The Harpercollins Concise Guide To World Religions

The definitive dictionary of the world's religions, compiled by two of the 20th century's most distinguished religion scholars. This highly accessible resource distils Mircea Eliade's lifework of detailing and comparing humanity's entire religious heritage, providing fascinating insights into the character and worldview of the 33 principal religions. Including Buddhism, Christianity, Jainism, Judaism, Islam, Shinto, Shamanism, Taoism, South American religions, Baltic and Slavic religions, Confucianism, and the religions of Africa and Oceania, The HarperCollins Concise Guide to World Religions covers all kinds of religious figures, histories, sacred texts, mythologies, and mystical techniques.

A comprehensive guide to the thirty-three major religions includes information about their origins, founders, sacred teachings, and spiritual traditions.

This masterful survey of world religions presents a clear and concise portrait of the history, beliefs, and practices of Eastern and Western religions. The authors, both respected scholars of world religions, have over 50 years of combined teaching experience. Their book is accessibly written for introductory classes, can be easily adapted for one- or two-semester courses, and employs a neutral approach for broad classroom use. The third edition has been revised throughout, with updated material on the history and contemporary configurations of each tradition and new sections addressing gender, sexuality, and the environment. It also includes effective sidebars, photographs, timelines, charts, calendars, glossaries, and a spelling guide. Online resources through Baker Academic's Textbook eSources include Powerpoint/Keynote slides, new maps and videos, and a large question bank of multiple-choice test questions (available to professors upon request).

A masterful survey for college and university courses, this wide-ranging introduction presents a clear and condensed portrait of the history, beliefs, and practices of specific eastern and western religions. Rich with definitions, it includes a helpful CD with a wealth of images and study aids including a full glossary of terms, Internet links to scholarly sites, more than 500 color images, self-test quizzes, and other helps. • Provides a straightforward presentation of the history, beliefs, and practices of the major religious traditions • Conveys the scope and importance of religion in the human experience • Sidebars offer short, fast-grasp summaries of the major aspects of each religion • Explains a vast number of terms throughout the text • CD-ROM includes a full complement of supporting study aids including links, images, quizzes, and more In addition to the CD, the authors have established a separate website to complement this textbook (http://people.uleth.ca/~robinson/Religion/General/WRIntro.html).

Graced with rich illustrations and written by a team of eminent scholars, this book presents a wealth of information on faiths around the world. Each chapter in this volume examines one of seven major world religions--from Judaism to Christianity and from Islam to Buddhism.

A concise guide covers the history, beliefs and practices, key leaders, and impact upon the modern world of major world religions, including Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism, Hinduism, Judaism, and Christianity.

Enhanced by more than one thousand full colour illustrations, a concise guide features thousands of references to literature, art, history, famous figures, and philosophy with respect to religion, covering the beliefs, doctrines, practices, teachings, rites of passage, and specific rituals of the world's major religions.

Succinct chapters provide an excellent guide to understanding Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Taoism, Shintoism, and more.