got another book to talk about… actually, two, but i’m only going to get to one today… off we go…
THE OTHERS (WITH PICTURES)
now playing: Losing My Religion – REM
Nelson’s Illustrated Guide to Religions
by James A. Beverly
first, the obvious: this is a big, book… it’s certainly not a book you’re going to read cover-to-cover (at least in one sitting), but it’s one that you’ll be glad to have as a reference manual… the Illustrated Guide to Religions (i’ll call it IGoR for short) rings in at around 800 pages and covers about 20 major world religions fairly exhaustively, explaining the origins as well as the core tenets and how those beliefs translate to everyday behavior… and each section, besides presenting all of this historical and encyclopedic information, includes personal conjecture from Beverly, who’s clearly done more homework than most of us, explaining his own thoughts on the religion from the Evangelical Christian perspective that he brings to the table…
Perhaps most impressive is the detail and care with which all of this information was compiled… Beverly outlines the process that he went through to determine the validity of each religion and explain how he formed the personal opinions that are shared throughout the book… the appendices are also rather helpful insomuch as they help to understand how sects, cults, and religions are created and spread…
All in all, Nelson’s Illustrated Guide to Religions proves to be a very valuable tool to learning about the belief systems that surround us… personally, i think that understanding what others believe is a crucial piece to fulfilling the call to love our neighbors… while it’s not specifically essential, meeting others where they are certainly goes a long way towards convincing them that you care…
anyway, back to the book, one little nit-pick is that i might’ve liked it better if the information was organized by the reach of each religion rather than alphabetically… presumably this is a volume that will periodically see the release of updated versions over the years, which would make that an interesting piece to the puzzling world of religions…
peace… love… bdg…