A Concise Introduction to World Religions/Making Sense in Religious Studies Pack

by Willard G. Oxtoby (Editor), Alan F. Segal (Editor)

Ideal for a one-semester course, this new text--based on the two-volume introduction published in 2001 and edited by Willard G. Oxtoby--covers the major world religions, addressing their significance in today's society and culture and also in historical perspective. Each chapter is written by an esteemed scholar and covers a different tradition, focusing on six areas: the origins of the movement; the crystallization of its teachings; its major divisions in regional and historical perspective; the practices of the tradition's adherents and religious specialists; its influences on society, literature, and the arts; and the modern-day intellectual, social, and technological challenges it faces.
Each chapter is structured in the same format--in order to facilitate comparative analysis--opening with a "Tradition at a Glance" feature that provides basic details about the tradition in outline form. Sidebar features include sayings of the founder or other figures, biographical sketches of major historical and modern thinkers, and illustrations of important symbolism and iconography. A glossary, tables of basic facts, maps, timelines, lists of key geographical sites, questions, and further readings are also included.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction

648 pages, Paperback

First published April 16, 2007

Reviews

[Linda Walters · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a college-level (100-level) text that is a survey of the major religions of the world. As a survey, it does not go into any great depth on any one religion and some, especially "modern" religions such as Mormonism and Baha'i only rate a few paragraphs.

While understanding that there will always be generalizations and 10,000 foot views in a survey, I still have some serious reservations about the fairly long chapter on Buddhism. This is not because there are obvious gross inaccuracies, but because of the use of certain words that have high levels of Western cultural expectations behind them. Such words as heaven, prayer, and worship. When presented to a Western audience, these words carry strong cultural expectations with them, unless ample caveats are presented to the student. This book does not do that. None of these words carry anything close to the same meaning in Buddhism that they do in Judeo-Christian-Islamic cultures. Their use in speaking of Buddhism will only leave students with the wrong impressions about Buddhist doctrine.

Further, since, as a Mahayana Buddhist practitioner, I know that the use of these words are highly misleading in this context, it makes me wonder about the other chapters on Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and even Islam.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with some of the other textbooks on my "read" shelf, there is a caveat with this one: I didn't read the whole thing, but only those chapters I was assigned. In this case, though, that means a huge chunk of the book: the chapters on indigenous religious traditions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. While those chapters vary in quality, all were at least good. The book could use a bit of copy-editing for its next edition -- hey, Oxford, check those dates for Joan of Arc's life -- it is, overall, a fine overview of the world's major religions. Unlike some other textbooks I've read -- I'm looking at you, "The Art of Being Human" -- I'll likely hold on to this one.

[Paige M Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative on the top religions of the world. From history to present this book covers it, and opens your mind to many different possibilities.....

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a text book for a summer religions course while in college.