring viewpoints within Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism
• Offers a unique and enlightening volume for those studying religion and social justice - a crucially important subject within the history of religion, and a significant area of academic study in the field
• Brings together the beliefs of individual traditions in a comprehensive, explanatory, and informative style
• All essays are newly-commissioned and written by eminent scholars in the field
• Benefits from a distinctive four-part organization, with sections on major religions; religious movements and themes; indigenous people; and issues of social justice, from colonialism to civil rights, and AIDS through to environmental concerns

From the Back Cover

"[The Companion's] global range, intellectual ecumenism, and attention to diverse historical contexts provide a rich resource for exploring how religious beliefs and practices engage issues of colonialism, gender justice, political struggle, healthcare, race, and the environment, among other topics ... Bringing together theoretical discussions with case studies, it opens up new pathways for exploring how global and local religions interrogate matters of historical injustice, identity, and the moral quality of public life. I recommend it enthusiastically."
--Richard B. Miller, Indiana University

The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Religion and Social Justice offers a wide-ranging account and exploration of the crucial topics at the intersection of religion and social justice. Virtually all major religions, faith traditions, and sacred belief systems have found ways to express "social justice." This is the first time a comparative study has brought all these elements together across all the major world religions.

Newly commissioned essays by distinguished authors explain exactly what individual traditions believe in relation to social justice; what the main issues are and how the major faiths differ in their approaches; which social justice movements exist and what they do; who are the key thinkers and activists in each religion; and which are the key texts within religions. The result is a unique and richly informative volume, shedding new light on individual religions as well as providing a comparative history and survey of world religions.

Review Quotes

"The articles work together to form a comprehensive wholeand also to provide an encyclopedic handbook on the topic. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates andabove; general readers." (Choice, 1 December2012)

About the Author

MICHAEL D. PALMER is a professor of philosophy at Regent University. In addition to numerous scholarly articles, book chapters, and reviews, he has published four books, including a two-volume work The Holy Spirit and Social Justice, Interdisciplinary Global Perspectives (2019), coedited with Antipas Harris. Palmer has extensive experience teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in moral theory, social ethics, applied ethics, and philosophy of religion. He has also conducted professional workshops and seminars for educators on topics relating to religion and ethics.

STANLEY M. BURGESS is Professor Emeritus, Missouri State University. In addition to over 150 scholarly articles, he has published numerous books, including the International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements (2002), the Encyclopedia of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity (2004), and Christian Peoples of the Spirit: a Documentary Collection (2011).