Customer Reviews

Hinduism (Oxford Paperbacks)

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An excellent survey of the evolution of Hindu cosmological and ontological speculations, theological belief systems and ethical concepts from the Aryan conquest of India to Gandhi and Tagore. The book is both comrhensive in scope and comprhensible to the uninitiated reader.
My only complaint is the lack of a glossary of Hindu terms such as Dharma, Karma, Moksha and Bhakti which would have been a real help to the reader unfamiliar with Hindu terminology.

This book provides an excellent basic analysis of Hinduism. Hinduism is an incredibly complex religion but Zaehner outlines the important points for the reader.

Professor Zaehner was an Oxford don of the previous generation, and a prolific author. Although I read this book almost thirty years ago, it left me with a strong impression about Hinduism. While many identify Hinduism with pantheism and monism, there are a variety of philosophical schools in the very big temple of Hinduism. Of course, Advaita Vedanta is pantheistic and monistic (or nondualistic), but other schools are polytheistic, theistic, or even atheistic. Of course, all Hindus believe in karma-reincarnation, yoga, the inspiration of the Four Vedas, maya, and enlightenment (wherein one leaves the cycle of reincarnation and loses personality).

Hinduism came West to America with a vengence through the counterculture of the 1960s and has influenced religion and culture significantly even in a country steeped in Christianity. (On this, see Os Guinness, "The East, No Exist" in The Dust of Death and my chapter "New Age Spirituality in Unmasking the New Age.) Authors such as Deepak Chopra present Hindu nondualism as essential to spirituality. India, largely Hindu, is now a rising star economically, a fact that will further expand the influence of its native religion. Given these factors, a basic knowledge of Hinduism is significant for any cosmopolotian person today. It is also very significant for Christians to understand this ancient and diverse religion in light of Christianity's very different worldview and spirituality.

Hinduism (Oxford Paperbacks) is a broad history and survey of the major elements of Hinduism. Because Hinduism itself spans an incredible spectrum of religious beliefs and rites - esoteric spiritualism through (possibly) human sacrifice - a book this short is quite dense. I found it a useful overview, but it is rife with references to topics not discussed.

Hinduism is written by a philosophy academic. I generally find such books to be difficult reading as this class of authors sacrifices clarity to preserve academic prose style.

This is doubtless a scholarly work, but it's fifty years old. This pup dates from 1962: clearly it is time for a new basic text that is more accessible by the general public.