Customer Reviews

World Religions (Elements of)

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I admit that I only got through two and a half chapters or so of this book before tossing it in the garbage. For starters, in the Christianity section Flower misquotes the Lord's Prayer. While "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever" is part of the prayer for many Christians, it's not in the Bible. Flower, however, cites the add-on as a quote from the Bible! While your average Joe on the street might be excused for the error, I can't see how the same allowance can be made for an author of a book on religions. She also writes on Christianity, "In countries like Africa it is one of the fastest growing of all religions." The last time I checked, Africa was a continent. Such a quote should not be tolerated in a high school term paper, much less a published book. I'm circular-filing this one.

The coverage of this book predominantly focuses on the major religions of the world, with a very brief synopsis of "other" religions. Whereas the book does provide enough information to tantalize the interested reader, its focus is specific on very basic principles and rarely scratches the surface of each faith. In addition, I found some of the information included to be either questionable or at least summarized too vaguely (such as claiming the believers of Jain to be atheistic in nature).

I was hoping it would spend equal time discussing both the well-known popular religions as it did with the lesser known faiths, but I was disappointed (which is, unfortunately, seemingly typical of many "religious encyclopedias"). If you are looking for a simple overall portrait of what a relgion based on, how people worship, and the religious precepts which direct the faith, then this is a quick and easy resource. But if you are interested in getting a fuller grasp of some of the more esoteric, lesser-known beliefs out there, then I wouldn't get this book.