The Cambridge Illustrated History of Religions

Cambridge Illustrated Histories

by John Bowker (Editor)

The Cambridge Illustrated History of Religions is a comprehensive survey of world religions from pre-history to the present day. Each religion is treated in depth, with text written by a recognized academic expert, and supported by extensive illustrations. The religions covered include Jainism, Chinese and Japanese religions, Hindu religions, Sikhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, along with smaller sections on Zoroaster and Parsis, Greek and Rome, Egypt and Mesopotamia, aboriginal religions, Shamanism, and modern religions such as Bahai. The book includes a substantial bibliography, a full chronology for each section, a general chronology giving the most significant dates from all religions, and information on religious phenomena such as festivals and calendars. This is an authoritative reference book which will appeal equally to students of religion, teachers, and general interested readers. John Bowker is the author of The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (Oxford, 2000), The Complete Bible An Illustrated Companion (DK Publishing, 1998) and and The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (Oxford, 1997). He is Greshan Professor, Greshan College, London and Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and North Carolina State University.

Genres: Religion, History

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 28, 2002

Reviews

[Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

In a book that's more than 300 pages long, only a single page was given to Russian Orthodoxy. Zoroastrianism got a measly 4 pages. The chapters on Christianity and Islam were very disappointing and lacking.

[Kristine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read edition published in 2002.

[Julia Mae · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Christianity section by David L. Edwards devolves into meaningless rambling about his progressive ideas for Christianity, which have no basis in reality, including a belief that in the future, there will only be progressive low-church Protestantism, and a progressive Catholic Church that syncretizes the beliefs of the Orthodox and Mainline Protestant churches. Anyone with any true knowledge of Christianity, whether they are a believer or not, can recognize what an absurd statement this is to put in a book which presents itself as an “authoritative reference book”.

[Mirteli · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only read the chapters about Christianity and Islam, but they both were somewhat complicated to understand and to read, I lost my thoughts a lot of times.