How the World Works: Religion: The rich history of the world's major faiths

by John Hawkins

'The material creation is only one quarter of the entire cosmos. The eternal spiritual sky is much larger, making up the remaining three-quarters.' Rig Veda, Chapter 10, Hymn 190

For thousands of years, religion has dominated the political, economic, and sociological history of mankind - and continues to do so today. This book looks at the fascinating stories of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism, and examines the way in which they express themselves in the modern world.

Topics

• The Crusades
• The Palestinian/Israeli conflict
• The Reformation in Europe
• The Holocaust
• The Shi'a and Sunni divide
• The life of Buddha
• The Hare Krishna movement
• Guru Nanak and the spiritual teaching of Sikhism

Beautifully illustrated throughout

Genres: Religion

208 pages, Paperback

Published February 15, 2019

About the author

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Reviews

[James Corson · Rating 2 out of 5]

World religions are a frequent trivia topic, and while I did learn about the major world religions at one point in time, it's been long enough that I need a refresher. So I picked up this book while browsing my local library.

This book gives a decent introduction to Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. It reads like a textbook, so it's pretty dry. It also focuses more on how religions spread over time than on the religious beliefs, so there are endless mentions of the various caliphs, gurus, monks, scholars, etc., as well as the various conquerors who either promoted or suppressed these religions. It's extremely high-level, but that's to be expected from a pretty short book.

Overall, this book was okay. It helped refresh my memory, and as far as I could tell, it was pretty accurate (if oversimplified), but it wasn't very interesting. I am sure there are better books out there that give an overview of the major world religions.

[Tracy Packard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I selected this book to obtain background on all the most prevalent religions in order to understand people’s beliefs, and how they have evolved over time. My family is not religious, but we do understand that it is an important part of our history. It is my goal to make sure that our 12-year old daughter has the most accurate information regarding religion in order to provide her with the tools to determine if she would want to partake in religious beliefs or not, and to be able to choose what she would want to believe. This book provides a strong historical account of how the different religions have come into being, how they have evolved over time, what made them important to some people, and the consequences that have stemmed from the intolerance of others’ beliefs. This was what I was hoping to get out of the book and it gave me the background I was searching for to give to my daughter. I am going to encourage her to read this book and then to discuss what was read so she will have the information to decide the path, whether it be a religious one or not, she wishes to take in life.

[LaSheba Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great! An introduction to six world religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. Each chapter gives a general overview of the selected religion, that includes its history, beliefs, customs, and contemporary issues. The book has a timeline, index, photos, and reference maps.


🌷Book Quotes:

"They [Sephardic Jews] spoke their own language, called Ladino, which included Spanish and Hebrew words."

"Protestants believe that they should communicate directly with God and Jesus rather than pray to Mary and the saints."

"Gandhi renamed the untouchables Harijans, "the children of God."

"A key Buddhist teaching states that nothing stays the same forever; everything is always changing."

"Sikhs believe that all human beings are equal...This is because they believe that all people are equally loved by God."

"Muhammad also gave rights to women, such as allowing them to inherit property."

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent taster of the six major world religions. Reading more like a history book then theology it is a good primer before diving deeper into a chosen religion. Readers should be careful, however, that this book's greatest strength is also it's weakness. Summarizing one religion in a single book would be a difficult task, summarizing six is nearly impossible. So while it is informative, the reality is that simplification can lead to inaccuracies.

[Mamabear · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t actually finish reading this. While it was an interesting book on religious history, it read easy, I was looking for something more along the lines of explaining the religions. Their dogma and beliefs. My bad, I should have read the book jacket more closely. Still, anyone interested in the historical approach will find this book informative.

[Megan Grant · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good primer but a bit dry at times! Worth the read, though.

[Ardee · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.20/5
Jan. 9, 2025

[Merve · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice timeline. explains the main ideas of each religion simply. good to start history of religions

[Deborah-Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick and easily accessible field guide to the major world religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. Obviously a book like this does not have time to get into all the comprehensive ins-and-outs of each major world religion, but it did provide a useful overview looking at the history, geography, customs and cultures of the different people groups as well as the different branches within the major world religions. In particular, I enjoyed looking at all the pictures and maps which helped add a visual appeal.

[Brynn B · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd suggest this if you are just beginning to get into learning about different religions that this book handles (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism) this is a good place to begin. Learning the basic history of each of the major religions helps quite a bit, and at least in my case helped me understand the shifts throughout time a bit within the religions.