Towards a World Theology

by Wilfred Cantwell Smith

Book by Smith, Wilfred Cantwell

206 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Wilfred Cantwell Smith (July 21, 1916 – February 7, 2000) was a Canadian professor of comparative religion who from 1964–1973 was director of Harvard's Center for the Study of World Religions. The Harvard Gazette characterized him as one of the field's most influential figures of the past century. In his 1962 work The Meaning and End of Religion he notably and controversially questioned the validity of the concept of religion.

Reviews

[Ting]

"For the historian, unity is not at all to suggest that A equals B, or even resembles it. Rather, it is to affirm that they are historically interconnected... It is, rather, to discern that the evident variety of their religious life is real, yet is contained within an historical continuum... that one can be understood only in terms of a context of which the other forms a part."