81 of 86 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
While standing on one foot..., July 17, 2003
My one fear with the Dummies and Complete Idiot's Guide series is that these are sometimes seen as endpoints rather than beginnings. As Hillel said when giving his answer to the question `What is Judaism?' while standing on one foot, there are some basic truths to any religion, and the rest is commentary, but one should read that commentary!
For adolescents in high school, for college undergraduates, and for those who have little to no exposure with religions of the world, The Complete Idiot's Guide to the World's Religions by Brandon Toropov and Fr. Luke Buckles provides a good if brief overview of the major religions and sects in the world today. This is not a history text per se, and the book does not go into ancient religions that are no longer practiced, nor does it spend much time on small groups and religious communities that dot the religious landscape of the world today. This is religion painted with broad brush strokes, and the limitations of such an approach should be noted accordingly.
That being said, it is a wonderfully readable text, and a great tool for organising presentations or further self-study, as well as a sort of Cliff's Notes to the religions of the world. There is an introductory section, a section on each of the major religions or religious groupings (more on this later), and a concluding section on recent trends and scriptures.
The Checklist
Like all Complete Idiot's Guides, this one begins with a two page card summary of high points for study and consideration. Why should you care about this information? What are key differences and similarities? It has a section in which it encapsulates each of the major religions in a brief sentence - every religion of the world while standing on one foot!
Part 1: Opening Up to Other Traditions
This section gives a brief overview of the reasons why it is important to understand other faiths. Whether we are talking about our neighbours next door or people around the world, there are things we can learn, even if it will not be information used in our own spiritual development. However, sometimes seeing how other people pray, worship, and understand the divine, ethics, and spiritual practices can give us renewed insight and vigour in our own approaches.
Also covered in this section is the importance of language and status. What one says as an `insider' is very different from what one might say as an `outsider'. This is basic human nature; I might be able to criticise members of my family, but will take it as an insult if others outside the family do so. Applying this principle to something like the Gospel stories, we can see that the anti-Pharisaic and anti-Jewish language in some passages can sound very different if it is understood as an `in-the-family' kind of criticism rather than a slap from those outside.
Parts 2 through 7 address the `traditional' religions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, as well as the Asian traditions of Confucianism, Taoism, and Shinto. Each section looks at the history, diversity of current practice, and basic principles that will carry the traditions into the future. These present fairly basic and standard presentations of these religions, but do so in an engaging way, so that learning is facilitated by the text and additions.
Part 8: Old Paths, New Paths
In looking at old paths, the authors look very briefly at nature and naturalistic religions in North America and Africa, many of which are still practiced in various ways, but which lack any kind of codification based on historical or scriptural texts. The continuity of such religions becomes an article of faith.
In looking at new paths, they explore different paths such as the New Age movement, and the six new faiths they consider worth watching into the next century. These include The Nation of Islam (not to be confused with Islam itself), the Krishna society, Transcendental Meditation, Neo-Paganism, the Baha'i faith, and Santeria. Some of these are actively recruiting members; others such as the Baha'i grow even with a prohibition against proselytising. The criteria for why these are selected is discussed, as is the reminder that each of these religions is larger in numbers and in scope than was first-century Christianity.
Finally, the authors look at the issue of scripture and scriptural authority for each of the religions examined, areas of common ground and pitfalls of confusion.
Appendices
The first appendix is a wonderful collection of quotes about religion, God, ethics and other spiritual topics collected by the authors. These are presented in a graphically interesting way which actually make good posters if photocopied and enlarged.
The second appendix is a bibliography of scriptures, source texts and worship aids for each of the religions examined.
One thing I like is that at the end of chapters or sections, the Complete Idiot's Guides will give you a short list of things you must absolutely know in order to not sound stupid. That, for more of us than probably care to admit it, is a great aid and necessary first step toward carrying on intelligent conversations about the world's religions.
Again it must be emphasised that while this is a broad overview, it is far from comprehensive. Its goal is not to be comprehensive and complete, but to be a broad introduction to the major topics discussed. Presented in a lively and graphically-interesting way, with easy-to-remember lists of facts and key concepts, reading this will give a good introduction to the religions of the world, and most likely whet the appetite for further study.
Just don't do it while standing on one foot.
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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great intro, take it for what it is..., November 24, 2005
This review is from: The Complete Idiot's Guide to World Religions, 3rd Edition (Paperback)
It occured to me one day that I knew very little about many World Religions, and I went looking for something to give me a broad overview of the major religions of the world. I found this book, and I got what I was hoping for.
Since reading it, I've went on to other books and resources to get more in-depth info on certain religions I wanted to know more about. Like others said, this books offers a VERY basic overview of each of the world's major Religions, but it's a great starting point and provides more information that I'd guess the average person would know about each religion covered.
No, it doesn't provide commentary on most controversial or ethical issues involved with these religions, but really, as a "Complete Idiot's Guide..." I didn't expect it to.
Take it for what it is - a great intro, a learning tool. But there are certainly better resources out there if you're looking to do more in-depth studies.
As a side note, for people with a short-attention span or those who maybe aren't into reading lengthy, wordy chapters, you'll really enjoy the format of this book (the same format of all "Complete Idiot's Guide" books). Each chapter is broken down into small sections and interspersed with tidbits, cartoons, etc. to illustrate certain points.
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72 of 88 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A disappointment., May 12, 2002
The stated purpose of this book was "to build bridges...to increase mutual understanding" between people of different faiths. In keeping with this goal the authors deemed it necessary to omit any information that could possibly offend anyone. As such, the book reads more like a Hallmark card than a serious textbook. Rather than raise issues with which some believers might disagree, there is very little information about what the major religions have to say about spiritual issues. For example, I found it odd that none of the Judeo-Christian chapters mention the concept of eternal damnation - I consider this a significant concept and an important difference between Christianity & Judaism. While certainly not all believers would agree on this topic, to simply ignore the issue is negligent. Similarly, there is little to no information on the various faiths' views on potentially controversial topics like the nature of the deity(ies), creation, apocalypse, fate of non-believers, etc, etc. There is also scarce mention of the numerous problems that have occurred over the centuries in the name of religion - wars, persecutions, subversion of scientific thought, etc (the 3 sentences on the Crusades describes them as "a series of military conflicts"). Needless to say, if you are curious to know the various faiths' views on issues like birth control, the role of women or homosexuality, you can give this book a miss. The strength of this book is that it concisely outlines important historical facts and observances of all the major religions. This is enough information to have a polite conversation with a co-worker of a different faith, but not enough to understand their religion. Unfortunately, it is not possible to seriously deal with the subject of world religion without raising controversial issues. In choosing to show how similar all world religions are, this book does not do justice to the variety and depth of human belief.
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