This fully revised and updated dictionary is an invaluable reference for students of religion, containing a comprehensive bibliography as well as general and synoptic indexes.

Recent Reference Books in Religion provides incisive summaries and evaluations of more than 350 contemporary reference works on religious traditions ancient and modern that have been published in English, French and German. For maximum usefulness to readers, Professor Johnston has broadly defined religion to include not just the world religion of Christianity , Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism but also such alternative approaches as mythology, folklore, and the philosophy of ethics. Each entry, analyzing a particular work, includes full bibliographic details as well as commentary: outstanding articles and contributors are highlighted, strengths and weaknesses are carefully noted and weighed. Readers are directed to volumes whose strengths and weaknesses are carefully noted and weighed. Readers are directed to volumes whose strengths complement the weaknesses of others. An indispensable guide in any religious studies collection, Recent Reference Books in Religion: 2nd Edition includes works published through the end of 1997. It also includes a Glossary that describes types and functions of refernce books, and five indexes: Titles, Authors, Topics, Persons and Places.

The Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion offers a fully rounded and highly authoritative point of access to all aspects of ancient religious life and thought. Dr Simon Price and Dr Emily Kearns, area advisers for the third edition of the Oxford Classical Dictionary, have come together to select, revise, edit, and in some cases wholly recast, a large number of key entries from OCD to create this handy, accessible reference work on mythology and religion in the Graeco-Roman world. Bringing to the attention of a wider audience the authority and scholarly rigour of OCD, the Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion provides students, teachers, and general readers with an affordable comprehensive, and wide-ranging A-Z reference source. The Dictionary is unique in that in addition to Greek myths and Roman festivals it covers Greek and Roman religious places, monuments, religious personnel, divination, astrology, and magic, and also contains many entries on Judaism and Christianity in Greek and Roman times.

A handy guide to every religion practised in India In India, the birthplace of some of the world’s major faiths and home to many more, religion is a way of life, existing as much in temples, mosques, churches and wayside shrines as it does in social laws, cultural practices and the political arena. The Religions of India contains, in a single volume, a comprehensive account of every major faith practised in the country today—Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and the Bahai faith. This meticulously researched work traverses a vast range of topics—from Somnatha Temple and Babri Masjid to Tirthankaras and the Akali Movement; from the Shariat and the Eucharist to Shabuoth and nirvana. It places each religion in its historical context, tracing its evolution from its inception to the present. • Incisive profiles of founders and key patrons, deities, saints, mystics and philosophers • Information on and insights into lesser-known and regional forms of worship, as well as important festivals, customs and rituals • Extensively cross-referenced with suggestions for further reading

Providing a genuinely full guide to the theory and methods related to religious studies, this text - written entirely by world-renowned specialists - is the ideal resource for those studying the discipline.

The Evolution of Major Faiths World Religions looks at the beliefs and practices of many different religions, from the ancient Egyptians to Zoroastrianism -- the oldest "living" religion -- and the great faiths practiced today. Each of the major faiths -- Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Islam -- is examined in detail through its sacred texts, epic imagery, key beliefs, and religious artifacts. The distinctive identities of different faiths are explored in World Religions by studying the main principles and thinking of each religion. The book's superb reproduction allows the symbolism and meaning in religious imagery and iconography to be revealed in great detail. Accessible and far-reaching, World Religions will engage the whole family as much as the serious student. Book jacket.