Customer Reviews

Living Religions (7th Edition) (Paperback)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I teach world religions and have used many different textbooks. This book has always been among the best, and the fourth edition is definitely the best--has made a lot of substantial improvements over earlier editions. Fisher is sympathetic, engaging, accessible and yet scholarly, up-to-date, thorough, and accurate. Many great pictures and side box interviews really help students understand the material, and so does the website with on-line tests and web links associated with the book chapters. If you saw an earlier edition and weren't terribly impressed, you need to take a new look at the 4th edition! Finally, a world religion survey to please both students and professors! Hard to improve on.

This textbook not only looks at the history of different religions, but it also shows you the contemporary version/manifestation of each religion. As an instructor, I found this very easy for my students to understand and relate to.

One of the strongest points of this text is the interviews with different contemporary people to explain religious belief. An example of this would be an interview with Ann-Ping Chin on Confucianism in today's society. This is much easier for students to relate to than using discussions of ancient religious leaders only.

Each chapter has a list of suggested readings, which I found very useful in preparing discussions. The publisher also has a web-site with exercises and links for each chapter to assist students in studying the different religions.

I would recommend this book.

I found Living Religions to be very interesting and informative. Before reading this book, I knew very litte about religions other than my own. After reading this text, I discovered the beauty in each religion presented and was able to erase the stereotypes and stigmas that I once held. I recommend this book to anyone who has little understanding of world religions and would like to become educated or for someone who may just need a reminder. It is an easy read, with the exception of some of the vocabulary associated with the different religions.

I found the book to be very informative. I also enjoyed having the CD to review the the chapters. That was a plus for me.

I have never read a religious studies book so focued and well researched. Mary Pat Fisher truly shows she knows what she it writing about. This book not only provides thought-provoking questions at the end of each chapter, but it is also full of wonderful illustrations! A picture really is worth a thousand words. I couldn't be happier with it.

I really appreciate what Mary Pat Fisher has done with this survey text. My only complaint is that my students find it too difficult to read. Wishing for something equally comprehensive and balanced but at a reading level that is more accessible.

While Living Religions is a good source of information, it was incredibly difficult to read. It was like reading an encyclopedia. I did not like the authors gender bias.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was easy to understand and well organized. I was able to learn a lot about Eastern Religions with this book that I got an 'A' in my Religions class. Yay!

An excellent introduction to the world's primary religious and wisdom traditions: their origins, major tenets, peculiarities and similarities across the spectrum, and contemporary manifestations. Along with the companion book, An Anthology of Living Religions, this text offers a solid study in the world's religions.

I found this book very informative, but very drawn out and also much too heavy in certain sections, namely Judaism and Christianity. While it may be the case that comparatively speaking these sections represent the bigger religions by giving more information, I felt that this was unnecessary, I'd like to see a book treat each religion separately and represent them each in the same terms.