“Moral Traditions is an excellent resource for introducing students to the moral teachings of the world’s great religions. Today, as our world becomes ever more globalized, we are confronted with a diversity of religious belief and practice, a reality that has profound implications for how we, as a world community, address pressing ethical challenges. Mari Rapela Heidt provides a starting point to begin addressing this reality. By offering a brief introduction to the history of various religious traditions, a description of their basic moral teachings, and applications of these teachings to present-day realities, Heidt seeks to overcome the ignorance and misunderstanding that all too often characterize religious pluralism. She demonstrates both the commonalities and the differences in the moral teachings of these faith traditions, and provides students with clear, accessible explanations of how these traditions influence the moral behavior of their followers.”

“Moral Traditions is a first-class introduction to the many and varied ethical perspectives associated with the world’’s major religions. Sensitive, pertinent, and focused, this volume offers clear and manageable descriptions of the moral dimensions of the traditions it surveys while inviting further investigation and dialogue. Mari Rapela Heidt resists the temptation to build overarching systems and allows each ethical perspective to speak on its own terms.”

“Mari Rapela Heidt has produced an invaluable introductory religious ethics text for the millennial generation of students. In language that is relevant to this newest generation of students, a generation marked by the economic and cultural effects of globalization, Rapela Heidt provides a multiple-method approach to understanding the many world religions, and “lived examples” of a contemporary ethical issue addressed by each tradition. It will be a useful tool in introducing students to the complex world of religious ethics in the contemporary era.”

“Those of us who teach in undergraduate contexts that stress the importance of understanding not just the basics of ethical reasoning, but also the various shades of meaning ethics can have in the world’s major religions, know how difficult it is to find appropriate resources. Mari Rapela Heidt does an outstanding job of introducing novice ethicists to the field of comparative religious ethics through a concise and practical overview of the moral worlds of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Daoism, Confucianism, Sikhism, Jainism, Bah’ai and Shinto. This book is sure to find its place as a text in a number of my religious ethics courses.”

“With Moral Traditions, I can maintain a consistent and well-informed outlook for students that will allow them to engage practical, ethical concerns that will resonate with their own concerns and choices in a way that abstract issues simply won’t. That is, my students are at that crucial age where they are forming their own character and moral outlook (as opposed to simply following their parents’ or their tradition’s). This book will allow them to cogitate and ruminate on how the religions we’re studying provide resources for thought and action on important and often controversial issues.”