Encyclopedia of Women and World Religion [Hardcover]

Serinity Young (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1152 pages
• Publisher: MACMILLAN (1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0028648609
• ISBN-13: 978-0028648606
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,148,934 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Serinity Young lives in New York City where she is a Research Associate in the Dept. of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History and teaches at Queens College. She received her Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1990 and has received numerous grants and awards, including a Fulbright and being a fellow at the Center for Writers and Scholars of the New York Public Library. She has done fieldwork in India, Tibet, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Russia. Three of her books have been written for high school students: Buddhism: An Introduction, and Hinduism: An Introduction, and Richard Francis Burton: Explorer, Scholar, Spy.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cool reference book, July 17, 2010

By 

Alice - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Encyclopedia of Women and World Religion (Hardcover)

I thought this was a fun reference book, but watch out, it comes in several volumes (Three I think). Entries tend to be on the long side; expect pages rather than paragraphs, and they're often broken into sub-divisions, for example by the regions, or religions, that the subject applies to. The subject of the entries range from individual people, to things like "possession cults", "Muses", "Sacred Marriage", and "Genital Mutilation". So if your the sort of person who thinks its a kick to do some reading about different traditional expectations of what witches do in the ancient near east, africa, europe, asia, and in some native american cultures, or your just a sucker for religious studies, then give this charming book a try.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique, May 26, 2010

By 

Karen A - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Encyclopedia Of Women and World Religion, (2 Volume Set.) (Hardcover)

In order to reflect the "magnificent flowering of scholarship on women and world religion" during the twenty years preceding 1998, Serinity Young and her contributors indeed produced a "culturally and historically comprehensive reference work" (p. vii).

Articles by a wide variety of writers describe and comment on doctrinal views of women as well as women's place in the rituals, practice, and social fabric of the world's major and lesser religious traditions. Articles range from inter-religious reviews of topics such as "Circle," "Hospitality," "Theology," "Vegetarianism," and "Wives," to lengthy articles covering the major religions in their feminine context. The encyclopedia also provides interesting browsing. Some articles--"Boundaries," "Food," "Hair," "Solitude"--address topics that one would be unlikely to have in mind when opening the books.

This encyclopedia is definitely unique. In addition to the fact that it was the first encyclopedic work to address all religions and all of the women of the world, its point of view is frankly feminist. For example, there is an article on "Thealogy" as well as on "Theology." This approach can lead to some idiosyncrasies. I think that the author of the article called "Anonymous" took Virginia Woolf's essay "Anonymous Was a Woman" a little too literally. But idiosyncrasy is hardly a failing in such an ambitious work.

Most of the articles include bibliographies or bibliographical essays. A very useful synoptic outline and a substantial index are provided. Some articles include "see also" references to other articles. There are cross-references from unused terms and names, but not enough, given the variety of languages involved. For example, there is no reference from "Qu'an Yin" to the article on "Kuan Yin." Occasional black-and-white illustrations accompany the text.