Rating: 
Summary: A Solid Classic- What I've been looking for
Review: It is so difficult today to find a scholarly work that gives as detailed a look at the different religions of the world as Huston Smith's classic THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS. The information about this book speaks for itself-- the fact that it has sold over two million copies is one. Another is the author himself-Huston Smith, can you think of anyone more qualified to write such a book?-- Very few people come close. Also of note is that it is updated from Smith's first 1958 publication. Smith has honestly worked half a century to make sure that this book would bring valid information to anyone who sought it.
This book is not just a textbook that you find on world's religion. Nor is it just a philosophical and theological reflection of one individual's perspectives. Smith passionately reveals truths found in all religions, in a way that is both easy to follow and captivating to the reader at the same time. As he points out in the introduction, his book works to 1.) Embrace the world 2.) Take religion seriously, and 3.) Make an effort to communicate
Smith grants that a lot of religion is purely superstitious and has turned away from its true wisdom. Smith successfully brings readers back to the heart of each religious faith to show its importance.
So far I have glanced through and read some of the sections of this book. I made sense of many of my questions by reading briefly. Smith did a wonderful job on clearing up some of the misconceptions about religions such as Buddhism. I personally better understood the Buddhist concept of Nirvana, as Smith shows Edward Conze's markings of similarities between the Nirvana and Godhead(of divine and spiritual reality). This can be found on page 115.
I definitely enjoyed the section about Taoism. This is a religion that Smith pays attention to while many people forget about it. I hope to come across the Tao Te Ching someday. The conclusion of the section on Taoism honestly captured my passion as well.
I've been looking for works like this for quite some time. Huston Smith does an awesome job in this book when he brings many of the truths found in all religion out into a brillant and moving work that should reach everyone's hands.
Smith helps to make sense of many of the questions we have today about religion's place in the world. This book has obviously been a personal oddessy for Smith as well, as he imagines all the people of the world "lifting their voices in the most disparate ways imaginable to the God of all life." "How does it sound from above?" he asks. He grants that we cannot know, since all we have to do is listen.
By doing so, Smith shows us how we can come to reach greater levels of life, happiness, and love for one another. And we see, in the greatest of ways possible, how the religions at their best that Smith reveals in this book challenge people to rise to heights beyond the wildest imagining.
Rating:
Summary: The Best.
Review: This book is a classic and undoubtedly the best place to start for anyone wanting to learn more about the world's great religious traditions. Huston Smith gets to the heart of each faith like no one else can. He lives his own life within the Christian tradition and Methodist Church, but his soul is universal and belongs to the wisdom of all traditions. Read this book and sit at the feet of a true master!
Rating:
Summary: An Extraordinary Contribution to Our Understanding
Review: I urge the Reader from Pendleton to re-read page 281. The "they" that Smith refers to is humankind. Here's the paragraph in its entirety:"In speaking of the realism of the Jewish view of human nature we have thus far emphasized its recognition of physical limitations: weakness, susceptibility to pain, life's brevity. We shall not have plumbed the full scope of its realism, however, until we add that they saw the basic human limitation as moral rather than physical. Human beings are not only frail; they are sinners: "I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me" (Psalm 51:5). It is totally false to claim this verse for the defense of either the doctrine of total human depravity or the notion that sex is evil. These are both imported notions that have nothing to do with Judaism. The verse does, however, contribute something of great importance to Jewish anthropology. The word sin comes from a root meaning "to miss the mark," and this people (despite their high origin) manage to continually do. Meant to be noble, they are usually something less; meant to be generous, they withhold from others. Created more than animal, they often sink to being nothing else." Smith's awkwardly-worded "and this people (despite their high origin) manage to continually do" may have caused the confusion. When he says "this" he is talking about "sin" as a verb. It may have been better constructed as "The word sin comes from a root meaning "to miss the mark," and sin is what people manage to continually do (despite their high origin)." He is referring to all people, not just Jews. Smith is no anti-Semite and his respect for Judaism and the Jews should be apparent to anyone who reads Chapter VII.
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