The Compact Guide to World Religions

by Sean O'Callaghan

Throughout history the religions of the world have sought to provide answers to life's deepest questions, solace in times of suffering, and insight into truth. But for all they share in common, the religions of the world are very diverse - stemming from different histories, places, and people. This Compact Guide will take you through a tour of the world's biggest religions - providing detailed insight into their origins, beliefs and practices. Illustrated throughout with stunning photos and art, it brings the key figures and images of each religion to life, and is a perfect introduction for those exploring world faiths (or those who just need a quick reference tool!). Religions covered include: Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Bahai, Confucianism, Taoism and Shinto.

Genres: Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2010

Reviews

[Erwin Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sean O’Callaghan’s The Compact Guide to World Religions surveyed 12 faith traditions, viz., Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Baha’i, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Shinto. With each religion the author looked at its history and development, founder and significant figures, branches, sacred writings, core beliefs, worship and festivals, family and society, contemporary issues, and provides further reading guides.
What was apparent was the diversity of beliefs. The Abrahamic faith traditions believed in mono-theism. While Eastern traditions’ beliefs tended to range from monotheism to polytheism. Buddhism and Confucianism don’t believe in a Supreme Being. And God in various religions is known by different names e.g., Muslims - Allah, Hindus - Brahman, and Chinese – Dao. While other traditions like Buddhism stresses the need for their practitioners to attain Enlightenment. The religions remain patriarchal with some concessions given women by the hierarchical structure.
Distinct differences were noted when celebrating religious festivals and holidays. These celebrations depended on the religious entities’ calendar of founders and holy days were in part based on cosmic characteristics of particular seasons. And noteworthy were the beliefs in the “afterlife” of traditions in the East as opposed to the West. Faith traditions in the East’s central focus were on “reincarnation” – karma, samsara, and moksha, while the West stressed sins, judgment, heaven, and hell.

[Jan Lynch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clear, concise, and informative.

[Gustavo Angel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Un libro con datos interesantes de cada religión, para empezar con esta temática es muy útil.

[Hind Al-Qahtani · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great reference book. It had a sort of nuetral stance to religion, I dont think anyone belonging to any of the religions mentioned would get offended by this book, however it does touch on history and how the religion was created which to me is an essential part of religions. For the most part the book speaks on behalf of the religions and It was a good read for that reason, to get a glimpse of how hindus view their belief for example and how they view the world. it would good practice for a future socioogist and I might give this book a second quick skim/read in the future.

I thought the info was right on when it discussed issues.

[Ami · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could read books like this all day long, especially ones with even more religions. The photos were great. Unfortunately, I did notice that the sections seemed to get shorter & shorter toward the end of the book, and not for lack of complexity or length of duration of the religion. Maybe a little less ink could have been spilled on the brand-spanking-new 19th century Baha'i faith & a little more on millennia-old Shinto? Or maybe just make the book a bit longer, I don't know, but I did feel a little grumbly that info on Shinto & Taoism was pretty sparse, depsite their perhaps millions of practitioners, and yet the complexities of 200,000-member Zoroastrianism, while interesting, filled pages & pages. The section I learned the most from & was a real treat: Sikhism. Don't hear a lot about that one, and yet it's a fascinating synthesis of mysticism from Hindu & Muslim spiritual ancestors. Good stuff.

[Ben Zajdel]

If you're looking for a guide to all the different world religions, go grab a copy of The Compact Guide to World Religions. It may say "compact" in the title, but the information within is vast.

Sean O'Callaghan covers twelve of the world's largest religions, including Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Baha'i, Jainism, Sikhism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Shinto.

Each chapter covers the specific religion's history, founders, branches, sacred writings, core beliefs, worship and festivals, family and society, and contemporary issues. Every chapter ends with a reading list to help supplement your knowledge.

The Compact Guide to World Religions offers a ton of insightful information that will give you the essential knowledge you need to be well-versed in the religions of the world. It won't make you an expert on all the different people you'll encounter, but it will at least give you an idea of what their beliefs are.

[Sean Tay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why I decided to read this book: I've never really properly read about religions and cultures until I was given the task of reading one.

This book completes the 'book that teaches you about a culture other than your own' category of my bingo board.It was nice to read about all the other religions and cultures I never even heard about, and to also read further into the ones I know about.

Something new I learned from this book is that almost every religion seeks the same thing but in different words.Most desire peace but through different means, and that is what sets the religions apart from each other.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overview of the history with great full color images and well organized chapters. I would have liked more information on current believes and practices. Some of the larger religions got a lot more attention, so the book was a little slanted. I would have also like to see a bit of geographical comparison and maybe a timeline. Some sort of summary overview of all of the religions and their impact on world history and current affairs would have been interesting.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really informative and even though I have studied religions before I learned several new things and it was much better explained in this book. There are several popular religions to read about in this book and it's interesting to look at how they developed and the conflicts in countries where they did develop the new religions. I also discovered how my religion is used differently by certain religions. I think the key to being able to talk to others about your religion and have a meaningful conversation means that you need to know about their religion first and I think this book is a good and quick way to pick a lot of the essentials up. I also loved the pictures of the different worship buildings and monuments that deal with the religions throughout the book.