The Complete Idiot's Guide to World Religions

by Brandon Toropov, Father Luke Buckles

More than at any other time in history, readers are educating themselves on the world's major religions and what each believes. Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and Islam often seem at odds with each other, and as readers struggle to understand, "The Complete Idiot's Guide[registered] to World Religions, Third Edition", provides expanded and updated coverage to answer their questions. Expert comparative religion authors Toropov and Buckles provide the perfect companion for answering today's questions about both major and lesser-known religions and beliefs. Along with parts on each of the major five religions - describing history, rituals, celebrations, holy documents, deities, and structure - there is coverage of Asian paths of belief, non-scriptural religions, ancient creeds, and earth-based religions still practiced in Asia, Africa, South America, and island nations, as well as Europe and North America. New coverage includes a discussion of 'hot button' issues such as abortion, gay marriage, sexual issues, violence, women, children, family, and ethics, and what the major religions have to say about each; and, the views of religious extremism across all religions along with an extensive comparative discussion of God (in various forms) and war, information on how each major religion views the afterlife, an expanded sections on Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism plus new coverage of mystic religions such as Santa Rita.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, Reference, Spirituality, College, Read For College, Philosophy

312 pages, Paperback

First published August 14, 1997

Reviews

[heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just the right amount of information to satisfy a curious layperson on comparative religion.

My only comment would be to add more insights on “non mainstream” religions such as Sikhism, taoism, etc.

[Karen]

I have completed the first three chapters and the part on Christianity. The authors do a fantastic job of summarizing the key points of the religions addressed. They constantly compare and contrast the principles and beliefs of the various groups within Christianity, highlighting the common threads and the major differences. I am eager to read the other parts of the book.

[Jennifer Mangler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book would serve as a good introduction to the major world religions.

[Robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a lot of religions in the world, and this book mostly covers the biggest ones. To it's credit, however, it does so in a surprisingly comprehensive way including; the basic beliefs, the holidays, and a bit of history. Like all of the Idiot's guides, this is too general for you to consider yourself any kind of expert in any of these religions after reading it, but you will definitely have some clue of the basics. I really liked the way the author approaches what can be such a touchy subject for many with care, for the most part. And this is my one problem with the book. Some of the newer belief systems are given a bit of a brush off, especially new age ideas. I would probably like this book better if it changed it's title to "The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Major World Religions" as there are plenty of niche faiths that go completely without a mention. While I understand that this is an idiot's guide, and therefore not meant to be extensive, I still think a few omissions were fairly glaring. While this was a good starter for anyone interested in the comparative study in religion, I think it would have benefited from more general information about more subjects.

[Emil Avedisian · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book gives short introductions to the world's major (and some few minor) worldviews that contain some sort of belief in the supernatural (if we want a short definition for 'religion'). These introductions are basic, so they fit the purpose of the book (guiding 'idiots').
Being familiar with Judaism, Christianity and Islam, I learnt very few new things about these major monotheistic religion.
The chapters about Hinduism were very shallow and felt repetitive.
The chapters about Buddhism and Eastern Asian religions were the most useful for me, maybe because I fall in the idiot's category when it comes to these belief systems.
However, there are some aspects in he book that I did not like:
1. From the beginning, they had a ready conclusion, that all world religions have 'life-affirming similarities' (p.8). For example, when discussing Confucianism and Taoism, they kept saying that those schools are complementary (pp. 169, 176) without showing any examples of how to complement each other in real life. On the contrary, we read that 'Confucian emphasis on social hierarchy and scrupulously correct etiquette within that framework is LARGELY REJECTED by Taoism' (p. 170, emphasis mine), and 'In this way it [Taoism] stands as a polar OPPOSITE to Confucianism' (p.175, emphasis mine).
2. The authors are trying to be politically correct. So Hinduism is not 'idoalatry' (p. 132), natural religions are not 'irrational' (p.204) and the Transcendental Meditation teachers taking fees is not an evidence for greed (p. 218). No evidence is given to support this latter claim.
3. While defending some religions as I described in the previous point, they casted every doubt on the existance and teachings of Jesus Christ! But did not give any skeptical remarks on any other founder.
4. And you see some contradictions on the same page! On page 232, They quote the Bhagavad Gita saying: "Give up all Dharmas (righteous and unrighteous action)' then say 'the religions of the world place a special emphasis on vigilance and wakefulness, reminding believers that even momentary inattention or disconnection from righteous action and observance can have disasterous consequences.'
5. Finally, I wished the book quoted more scriptures and primary sources to make its claims clearer and stronger.
But the book represnt a trend in our postmodern world to ditch differences and emphasis similarities, which is good as a beginning, but we humans need to learn how to live together even when we disagree. We have brains and need to distinguish between the right and wrong, the good and bad.

[Valerie Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learned a lot and appreciated that we are (mostly) more similar than different.

I think the book, though, focuses on the traditional / official view of each religion and less on how it is practiced every day by modern globe-dwellers.

