World Religions: An Indispensable Introduction (Nelson's Quick Guides) Paperback – April 4, 2011

I'm not sure where to start. There is an incredible amount of useful information in this book. Professor McDermott has done a masterful job of representing the basics of all the major religions from a Christian perspective. It is done in an engaging and understandable way. My first impression before reading it was "wow, such a small book, I guess it won't tell me much." I was very wrong. While short, it thoroughly covers the basics of each religion, including information from practitioners of each religion. A previous reviewer stated this book is only good for "close minded Christians". I completely disagree with that statement. The book represents an unbiased review of each religion's basic history, beliefs and practices. It also includes biased information from at least one practitioner of each religion, as well as the author's view on a Christian's perspective of the religion. It is written in humility, and ends with a strong encouragement that a Christian can and should learn from other religions instead of closing off and rejecting those of other faiths simply because they are different. That is about as polar opposite of "close minded" as you can get. For example, one point that McDermott states Christians can learn from Muslims is their dedication to prayer. The point he makes is that Muslims pray 5 times daily. A Christian could learn from this practice and be encouraged also to pray more intentionally. This could also be a point of connection and dialogue between Christians and Muslims, rather than focusing simply on theological and ideological differences.So in closing, I recommend this book for anyone interested in learning the basics of world religions, and what a truly balanced Christian perspective on other world faiths should be. I also recommend this book for any Christian interested in expanding his or her knowledge and perspective of world religions. The only people I feel should not read this book are those who are so close minded that they think pointing out a difference between two beliefs, or stating disagreement with another belief is the equivalent of hatred or intolerance. It is neither. Pointing out differences, stating disagreement (and why there is disagreement) is one necessary step towards understanding and building on common ground.

This is a good introductory book, but it's not a thorough treatment of each faith, so while I would recommend using this in World Religions classes, this book would not serve all your classroom needs--supplementary resources would be required. Some of the sidebar narratives are a bit idiosyncratic and, in the Kindle version, they interrupt the flow of the chapter--as you can't hardly read around them.I appreciate the orthodox Christian perspective the author uses when making his balanced comparisons. He also does an excellent job of explaining WHY faiths believe what they do and WHY they find certain aspects of Christianity unconvincing from their worldview perspective. These are the primary reasons I can recommend this book.

I learned much about other religions I didn’t know. For each faith the author gives a very helpful summary of it’s world view, view of humanity’s problem and solution it offers. I would recommend this book to anyone seeking to learn about these major religions. The last chapter is especially helpful, offering suggestions for Christians on how to interact with the other faith-traditions.

Can't express how much I respect the author's work. I used portions of the book to teach a high school worldviews class. Would have liked to complete the book, but we did not have enough time. Perhaps we will return to it next year. After each religion covered, we had guests of those religions visit our class and answer questions we formulated based on our reading. McDermott not only made our guests' answers intelligible to us (e.g. complexities of Hinduism), he showed that what he writes matches the reality that is out there in the world.

This book was informative, but rather than being a straightforward unbiased look at world religions, there was a component of comparison to Christianity and the closing was about whether we should evangelize our neighbors of other religions. To be fair there was no hint of one being right or wrong, until that last few pages.

Mr. McDermott is a professor at Roanoke College and an ordained Anglican Priest. He is a scholar, yet this is not a dry, scholarly work. It is written for the everyman (or woman), reads well, and is remarkably thorough for its short length. Professor Dermott is able to relay much information concisely and clearly. I believe any student of religion -- or any person -- would be interested in learning the basics of the major world religions and especially how they compare with Christianity.

For Christians this provides a very balanced view of what other religions are and their teachings with clear comparison to what Christians believe.However it is very clear about Christian position in some key points. His final chapter not two common questions from Christians is a fitting close to a very good book.Highly recommended to broaden perspectives about other teachings in one reading.

This book was a great read; the information was thorough and well laid out. As the title of the book exclaims World Religions ”An Indispensable Introduction,” I can attest it is a must read for anyone who wishes to familiarize themselves with the six most none-Christian religions in the world. Well done, Dr. McDermott, thank you.

Ofrece un buen resumen de las religiones más importantes en número de fieles. Sin embargo, no menciona el mormonismo y tampoco explica demasiado bien la filosofía de algunas religiones.

Useful book to understand the world's different religions as a Christian.

Good purchase increase my knowledge.

Excellent thank you very much