Christine Gudorf is at the forefront of rendering comparative religious beliefs meaningful for students, especially in the area of ethics. No teacher is better situated to explain the source and value of religious belief for ethical conduct and to provide insight and wisdom for the range of moral responses.

Gudorf's work focuses on common, everyday issues-including food and diet, work, sex and marriage, proper dress, anger and violence, charity, family, and infirmity and the elderly-while drawing out ethical implications of each and demonstrating how different religious traditions prescribe rules for action. An introductory chapter reviews standard ethical theory and core elements of comparative religious analysis. Each chapter opens with a riveting real-life case and shows how religious ethics can shed light on how to handle the larger issues, without determining for the reader what a proper ethical response might be.

Helpful summaries, questions, and list of readings, along with special chapter features, charts and photographs and a glossary, makes this new text most suitable for the wide array of courses in comparative religious ethics.