World Religions: A Guide to the Essentials - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1565633172 ISBN 13: 9781565633179

Publisher: Hendrickson Pub, 2006

Synopsis

A masterful survey for college and university courses, this wide-ranging introduction presents a clear and condensed portrait of the history, beliefs, and practices of specific eastern and western religions. Rich with definitions, it includes a helpful CD with a wealth of images and study aids.

• Provides a straightforward presentation of the history, beliefs, and practices of the major religious traditions

• Conveys the scope and importance of religion in the human experience

• Sidebars offer short, fast-grasp summaries of the major aspects of each religion

• Explains a vast number of terms throughout the text

• CD-ROM includes a full complement of supporting study aids including links, images, quizzes, and more

About this title

About the Author

TOM ROBINSON, PhD, specializes in Judaism and Christianity in the Greco-Roman era. He is a professor in the Religious Studies department at the University of Lethbridge where he teaches courses in the history of Christianity and koine Greek. His books include Early Christian Reader and The Bauer Thesis Examined: The Geography of Heresy in the Early Christian Church.

HILLARY RODRIGUES, PhD, specializes in Hinduism. He is a professor in the Religious Studies department at the University of Lethbridge where he teaches courses in various Eastern Religions and in aspects of Asian philosophy and literature. He is the author of several scholarly articles and books including Ritual Worship of the Great Goddess and Insight and Religious Mind.

Reviews

As introductions to world religions go, this is an economical text, both short and affordable. Each chapter provides information about the history, beliefs and practices of the major world religions, making chapters easy to navigate and providing comparative information. The emphasis on practices—prayers, observances, rituals—effectively underscores the fact that these are living religions with millions of believers. That said, this is fairly bare bones as a reference work. Sidebars on perhaps three-quarters of the pages provide visual relief and definitions of terms. But the ordering of these information boxes within chapters is arbitrary, thereby depriving this book of an alphabetical, easy-to-use glossary, which is an essential reference function. Curious, too, especially for a concise text, is a decision to repeat some material about Buddhism, which has its own chapter, in separate chapters devoted to Japanese and Chinese religions. An introductory essay provides a fairly dry justification for the study of religion. This will be more valuable as a reference work for seasoned students than for the general reader interested in world religions, who would have preferred the 500 illustrations to be in the text rather than on the accompanying CD. (Jan.)
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Edition details

• Publisher: Hendrickson Pub
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1565633172
• ISBN 13: 9781565633179
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 339
• Editor: Robinson Thomas A., Rodrigues Hillary