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Rating: 
Summary: Matters of Faith
Review: A fine volume featuring extensive articles on many religious practices, artifacts, art, beliefs, and theologians. Notable are the extended articles for major religions ranging from African religions to Taoism. The text is richly illustrated. It makes, however, the mistake of defining religions by their official doctrine only. Though there are numerous photos of people worshipping, some of the articles take only the work of theologians seriously. Living institutions are often treated as mere relics of the past rather than as contemporary expressions of belief. I was also disappointed by the section on Mythology, which only treats dead religions and these not very well, preferring to discuss the way Myth is studied rather than providing specific details and cross-references. Where it covers these old traditions in depth, (and only the ones which are prominent in Western intellectual thought, alas!) it fails to flesh out the tales of the gods and goddesses or to provide a handy reference to different pantheons. It often fails on the side of "neutrality" by failing to present skeptical perspectives on religion. (There isn't even an article on Skepticism, which is, in this century, as important a movement as Iconoclasm was in the 8th and 9th centuries). Secular humanism also receives short shrift. The owner of this volume who bears these failures in mind will nonetheless find it useful. There's a fascinating section on New Religions, an extensive bibliography, and many fine, brief articles on the many facets of religion. It is worth having this among your general reference books.
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Summary: A highly recommended, "reader friendly" reference.
Review: Articles pack this important encyclopedia which includes illustrations, maps, and color art. All religions, cultures and regions are included in a reference which will prove essential to both specialty libraries and general public library collections.
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Summary: THE BEST BOOK EVER!
Review: I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO ANYONE INTERESTED IN RELIGION!
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Summary: There are better ones out there with more accurate info.
Review: This book is biased and mis-representative.
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