The World's Religions [Hardcover]

Ninian Smart (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521340055 | ISBN-13: 978-0521340052 | Publication Date: March 9, 1989

A richly illustrated exploration of all the major religions of the world - their beliefs and practices, and how they have shaped the history of the world.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Smart (emeritus, Univ. of California, Santa Barbara) is one of the few public religious intellectuals who can be compared to the late Joseph Campbell. In this second edition of his study of world religions, he has expanded his discussion of the multifaceted dimensions of religious thought. This edition retains the same structure found in the earlier one: Part 1 charts the historical development of religions in the ancient worlds, while Part 2 follows how they changed after the Renaissance, the settling of the Americas, and other cultural shifts. In this version, he adds the effects of the breakup of the Soviet Union, the expansion of Islam, the spread of African American religious experiences, and the changes brought about by the introduction of female priests. It would be a mistake to assign this book as a primary textbook for a world religions class; Smart is primarily a historian, and the emphasis here is on world religions in terms of world history and constantly developing systems of faith, belief, and theology. Recommended for all libraries.?Glenn Masuchika, Chaminade Univ. Lib., Honolulu
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

'Based on massive scholarship and much travel, written with deceptive smoothness and ease, lavishly illustrated, the book is beautiful in every sense. It crowns the literary career of its author.' Church Times

'The author discourses with great lucidity on every topic from animism to Zen ... as an attractive and eminently readable introduction to the extraordinary diversity of the world's religions this book can have few equals.' The Month

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 576 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (March 9, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521340055
• ISBN-13: 978-0521340052
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,414,554 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very smart book indeed, October 24, 2000

By 

heather tyler (sydney, nsw Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The World's Religions (Paperback)

Religion can be like sex and money, a touchy subject for many people. And like the other two, it provokes extremes in behaviour and is often difficult to make sense of. And many of us never read anything about religions other than our own, if we have one.

When I began religious studies at university three years ago, this remarkable book was not on the reading list and my set texts were biased towards Western Christianity and virtually ignored Eastern Orthodoxy. Then I discovered Ninian Smart's eloquent, accessible books and I cannot recommend this one highly enough as a place to start understanding religion, whether you are a student of philosophy, science, sociology or just looking for a good read. Understanding our world's religions and ideologies is a key to comprehending mankind's development and what propels many current global conflicts. Despite our increasingly secularised societies, religion still drives many human beings. Religions remain practices and ideas that move mankind, they are a window to understanding cultures and perhaps your next door neighbour. And in an age where globalization virtually rules, it is worth noting that religions are interacting in ways they never have before and out of this comes new faiths - as well as conflict.

Smart discusses the importance of understanding religions, the nature of them and of secular world views and the roots, formations and reformations of religions. So you think religions divide us in their dissimilarity? It is remarkable, Smart writes, that in doctrine, a number of faiths have a virtual similarity in regard to the idea of creation.

The book is well organized. Smart uses timelines to divide the book into two parts: The first from around 3000BC to around 1400AD, and the second from 1500AD. In the first part, Smart works his way from India's diversity of Buddhism, Brahmanism, classical Hinuism, Islam and Sramanic alternatives, to the confusion over what was and is religion in China, dimensions of Polynesian religion, the contribution of South-East Asia, the diversity of the Americas, the ancient Near East, spiritual values in the Ancient Greece and Roman worlds, classical and medieval Judaism, classical African religions to classical and medieval Islam. In part two, he examines the effects of science and secularism on religion, the reforming of Christianity, reactions to colonial intervention, developments in Islam including fundamentalism, the results of the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union, new religious movements in Africa, Latin America's turmoil, China, Japan and Korea in modern times.

As the book was published towards the close of the 20th century, it contains a more comparitive view than was thought possible in the Western world half way through the 20th century. It is not easy to write of religion without bias but Smart, in my humble view, is refreshingly free of prejudice. I believe he encourages us to look at religion similarly and this is what makes The World's Religions such a joy to read.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An fair and intelligent account., March 7, 2005

By 

S. Hebbron "S B H." (Leicester UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The World's Religions (Paperback)

Perhaps the only rationale, fair, equal and balanced treatment of world religions. All are presented fairly and justly with a non judgemental attitude, just a balanced account of their origins and practices. Indispensible in a time of great misunderstanding and intolerance.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Examination of World Faiths, May 6, 2005

By 

Santeria "Son of Tazz" (Tallahassee) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The World's Religions (Paperback)

Outside of Mircea Eliade, Smart is the one academic I would highly recommend for a very good overview of world faiths. He covers this area thoroughly, with respect, and with a detailed academic fervour.
Having Met Professor Smart at a Seminar in the 80s, I found him to be an amazingly knowledgeable fellow.
Typical of many academics, his best form of expression seems to be in the written word.
Basically, any person with a broad interest in religion needs some of Professor Ninian Smarts works in their collection since they are very comprehensive, and written in an accessible manner.
If you can get Mircea Eliade's collection of secondary reference works and material, in 2 or 3 volumes, you will have an excellent reference source set.