A New Handbook of Living Religions [Hardcover]

John R. Hinnells (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 10, 1997 | ISBN-10: 0631182756 | ISBN-13: 978-0631182757 | Edition: 2

Written by a team of leading international scholars in a clear and readable style, this New Handbook of Living Religions provides a general introduction to the sources and history of the major religions, and an overview of its teachings, practices, popular traditions and twentieth century developments. This new edition not only updates existing chapters but also includes a whole new section on cross-cultural issues and modern diaspora religions in the West.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Originally published in 1985, the Handbook of Living Religions (LJ 2/15/85) served its name well: it was a one-volume ready reference for the reader who wanted general facts quickly, with long expositions into the weedier areas of theology, text criticism, and hermeneutics. This new incarnation carries forward the same philosophy, offering unembellished, mostly historical articles on well-established world religions and religious movements. The reason for the updating is the addition of nine new chapters under the title "Crosscultural Studies." Included are one chapter each on religion and gender and on spirituality and seven chapters on what the editor calls "diaspora religions"?religions practiced outside their countries of origins. This new edition does not offer a revolutionary change but an expected evolutionary upgrade of the previous one. A solid reference book; recommended for all libraries.?Glenn Masuchika, Chaminade Univ. Lib., Honolulu
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"It is good to see this classic volume reappear in an updated form. It belongs in the canon of standard works that anyone interested in the study of religion should posses. The updating of the original chapters was desirable and has been accomplished extremely well."Damien Keown, Royal Asiatic Society Journal

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 920 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell; 2 edition (February 10, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0631182756
• ISBN-13: 978-0631182757
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,100,351 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good read, a good reference, November 15, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: A New Handbook of Living Religions: Revised Edition (Penguin Reference) (Paperback)

The essays in this book are all very interested reading for someone who's interested in getting a general (but not too general) overview of a religion without going out and getting books on all the topics covered. It's not a "Dictionary of Religion", however--each entry is about 100 pages long. Nevertheless I recommend it to those whose interests in religion are at that point where vague encyclopedia entries etc. give too little information, and detailed, focused studies give too much.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Article on Buddhism by L. S. Cousins, Buddhism in a nutshell, November 21, 1999

By 

Sarakani (Harrow United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A New Handbook of Living Religions: Revised Edition (Penguin Reference) (Paperback)

This book gives very good articles on all the world's main religions and they are usually written by practitioner's of these religions who also tend to be scholars. Encyclopaedic, imbued with rigour, candour and a dash of faith which is essential in avoiding an all too objective and critical approach.

The article on Buddhism in this book is one of the best if not the best I've encountered. It does not repeat the date of the Buddha as earlier than the 5th century BC (making Buddhism 2400 years old rather than the oft quoted 2500 years old), and does not begin to talk about Buddhism by describing the 4 noble truths, like lesser books would.

This article should be read, by those who want to have the low down on Buddhism including beginners and those with a deeper interest, and it captures the essence of Buddhism in a hard to beat nutshell.

The author, Mr Lance Cousins was due to write a whole book on Buddhism for Penguin, but this project was scrapped as he was too busy, and had to do an Abhidhamma translation. This is probably the next best thing. His students, Peter Harvey and Rupert Gethin have turned out introductory books on Buddhism which are pretty good, and these testify to the depth of Mr Cousins knowledge on the subject.