The Major Religions: An Introduction with Texts

by T. Patrick Burke

This popular introduction to the world's major religions provides a comprehensive survey of the major traditions together with selected primary readings.

A new edition of this popular introduction to the world's major religions

Provides a comprehensive survey of the major religious traditions together with selected primary readings

Focuses on the beliefs and values that animate each religion, helping students to understand what makes them meaningful to their followers

Includes new material on Sikhism and additional material on each religion's ethics and their encounter with the modern world

Features chapter-by-chapter discussion and test questions, summaries, and suggestions for further reading

Improved visual design, with extensive student aids including revised maps, timeline and charts.

Genres: Textbooks, Theology

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 30, 1996

Reviews

[Gael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read sections of this book for a college class in 2011 (as I’m sure is the case with most people who’ve read it). I decided sometime early 2022 to read it all the way through, every single page (well…mostly… ). It is now March 8, 2023 so it was slow going. I went through long sections of not reading it and times where I struggled to stay awake as I read, but honestly, most of the time I was really engaged by this book!

I think it gives a really fabulous overview and history of the major religions in this world. I love that they include selections of religions texts as well. I really feel like it gave me a cursory knowledge of each, and a jumping off point should I choose to look into any of them further. Even though it took me a long time to finish, I recommend this to ANYONE interested in understanding this world. You don’t need to be reading it for a class, or interested in converting to a religion, or even be religious at all (I’m pretty atheist these days myself) as it is basically a history/sociology book. I was raised as a type of christian and I even found the section on Christianity informative (I did however skip/skim some of the Old & New Testament texts since I read those stories so much growing up).

I’m sure you can just look at the table of contents online, but if you want to know the religions covered in this book, here they are:

Indian Origin:
1. Hinduism
2. Buddism
3. Sikhism

Chinese Origin:
4. Traditional Chinese Religion and Confucianism
5. Taoism
6. Chinese Buddhism

Semitic Origin:
7. Judaism
8. Islam
9. Christianity

[Belle Meade School]

291

[Lauren]

Had to read this for my philosophy coursework and it was a really interesting book. Found a lot of really useful information for my essay.