Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Volume 12: Suffering - Zwingli

The opening article on Suffering examines the philosophical and theological problem of pain, evil, pessimism, providence, moral discipline, and religious responses to human affliction. The section on Sufis surveys Islamic mysticism, including asceticism, divine love, spiritual discipline, symbolism, stages of the mystical path, and relationships between Sufi doctrine and orthodox Islam. Suicide receives an extensive comparative treatment, with introductory, Buddhist, Chinese, Greek and Roman, Hindu, Japanese, Jewish, Muslim, Semitic, and Egyptian perspectives, considering moral, legal, religious, psychological, and social dimensions.

Other major articles include Sumero-Akkadians, dealing with ancient Mesopotamian religion, mythology, deities, cosmology, ethics, and language; and Summum Bonum, examining philosophical theories of the highest good. A particularly extensive comparative study concerns the Sun, Moon, and Stars, treating primitive, American, Buddhist, Celtic, Chinese, Hebrew, Hindu, Iranian, Japanese, Muslim, Teutonic, and Balto-Slavic traditions. These articles explore astronomy, astrology, cosmology, celestial worship, calendars, mythology, symbolism, and religious ritual. The supplied section concludes with studies of Sunday, Sunday Schools, and Sunnites, illustrating the encyclopaedia’s broad interdisciplinary and comparative method.