For one-semester, undergraduate courses in Introduction to Religion and Comparative Religion, and more advanced courses dealing with issues in the theoretical study of religion. This comprehensive introduction to the nature and variety of religious phenomena, belief, and practice (1) explores the issues in religious studies, (2) examines the universal forms of religious experience, (3) offers a cross-cultural study of a broad range of classic types of religious belief and practice in terms of the seven basic concepts of a religious world view, and (4) surveys the challenges faced by religions today.