Geography Of Religion: Where God Lives, Where Pilgrims Walk - Hardcover

Susan Tyler Hitchcock; John L. Esposito

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0792273176 ISBN 13: 9780792273172

Publisher: National Geographic, 2004

Synopsis

Chronicles the great religions of human history and their rituals, practices, and beliefs, exploring the geographical regions, areas, and cultures where the various faiths grew and flourished and following their development as they spread around the world.

About this title

About the Author

Susan Tyler Hitchcock, Ph.D. is the author of seven books and is currently at work on an eighth. A longtime student of religion, her doctoral dissertation explored the life and poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley through modern theories of the psychology of religion. She lives near Charlottesville, Virginia.

John L. Esposito, is University Professor of Religion and International Affairs, and of Islamic Studies, at Georgetown University. His more than 25 books include World Religions Today, What Everyone Should Know about Islam: Questions and Answers, Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam, and The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality? He is also Editor-in-Chief of the four-volume Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World.
From the Trade Paperback edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Though replete with the gorgeous photographs for which National Geographic is known, this book boasts no more than a literal handful of maps—five, to be exact—which seems odd for a book on geography. The authors of the foreword (Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his daughter, Reverend Mpho Tutu) and of the epilogue (His Holiness the Dalai Lama) admirably echo each other in their beliefs that understanding begets tolerance, which in turn begets harmony. Disappointingly, the editors seem too unsure of their audience to foster a sustained understanding of Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Too text-heavy for the coffee table and too academic for the general reader, the dense narrative smothers the rich histories of these religions. Sidebars illustrating the particular practice of each faith provide some interesting insights, though at times these reveal more about their authors than the faith itself. A Hindu professor shares his memory of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and a Muslim-American professor laments her failure to impress upon her students the nuances of life as a woman in a Muslim country. Other sidebars—highlighting selected sacred scriptures and describing daily practice—easily compare faiths. The 200 photographs demonstrating the diversity of architecture, people and terrain, are stunning in their beauty and simplicity.
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About this edition

• Publisher: National Geographic
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0792273176
• ISBN 13: 9780792273172
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 416