cover image World Religions: A Guide to the Essentials

World Religions: A Guide to the Essentials

Thomas A. Robinson, Hillary Rodrigues, . . Hendrickson, $34.95 (339pp) ISBN 978-1-56563-317-9

As introductions to world religions go, this is an economical text, both short and affordable. Each chapter provides information about the history, beliefs and practices of the major world religions, making chapters easy to navigate and providing comparative information. The emphasis on practices—prayers, observances, rituals—effectively underscores the fact that these are living religions with millions of believers. That said, this is fairly bare bones as a reference work. Sidebars on perhaps three-quarters of the pages provide visual relief and definitions of terms. But the ordering of these information boxes within chapters is arbitrary, thereby depriving this book of an alphabetical, easy-to-use glossary, which is an essential reference function. Curious, too, especially for a concise text, is a decision to repeat some material about Buddhism, which has its own chapter, in separate chapters devoted to Japanese and Chinese religions. An introductory essay provides a fairly dry justification for the study of religion. This will be more valuable as a reference work for seasoned students than for the general reader interested in world religions, who would have preferred the 500 illustrations to be in the text rather than on the accompanying CD. (Jan.)