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A New Dictionary of Religions
This dictionary is a thoroughly revised and expanded edition of the book published in 1984 as "The Penguin Dictionary of Religions". It has undergone substantial change and considerable expansion, drawing on a team of sixty contributors from all parts of the world, in place of the original twenty-nine.
760 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1984
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February 10, 2026
AN EXCELLENT (AND VERY BROAD) REFERENCE WORK, WITH 1400 TOPICS
John Russell Hinnels (1941-2018) taught Comparative Religion at the University of London, Newcastle University, Manchester University, the University of Derby, and Liverpool Hope University.
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1995 book, “[This book] has grown out of the Penguin Dictionary of Religions, first published in 1984. It has, however, undergone such substantial change and expansion that it is properly called ‘A New Dictionary.’ The original list of 29 contributors has grown to 65 (from 12 countries around the globe). Completely new sections have been added, notably on Afro-Caribbean religious movements, modern North American developments, traditional religions in Latin America and Japanese New Religious movements. An important additional theme is religions in migration (e.g., Hinduism in the Caribbean, in Africa, Britain and America; Islam in America and elsewhere, and various Sikh groups), and entries on groups found mainly in their respective diaspora such as Deobandi, Barelvi.
“Some major subjects have undergone large-scale change (especially Hinduism, Buddhism, and Eastern and early Christianity), others have been completely rewritten (Study of Religions, Jains, New Religious Movements in the West, Gnostics, Manicheans, Mandaeans). Entirely new subjects have been introduced (Ahl-i Haqq, Implicit Religion, Yezisism, Zoroastrian Pseudepigrapha). Most entries have been updated in content and bibliography in order to take account of recent advances in scholarship and modern developments within the religions (for example in the New Religious Movements). Where existing sections have been expanded the new emphasis is mostly (though not wholly) on modern developments and practices (for example, new entries have been added on Jewish and Sikh practices, Hindu festivals and rites, and religious pluralism).
“Essentially the task of a dictionary is to define terms, but sometimes it is convenient to group together explanations under an umbrella article and in some instances it was decided that the most effective ‘umbrellas’ are geographical entries (e.g., Islam in America or Africa, Christianity in Korea). This is particularly the case with the indigenous traditions in Latin America, where it was judged that the most effective way of handling such a mass of material from such a large continent was to have broad religious categories and entries on individual regions and their place within those broad categories… In the case of Christianity there has been ‘positive discrimination’ in favor of those aspects of the religion not well represented in many general publications, specifically Eastern Christianity, its spirituality and practices.
“A number of additional entries have been added to cover the terminology associated with cross-cultural issues, for example on gender, mysticism, pilgrimage, ‘near-death experiences’ and sexuality. In a number of areas (for example Hinduism) greater attention has been paid to terms concerned with religious iconography. Pieces have also been added on some of the scholarly approaches to the study of religion and their vocabulary (e.g. Psychology/Philosophy/Sociology/Phenomenology of Religion)...
“The allocation of wordage merits comment. On some subjects (notably Western Christianity) much published material is easily available and in such instances there is a greater proportion of shorter articles. Where little is known of available [topics] (as for example on the Hindu calendar) then a longer entry has been produced. The total wordage allocated to a religion is not, therefore, indicated by the number of articles on that religion, nor is the wordage necessarily indicative of the importance attached to a subject… Although the bulk of the space has been allocated to the religions which spread around the world the term ‘religion’ has been interpreted broadly to include what have been described as the ‘secular alternatives’ of Marxism and Humanism, as well as astrology. In view of the growing interest in the occult, but the lack of reliable material on it, it was thought important to allocate a reasonable amount of space to that area here.
“The team of 65 scholars come not only from different continents, from Latin America to Japan, Europe, the United States and Australia, but also from a variety of academic disciplines---as historians, orientalist, classicists, archaeologists, sociologists, anthropologists, linguists, art historians, philosophers, theologians---reflecting the many aspects of the study of religions. Care has been taken both to make use of their respective specialist interests and yet to provide a reasonably consistent approach to the individual religions… it is important for the reader to have confidence that the Dictionary reflects a well-balanced approach to the subject as a whole and also to the specific religions…
“It is often difficult to define precise boundaries around subjects, as it is around religions. This problem looms particularly large in this book in respect of the bibliography (e.g., in the distinction between the categories on ‘The Study of Religions’ and ‘Cross-cultural Studies’) and Index. The solution adopted has been to make copious use of the direction ‘see also.’ An Index may at first sight seem superfluous in a dictionary. It is, however, essential here if the reader is to be given reasonable access to the many thousands of terms explained within the 1,400 entries. In an entry of 200-300 words on one technical term, e.g., Confucius or Yoga, a number of important words will be explained. This is inevitable inasmuch as one word commonly needs explanation in terms of, or alongside, another. The ‘headword’ of an entry, therefore, often functions as an umbrella term below which a variety of terms are elucidated. This is, of course, particularly so when groups of terms are explained under general headings (e.g., in regional entries). The index provides a guide to these numerous explanations…
“Considerable thought was given to the possible inclusion of a guide to pronunciation. In view of the many variations in the pronunciation of major languages this was eventually excluded, as highly desirable but impracticable…
“As the world approaches the third millennium travel and communication are bringing its peoples closer together so that there is increasing contact between people and cultures. The growing interests in the study of religions is producing an expanding market for books on ‘other’ religions. With the growth of this literature, and the contact of people, there is a commensurate need to understand the specialized vocabulary used by those who practice the religions and by those who write about them… I hope that this New Dictionary will be found of even more use than the first.”
