Experiencing the World's Religions: Tradition, Challenge and Change

by Michael Molloy, T.L. Hilgers (Photographer)

Experiencing the World's Religions provides a clear and compelling account of religion as a diverse, lived experience by peoples around the world. Global in its coverage, the text conveys the vitality and richness of the world's religions as a living cultural wellspring that not only concerns systems of belief but how those beliefs are expressed in ceremonies, food, clothing, art, architecture, pilgrimage, scripture, and music. The text demonstrates why an understanding of the world's religions enriches our lives. In an engaging narrative emphasizing the experience of religion, the text takes students on a personal voyage through doctrines, history, the religiously inspired arts, ceremonies, and everyday expressions of belief and combines these with powerful photographs from around the globe. The text goes beyond traditional approaches to personally connect students with the vitality of the great religions and how they reach into the lives of individuals and the culture at large. This fourth edition has been thoroughly updated in both content and illustration, to address recent world events and political changes, and provide additional insight into current theory and practice.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, Textbooks, School, Philosophy, Reference, Theology

624 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

As a counterpart to his career as a writer of children's books, Michael Molloy is a regular contributor to the Guardian newspaper. He lives in London, England, with his wife, Sandy, their three daughters, Jane, Kate, and Alexandra, and their two dogs, Fred and Daisy.

Reviews

[Riku Sayuj · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive and global look at the major religions, their ideas and historical backgrounds. Except for the slightly superficial take on the eastern religions, this is an excellent book to get perspective on these religions and beliefs.

[Giuseppe Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each chapter was concise and filled with information. This book goes over all of the prominent religions throughout the ages. Beautiful book

[Sophia Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed how this was written, it felt very accessible and interactive. My mind has expanded

[m7md]

I almost never like reading books that I have to read for school; however, this one was different. I would say this book is the book to read for those who want to learn a precise and concise historical background of the world's large religions and their branches.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. Was getting tiring near the end. Detailed while juggling many religions and their subgroups. Instead of comparing the religions as the author introduces them, I wish it was an entire chapter. This might be the most detailed religious book out there.

[Jess Lynch · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually really liked this. “Experiencing” is in the title for a reason; the whole book is set up as if you are visiting different countries and encountering people of various religious backgrounds. I also really appreciated the way indigenous religions were handled; admittedly I’ve never really read anything about indigenous religions/oral traditions and I liked that they seemed to be treated with a lot of respect in this book. “New” religions were dealt in the same manner; acknowledging that a majority of them are not new but rather reemerging in countries that were colonized. Overall a really good read on the world’s religions.

[Brett Fass · Rating 3 out of 5]

College read.

[Eli · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent introduction to the world religions. I like how Malloy mixes discussions of doctrine and practice with on the ground examples.

I was not too impressed with his presentation of the teachings of Jesus. Malloy essentially teaches that Jesus's main message was to love God and to love our neighbors (the two great commandments). But these are the lessons of Moses, which Jesus was merely discussing with His contemporaries. The main message of Jesus is found in the Gospel of John: eternal life is obtained only by believing in Him.

[Lilybeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my textbook for my World Religions class (my favorite college course).
I learned so much in this class that I've never been able to part with the text.
The writing fostered an open learning environment to discuss the similarities and differences in the world's religions. There's no judgement or cynicism in the language. Just the facts.
Of course, the class wouldn't have been so educational had it not been for my awesome professor.
Great class, great book!

[Cori · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was used for my World Religions class. Though I clearly understand why, it was written in an entirely relativistic "what's true for you may not be true for me" style. Yet, despite this, it was informative, especially in displaying the role of culture on religion. I would, by far, recommend something better, like The Compact Guide to World Religions by Dean Halverson.

[Marin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as part of a world's religion class. This book was well written, and made the in's and out's of each religion easy to understand. It gave the history of each, practices, and current issues. I would use this as a reference in the future.

[Ella S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Used this book for a World Religions course. I thought it did a good job covering a large variety of the worlds religions, thought obviously not in any great depth. If you're just looking for a very general understanding of different beliefs then this isn't a bad way to go about it.

[Ashley Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far Jainism seems to be the nuttiest of religions.

[lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah, homework...usually hard to choke it down, but this one is pretty decent. It helps when you're interested in the topic. :D

[Hakija · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating stuff.

[Raghad Jafar · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for my religion class, I have learned so much about other religions from this book.
I like its neutrality, and the simplicity in the language usage

[Aimee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considering this was a text book I thoroughly enjoyed it. The views were unbiased and neutral, which is what it should be considering the number of religions that it covers.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in any easy-to-read format. Not particularly a subject of interest to me as it was for a required college course. I did like the scenarios at the beginning of the chapters, though.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great to have a a refrence for world religions. Cover the 5 major religions and quite a few of the smaller ones. The author is very good about removing his bias from the text.

[Keohokaleleonalani · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a very good book to keep and it teaches all the things that are needed.

[Emily Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's overall a good textbook but makes assumptions when it should be nonbiased. A textbook should not predict the future, nor does it have the right to.

[Jonathan]

None

[Reverie]

Required text that I had to read for school.