[Rachel Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good overview of the major religions! I enjoyed it and felt encouraged to research further on specific ones if I wanted.

[Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fits the Bill Perfectly

Some people have criticized this book for not having enough detail. Well, this book is just intended to be an introduction to a number of the world's great religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism and Shinto.

The descriptions are short (20-40 pages) and full of enough detail to give the reader a useful outline of the religion's teachings. For more detail on a particular religion, I would recommend the 'Complete Idiot's Guide to Islam (or Buddhism, or Judaism, etc.)

I was searching for a textbook to use for my school's new 9 weeks-long program on world religions. This book fits the bill perfectly - there is enough here to get us off to a very good start towards discussing any of these religions.

Less useful are the sections on similar ideas that span all world religions and the section on ancient and (basically) dead religions such as worship of the Ancient Egyptian and Greek gods.

Read more reviews at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/

[Louis · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I bought this I was just looking for a book that would just give me a nice overview of the major religions. I was interested in the background and history, days/holidays that they observe, major tenets, etc...

This book did a good job with what I wanted.

It is not a book for one that wants a deep understanding of any particular belief system. For that there are many other books including books in the "The Complete Idiot's Guide" series that one would want to access if that is your goal.

I will note that the copy I have is the third edition (2004). I had it on my shelf for awhile before I finally got to it. I see there is a forth edition (2011) out now; so if this subject interests you get the latest version.

[Kyrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the Idiot's Guides for an overview of a subject and this one was pretty good. It concentrated mostly on Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism, but it touched on pagans, African and Native American traditions as well.
I learned things I didn't know about Far Eastern religions. I think I could be a Buddhist. I also learned the Bahai faith is basically a compilation of all faiths.
For a starting place to understand things, in hopes of being able to have an intelligent dialogue as opposed to ignorance of what others believe, I thought it was a good book.

[Khalisah Lewis · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a Muslim, with so many misconceptions as it is, I was hoping this would be a little more clear cut.
It was promising to begin with but I found so many inaccuracies.
I think they needed to find better sources for their information.

Due to my knowledge of their mistakes in the Islam chapter I had to read the remainder of the book very lightly as I wasn't sure what incorrect information there was in the other chapters.

For what it did get right it was great but not an enjoyable read when you are reading as a now disillusioned reader instead of freely getting into the book.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually read the 2nd edition, but couldn't find it easily on Goodreads. Anyway, this was a good and very basic overview of many religions. It didn't help with what I wanted, which was to figure out the differences between different sects of Buddhism (they came out sounding all the same, but this may not be the author's fault). The literary quotes at the end about different religions were lovely.

[TC · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some reason, I like the Idiot's Guides much better than the Dummies books. Maybe it's just the way they're set up, but I find them more enjoyable to read.

This is a great overview of religions. It won't answer all your questions, but it will point you in the right direction to find what you need.

[Francisco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Completely put things under a new light for me. Each chapter leaves you with either a "I can't believe I didn't see it there before!" or a "Oh NOW I get it!" face. It does a great job showing the audience a little bit of every religion.

[Brandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a very readable and concise background on the 5 major religions of the world, as well as some of the other more interesting ones that exist. Its a great starting point to see parallels between belief systems. I'm sure to keep it around as a reference guide and refresher.

[Heather Hogan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's all very, "People all over the world, join hands! We'll start a love train! A love train!"

Of course, I've never met an Idiot's Guide I didn't like. I've got an entire orange shelf on one of my bookcases.

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think, if you truely are an "idiot" where world religions is concerned, you will enjoy this book for than I. I found it to be overly simple, probably because I had most of the basics in my lexicon already. Still, it was not a bad read.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent overview to start learning about the variety of religions out there. Not to in depth and not to glossed over. Great place to start and go further on the ones that interest you. Recommended

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shows insights about differences as well as similarities of religions. Somewhat perplexing but delivers a basic knowledge of multi religions in the world. How religions changed over time and different aspects of different creeds. A very basic over view of a lot of religions/sects.

[Murry]

This book lives in my car and I read it while at work. A little simplistic for those well versed in this area of study, but it beats working.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not an all inclusive account of everything, but a good starting point for a basic understanding. It doesn't just stick to the "big" ones, but gives an overview of some lesser-known religions as well.

[Bernie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read if you want to understand and be respectful to other people's religions.

[Phyllis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very informative book. I was happy to learn more about the religions of the world; particularly Islam and Judaism,

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really great INTRO read if you're looking to learn the basics of all the major world religions.

[Malea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like a quite overview, but this book did not seem to be completely accurate. I would rather go to each individual religious source instead of this all-in-one guide.

[Promise Ceasar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice overview.

[Chad Lamb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overview of the major world religions.

[Janine Samz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a reference book for me. I use it in my daily life.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of information but can be a bit tedious. A lot given in bullet point form - which I usually like but here it got cumbersome. I liked the appendices more.

[Nick Kinsella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting if superficial.