This Dictionary will be of great interest and use to those studying religions.
John Russell Hinnels (1941-2018) taught Comparative Religion at the University of London, Newcastle University, Manchester University, the University of Derby, and Liverpool Hope University.
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1995 book, “[This book] has grown out of the Penguin Dictionary of Religions, first published in 1984. It has, however, undergone such substantial change and expansion that it is properly called ‘A New Dictionary.’ The original list of 29 contributors has grown to 65 (from 12 countries around the globe). Completely new sections have been added, notably on Afro-Caribbean religious movements, modern North American developments, traditional religions in Latin America and Japanese New Religious movements. An important additional theme is religions in migration (e.g., Hinduism in the Caribbean, in Africa, Britain and America; Islam in America and elsewhere, and various Sikh groups), and entries on groups found mainly in their respective diaspora such as Deobandi, Barelvi.
“Some major subjects have undergone large-scale change (especially Hinduism, Buddhism, and Eastern and early Christianity), others have been completely rewritten (Study of Religions, Jains, New Religious Movements in the West, Gnostics, Manicheans, Mandaeans). Entirely new subjects have been introduced (Ahl-i Haqq, Implicit Religion, Yezisism, Zoroastrian Pseudepigrapha). Most entries have been updated in content and bibliography in order to take account of recent advances in scholarship and modern developments within the religions (for example in the New Religious Movements). Where existing sections have been expanded the new emphasis is mostly (though not wholly) on modern developments and practices (for example, new entries have been added on Jewish and Sikh practices, Hindu festivals and rites, and religious pluralism).
“Essentially the task of a dictionary is to define terms, but sometimes it is convenient to group together explanations under an umbrella article and in some instances it was decided that the most effective ‘umbrellas’ are geographical entries (e.g., Islam in America or Africa, Christianity in Korea). This is particularly the case with the indigenous traditions in Latin America, where it was judged that the most effective way of handling such a mass of material from such a large continent was to have broad religious categories and entries on individual regions and their place within those broad categories… In the case of Christianity there has been ‘positive discrimination’ in favor of those aspects of the religion not well represented in many general publications, specifically Eastern Christianity, its spirituality and practices.
“A number of additional entries have been added to cover the terminology associated with cross-cultural issues, for example on gender, mysticism, pilgrimage, ‘near-death experiences’ and sexuality. In a number of areas (for example Hinduism) greater attention has been paid to terms concerned with religious iconography. Pieces have also been added on some of the scholarly approaches to the study of religion and their vocabulary (e.g. Psychology/Philosophy/Sociology/Phenomenology of Religion)...
“The allocation of wordage merits comment. On some subjects (notably Western Christianity) much published material is easily available and in such instances there is a greater proportion of shorter articles. Where little is known of available [topics] (as for example on the Hindu calendar) then a longer entry has been produced. The total wordage allocated to a religion is not, therefore, indicated by the number of articles on that religion, nor is the wordage necessarily indicative of the importance attached to a subject… Although the bulk of the space has been allocated to the religions which spread around the world the term ‘religion’ has been interpreted broadly to include what have been described as the ‘secular alternatives’ of Marxism and Humanism, as well as astrology. In view of the growing interest in the occult, but the lack of reliable material on it, it was thought important to allocate a reasonable amount of space to that area here.
“The team of 65 scholars come not only from different continents, from Latin America to Japan, Europe, the United States and Australia, but also from a variety of academic disciplines---as historians, orientalist, classicists, archaeologists, sociologists, anthropologists, linguists, art historians, philosophers, theologians---reflecting the many aspects of the study of religions. Care has been taken both to make use of their respective specialist interests and yet to provide a reasonably consistent approach to the individual religions… it is important for the reader to have confidence that the Dictionary reflects a well-balanced approach to the subject as a whole and also to the specific religions…
“It is often difficult to define precise boundaries around subjects, as it is around religions. This problem looms particularly large in this book in respect of the bibliography (e.g., in the distinction between the categories on ‘The Study of Religions’ and ‘Cross-cultural Studies’) and Index. The solution adopted has been to make copious use of the direction ‘see also.’ An Index may at first sight seem superfluous in a dictionary. It is, however, essential here if the reader is to be given reasonable access to the many thousands of terms explained within the 1,400 entries. In an entry of 200-300 words on one technical term, e.g., Confucius or Yoga, a number of important words will be explained. This is inevitable inasmuch as one word commonly needs explanation in terms of, or alongside, another. The ‘headword’ of an entry, therefore, often functions as an umbrella term below which a variety of terms are elucidated. This is, of course, particularly so when groups of terms are explained under general headings (e.g., in regional entries). The index provides a guide to these numerous explanations…
“Considerable thought was given to the possible inclusion of a guide to pronunciation. In view of the many variations in the pronunciation of major languages this was eventually excluded, as highly desirable but impracticable…
“As the world approaches the third millennium travel and communication are bringing its peoples closer together so that there is increasing contact between people and cultures. The growing interests in the study of religions is producing an expanding market for books on ‘other’ religions. With the growth of this literature, and the contact of people, there is a commensurate need to understand the specialized vocabulary used by those who practice the religions and by those who write about them… I hope that this New Dictionary will be found of even more use than the first.”
This Dictionary will be of great interest and use to those studying religions.
Displaying 1 of 1 review