Sourcebook of the World's Religions: An Interfaith Guide to Religion and Spirituality (Sourcebook of the World's Religions)

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Summary: Content does not match title
Review: I was somewhat disappointed with this book. I expected a clear comparison & contrast between various religious traditions, with criteria such as history, world populations, view of a god/goddess, moral rules, rituals, texts, etc. Of the 450 pages, less than 100 are dedicated to the descriptions of all the religions. Each tradition is described by a member of that specific religion, so there is little consistency across the chapters that describe the different religions. Each chapter's author determines how he/she describe their tradition, and what information is included. This book was inspired by the Parliament of World Religion meetings, and the majority of the discussion is on the Interfaith movement, and how religions can respond to environmentalism, human rights, and other modern dilemmas. In my opinion, a more accurate title of this book would be "Sourcebook of Interfaith Movement". I recommend Huston Smith's "The World Religions" if you are seeking an introduction to the world religious traditions (tenets, main beliefs, etc.).

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Summary: A truly outstanding guide to world religions & spirituality.
Review: Sourcebook of the World's Religions is an outstanding interfaith guide to religion and spirituality which began as a resource and has grown into its present incarnation: a third enlarged, updated edition which gathers an impressive collection of writings crossing religious traditions. Over twenty religious traditions are presented along with articles, prayers, sacred texts and quotes.

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Summary: An essential Interfaith "Reference Guide"
Review: The Sourcebook of the World's Religions is a wonderful reference book to have. It's best however, to understand and appreciate its strengths and limitations before you purchase it. The authors attempted to cover the histories and fundamental belief systems of 20+ religions, and to draw a comparison between them. A very difficult goal. I'm not quite sure Beversluis et al. were completely successful, but they sure did make the effort. There was a gracious attempt to be inclusive of both major and minor religions. But in spite of this heart felt effort, the quality of explanations for each religion is inconsistent. Some descriptions of religions (the list was organized alphabetically) - beginning with A for African Traditional Religions, were skimpy, and superficial, without much thought put into describing the history, richness, beauty and poetry of the faith. Next, B for Baha'i left me with a much clearer understanding and appreciation of the faith. On the bright side, this reference guide has a very good index which allows you to locate whatever religion or subject matter of which you may need a simple explanation. But don't expect in depth discussions. They are brief, a little dry, and almost encyclopedic. The source also provides a directory of faith organizations (addresses, phones and internet sites) which in of itself is very valuable. I do agree with a previous reviewer that Huston Smith's The World's Religions is superior if your intention is to actually learn something about the World's major religions - and it's definitely worth the price. Two books assigned to us in a World Religions course at Harvard University were 1- Living Religions and 2- Anthology of Living Religions (Mary and Pat Fisher) Great books but not as affordable. Pragrammatically speaking, this is something all students of religion, and those working in faith based organizations should own as part of their collection of easy to use reference guides - it's just not a good study tool. Having said that, if a simple reference is what you need, it's definitely worth the [money]!