The World’s Religions, Revised and Updated: A Concise Introduction

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The World’s Religions, by beloved author and pioneering professor Huston Smith (Tales of Wonder), is the definitive classic for introducing the essential elements and teachings of the world’s predominant faiths, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, as well as regional native traditions.

This revised and updated edition provides sympathetic descriptions of the various traditions, explaining how they work “from the inside,” which is a big reason why this cherished classic has sold more than two million copies since it first appeared in 1958.

Our Top Reviews

Reviewer: Doug D.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Good overview of religions
Review: This is classic book, so my description of content would just be redundant. But, it is important for the reader to have the correct expectation. As the author says in his preface, this book is not a detailed scholarly treatise of each religion. It evolved from a TV program. The book gives an overview of the main points, main history of each religion. Topics move from point to point quickly, like trying to keep a television audience interested, so they won’t get bored and change channels. If you want to understand the general idea of each religion, read this book; if you want to become an expert in one, find something else.Having said that, concerning the three religions that I already knew a lot about, this book effectively explained the main beliefs and history of those religions. So, I believe it must have done an equally good job explaining the others. The author was always respectful of each religion; they were all taken seriously. As a result, I could not tell to which religion(s) the author, himself, believed.The book was not evangelical (which it shouldn’t be). It didn’t change which three religions that speak to me the most. What it did was broaden my definition of religion. By my old definition, some of the religions in this book (notably Confucianism) would have been a philosophy, but not a religion. The authors definition was more broad than mine. The definition went something like this (paraphrasing): a set of beliefs that guide the moral life of a community. By that definition, Confucianism certainly qualifies. By that definition, even an atheist probably has a religion.The only weakness of the book, which I found, was the list of suggested further reading. I looked at a couple of the listed books about a couple different religions, and I was not impressed. But, don’t let that stop you from reading this book.

Reviewer: Dumitru Vlad
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Very informative, but difficult to read at times
Review: I enjoyed this book, but it was very difficult to follow at times. My biggest issue was the sentence in a sentence in a sentence. Smith does this a lot, and it gets annoying, confusing, and frustrating. Example; The cat has black fur – fur being the folicals that sits on the skin of many different animals, including our own which is due to evolution from primates to human beings, and it’s ironic that humans now wear clothes to keep warm when the hair was doing just that – which can be difficult to see at night. See my point? The entire book is like that, but a lot worse, and by the time you finish the second or third point you forget what Smith was even talking about in the first point. That a long with Smith’s large vocabulary makes this book difficult to read.

Reviewer: Jad El Dib
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A Book on the Essence of Religion
Review: First I would like to indicate that I am reading this book for the second time, and i think it won’t be the last. I read several books on world religions, and each offered a different way of introducing the faiths and their themes.This book focuses on the essence of each religion, its sacredness. It dives into the spiritual aspects of each of the religions and interprets them on a high academic scale.If you’re considering this book and expecting to get introduced to the major world religions, their rituals, texts, world distributions and basic theology, then other books can offer a better context. For, i am not sure how much this book describes the “religion of the common people” or if we can say, the “everyday religion”.On the other hand, if you are interested in hearing what Huston Smith, one of the leading scholars in this field, has to say about each religion, about its essence and its deepest values then this is the way to go.The chapter on “Judaism” was a bit complicated for me, and hard to follow. Other chapters especially those on Buddhism, Hinduism and Primal Religions were exceptionally innovative. His views on Hinduism are a philosophy of life.If you are buying this book, I would recommend reading it in parallel with another book: “The World’s Wisdom” by Philip Novak, which contains a rich amount of religious texts and was written to accompany Huston Smith’s book.This book is a must read for anyone wishing to have an objective and deep view of the historical and primitive faith of this world.

Reviewer: Candelaria81
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: great book
Review: I chose this book on the recommendation of my sociology instructor. The book is older but that gives it one of the least expensive school books I’ve ever purchased. Huston Smith has given each religion a personal insight. He has immersed himself, physically, mentally and spiritually into each one (considering he grew up as a child of missionaries in China, a great story in itself) and he does it with an impartiality that I think makes this book a valuable source of information. There is a dvd series by Bill Moyers w/Huston Smith but they are expensive and I think the book gives more than can be relayed by the dvd. I needed the book for my class but purchased it because it is not as dry as other ‘textbooks’ are written. It doesn’t matter WHAT religion you’re affiliated with (or not a believer) this book is a really great book. Interesting, informative and an intriguing read.

