World Religions: A Guide to the Essentials

by Thomas A. Robinson, Hillary P. Rodrigues

This masterful survey of world religions presents a clear and concise portrait of the history, beliefs, and practices of Eastern and Western religions. The new edition contains added material and has been revised throughout. The authors, both respected scholars of world religions, have over fifty years of teaching experience combined. Their book is accessibly written for introductory classes, can be easily adapted for one- or two-semester courses, and presents a neutral approach for broad classroom use. Pedagogical aids include further reading suggestions, photographs, sidebars, and pronunciation guides. Useful resources for professors are available upon request, including over 250 PowerPoint/Keynote slides and a multiple-choice question database with over 800 questions.

Genres: Theology, Religion

368 pages, Paperback

First published November 18, 2014

About the author

Thomas A. Robinson (PhD, McMaster University) is professor of religious studies and chair of the department at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada.

Reviews

[Douglas Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

World Religions is a helpful guide to the major world religions - both Western and Eastern. The authors cover Ancient Religions, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hunduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Chinese Religions, Japanese Religions and some other smaller religious groups such as Falun Gong. Each religion is given a brief history, a quick briefing on the main facts, key people, major writings, major groupings, beliefs etc. I found the book to be irenic in tone and useful, although adherents of any of the particular religions discussed may take issue with some of the specifics or at least wish for more careful nuance. This caveat can be expected from any "outsider looking in" perspective.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd give this a 3.5. It's a good intro but very, very broad. Also I found the sections on women sometimes odd, because at times they focused just on the religious ideal of female treatment rather than realities (or sometimes saying "This is not necessarily reflected in reality" and nothing further). Also, having a section just on women implies that they are omitted from the rest of the chapter in a sense. I appreciate what they were going for, nonetheless.
My favorite chapter was probably either Buddhism or Sikhism. The Sikhism chapter interested me because it really felt like it was presenting the "ideal" Sikhism I mentioned earlier, but I also feel I got a lot out of it through its exploration on the synthesis of Islam and Hinduism.
The weakest chapter, in my opinion, was the one on ancient religions because it was rushed, lacking detail, and seemed to homogenize the many ancient traditions of the world. For example, there was a section on Mesopotamian deities that included Tiamat and Marduk, but they were in the same section with other ones with little information to distinguish that these two were from Enuma Elish and not some generalized pantheon. I don't claim to know much about ancient religions, but I found that this chapter muddied the waters rather than offered clarity, though it tried to contextualize religions like Judaism (mainly).
I would read this for the chapters dedicated to one tradition at a time, such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. The ones that attempt to push a number of traditions into one chapter suffer for it. But overall, a decent introduction to this concept we call "world religion".

[Kaela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book truly gives the essentials of many religions. I always wanted to take a World Religions class in college, but it never worked with my schedule, so this book felt perfect to get some basics down without ever having to be tested.

I would recommend World Religions if you want the essentials and more for various denominations and a great look into the history of where they began and how they developed.

[Julie Dawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

World Religions: A Guide to the Essentials by Thomas A. Robinson and Hillary P. Rodrigues is a well-organized, easily accessible journey through the histories and beliefs of the world’s major beliefs both past and present. The inclusion of a discussion on ancient religions provides a welcome context in which to view the more contemporary religious practices of our time. Throughout most of the ancient world, religions were inclusive. That is, instead of the practitioners of various faiths considering their beliefs the One True Way, practitioners took a more holistic view. While we tend, for example, to consider the Egyptian pantheon all one religion, the religious beliefs of ancient Egypt were actually multiple different sects that co-existed and often cooperated for the greater good.

Another difference between ancient religions and contemporary ones is the idea that the world was created by one set of gods, but ruled over by another. In some cases, this was a matter of the younger gods overthrowing the older ones. In others, it was a matter of the older gods simply being disinterested in their creation and leaving it to others to run. This differs from most of the world’s contemporary religions, which tend to believe that their god or gods both created the world and rule it.

This discussion provides an interesting juxtaposition when we move into the more contemporary religions, particularly the Western Religions of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The authors do a good job of presenting each religion in a neutral manner, focusing on the history behind the various faiths without offering any judgment. In this regard, the book is a useful tool for those who sincerely want to learn more about other religious beliefs without all of the modern baggage imposed by so many biased media sources.

The inclusion of the major Eastern religions makes this book even more valuable. So often in the West, we tend to marginalize Eastern religions when we discuss religion in general. But millions of people follow these belief systems, and the authors again do a great job of explaining the fundamental belief systems and histories of these religions in a way that is both neutral and accessible.

Reviewer Note: I was given a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

[Raj Agrawal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thorough survey of world religions, their history and practices, and cultural challenges. Very good resource for students of religion.