Pocket Guide to World Religions

The IVP Pocket Reference Series

by Winfried Corduan

Have you ever wondered . . .
what the red dot on an Indian woman's forehead means?
whether all Buddhist monks practice martial arts?
if the Emperor of Japan is still considered a god?
Here is a concise, informative guide for anyone looking for answers to basic questions about the world's varied religions. In short, incisive chapters, Winfried Corduan introduces readers to twelve of the world's major religions, including Baha'i, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Daoism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Parsi, Shinto and Sikhism. For each, he offers brief descriptions of its name, numbers and distribution, key symbols, history, Scriptures, major beliefs, subgroups, worship practices, home practices, clothing, diet and calendar. Also included are even briefer descriptions of sixteen new religious movements and traditional or tribal religions. This book is for students, pastors and other busy people who want the quick, bare-facts scoop on current religions.

Genres: Religion, Reference, Nonfiction, The World, Christian

144 pages, Paperback

First published February 10, 2006

Reviews

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pros: The author identified her bias in the beginning, and stated that the book was meant to be both a beginner's guide, and maintain a critical, scholarly approach- as in, not proclaiming one religion over another.

Cons: Once again, I'm finding mistakes in my religion's section, which makes me question the validity of the entire book. In the Judaism section, under worship, the author says that "the service", meaning the Saturday service, begins by "lighting the menorah" (the seven-armed candle holder). I've never seen this happen in any denomination of Judaism. Furthermore, in the clothing section, she discusses the Orthodox men's dress (tzit-tzit and kippah), but makes no mention of the women's dress (modesty, covering hair after marriage). Also, she discusses most of the major holidays, but completely ignores Shavuot- when the Jews reached Mt. Sinai and received the Torah.

An interesting study on religions, and it taught me that there is still much to learn!

[Israel Morrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obviously a pocket volume could never cover all the diversity of the world's 4,200 religions, but this volume gives pretty good summaries of the religions about which Americans tend to ask questions. I quoted Corduan's summary of Zoroastrianism in my book, Gods of the Flesh (which also describes several religions not represented in the Pocket Guide).

[Loren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I sure enjoy Corduan's style. Simple, matter of fact, and clear. His longer work "Neighboring Faiths" is great, but this is a convenient summary.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Used this for a class on World Religions. Good, concise guide with basic facts on numbers, backgrounds, symbols, etc of quite a few religions.

[Brennan]

Good place to start and to reference. The chapters on Shinto and Zoroastrianism were especially helpful.

[TJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very good short introduction to the major religions. Non-biased and helpful.

[Shari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good introduction to each of the major religions. Practical information to help us better understand and appreciate our neighbors!

[Matt Friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fairly good, fair-minded overview of the major religious faiths. A few small issues here and there, but still quite a useful little volume.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good and simple overview of world religions.

[S. Runyan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative pamphlet. Offers a very brief overview of the world's religions. It was fun to learn of religions I had never even heard of.

[Amy Sliwinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Does its job well. This is very informative for such a short book.