The Encyclopedia of Religion, Volume 4

A major concentration is placed on Confucian traditions. Extensive entries examine Confucianism in Japan and Korea, the foundations of Confucian thought, Neo-Confucianism, the state cult, and Confucius himself. These discussions address ritual, ethics, political authority, education, cosmology, self-cultivation, and the historical transformation of Confucian institutions. Christian subjects are also prominent, including Congregationalism, Creeds, Denominationalism, Eastern Christianity, and the East Syrian Church, alongside broader concepts such as confession, conscience, consecration, and conversion.

The volume ranges widely across world religions. Articles address cosmogony, comparative creation traditions, Daco-Getic religion, Indian reformer Dayananda Sarasvati, the dialogue of religions, African religious traditions, and Asian, Near Eastern, European, and Indigenous religious phenomena. Cultural and symbolic subjects—including dance, death, demons, divination, dogs, drama, dreams, dress, drugs, drums, and ecological interpretations of religion—demonstrate the encyclopedia’s interest in religion as lived and embodied practice as well as doctrine.

The concluding article, Ecology, considers relationships among religion, environment, culture, and human adaptation, including ecological anthropology and the ecology of tradition. Overall, Volume 4 offers a broad comparative account of how religious systems shape ethics, social organization, ritual practice, symbolic worlds, political structures, and understandings of humanity’s relationship with nature.