Reviewer: SMB 69
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Excellent book
Review: As thorough a review of the world’s religions as you will find in a single volumeFor the average reader like myself, it is too comprehensive; nearly every sentence contains enough thoughtful comment that I need to pause and digest it. So it’s not a fast read. But it is so interesting that I keep coming back to it. It’s meant to be read and reread. The amount of learning is very large.

Reviewer: Paul
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I have been interested in religions for a long time. Doing my own religious journey through Christianity and Zen Buddhism. I thought I had achieved a level of understanding that gave me an overview of religions that was quite consistent and robust. This book blew my mind.He had super illuminating points about every religion. The book starts with quotations that while science make major contributions to minor [human] needs, it is religion that makes contributions, however small, to things that matter most. That the book is about religion that exists as acute fever not a dull habit.Hinduism chapter was the longest and one that surprised the most. There is a casual mention that Carl Jung was influenced by Hinduism in creating his (mbti) personality types. It mentions how Hinduism caters to different personality types in how people get to know God. One is a spiritual path based on love of God very much like Christianity. Another is a spiritual path of equal validity based on the dissolution of the mind to experience God very much like Zen Buddhism. The book quotes that there comes a time when one asks even of Shakespeare and Beethoven, is this all? The book also mentions that Hindus believe God to be one and universal, appearing in different forms to each group of people. This was good as it is something that I strongly believed without ever having had confirmation.The book was full of such revelations and confirmations as well as brand new insights that took my breath away. (I copied many extracts for easier access in the process learning for the first time that Kindle books have copy limits. Haha.) This book was very valuable to me.

Reviewer: Alain R Dumonceaux
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Excellent book on the history of the great religions I am driven to continue my exploration in greater depth because of this book

Reviewer: samyak sambit mohapatra
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Here the best of all religions is given. The core philosophies of the religion are given, and the author has made himself clear regarding it from the beginning. He has successfully brought out the beauty of all religions, and reading his work you will understand how all religions are similar in several respects. I hope all people will at least read this book before talking about religions in any forum.I have the Kindle version. It’s good. There are no diagrams and pictures here, so a Kindle version will do just good.

Reviewer: Leon
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I am pleased to read a book on religions able to delve into the heart of the main religions with Smith’s erudition and in-depth understanding.It’s simplicity makes for great reading and understanding. However, there is one glaring fault. Although he examines the establishment of each religion with a detailed historical chronology, his discussion of Judaism relies solely on the chronology of Judaism as it is presented in Bible of which there is no record prior to the return of the Jews from captivity in Babylon – 562 BCE. This disconnect skewers his whole argument which gives a lot of credence to biblical myths obtained from other cultures and religions that predate the Bible by thousands of years.

Reviewer: Kindle Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This e book is a great piece of religious knowledge which works well into the mind where the major religions are dissected and examined thoroughly using intelligible English language and literature. The Author is careful to respectfully treat the religions words and uncover it’s meanings as a mother looks after her own child tending it and observing it’s form and functionality. Huston Smith wisely opens up to his readers the mysterious ways in which God communicates his message to mankind through powerful symbolic sentences imparting his revelation of the bond between man and man , woman and woman , man and woman with nature and God. The book feels through the almost tapestry like quality of the religions of this world so the reader can discover the significance of the other worldliness that is hidden within the veil of revealed religion. Well thought through e book. Very true and godly. Splendid examination of a phenomenon which affects human society in positive ways to build up the brotherhood of all sentient beings. This e book is one of those works of brilliant insight that is amazing and rereadable both to a young audience of say teenagers to older senior citizens. Wonderful adventure into the unknown using useful word tools to explain what is discovered in the centres of religiosness zigzagging human communities and influencing whole nations.

Price effective as of Mar 21, 2025 01:09:18 UTC

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