This multi-authored collaborative work on the idea of the human condition as a comparative category cuts across major religious traditions and cultures. Extensive essays by distinguished specialists examine Chinese religion, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Together the essays provide a multi-cultural approach to the human condition, discussing both broad sensibilities of religious traditions as well as specific texts. In addition the volume contains an introduction to a sophisticated theory of comparison for religious ideas, including explicit comparisons based on the...