Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
*Starred Review* The Encyclopedia of Religion, first published in
1987, sought "to introduce educated, nonspecialist readers to important
ideas, practices, and persons in the religious experience of humankind
from the Paleolithic past to our day." It had been some 65 years since
the last volume of a similar effort, the Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics
(New York: Scribner, 1911-22), was published, prompting two reviewers
to prophesy that it was "extremely unlikely another encyclopedia of
religion on this scale [would] appear in English for at least another
generation." Just about a generation has passed, and the second edition
of the Encyclopedia of Religion has appeared, right on schedule.
The
second edition contains "well over five hundred new topics, nearly one
thousand completely new articles, and 1.5 million more words than the
original." In his preface, the editor provides an excellent service to
readers by clearly distinguishing the differences in content between the
two editions. All 2,750 entries from the first edition were examined
for revision, 1,800 of them remaining essentially unchanged.
While
entries in both editions are signed, the name of the scholar is followed
by the date 1987 in the new edition, thereby indicating the article is
reprinted with few or no changes. When entries were updated for the
second edition, either by the original author or by another scholar, a
single name will be followed by two dates (1987 and 2005) or two names
will be listed, each followed by one of the two years. The editors
considered some articles from the first edition worthy of inclusion in
the second but no longer state-of-the-art (e.g., Mysticism, Rites of passage, Sexuality).
Here, the entry is reprinted with the title qualified by "First
Edition" and is then followed by a completely new article with the same
title but the qualifier "Further Considerations." Most, if not all,
entries conclude with supplemental bibliographies, often updated even if
the entry itself was not. When they have been updated, the new
citations follow the original bibliography under the heading "New
Sources."
Much is completely new to the second edition, most
notably in the expansion of composite entries. Employed in the first
edition, these composite entries consist of related sets of articles.
Beginning with a general overview, articles that explore, for example,
tradition-specific aspects of the Afterlife or geographical differences in Buddhism follow. Significant new composite entries have been added for Ecology and religion and Gender and religion, along with a significantly expanded composite entry for Law and religion. New religious movements is another area with enhanced coverage, including an expanded composite entry and new individual entries such as Branch Davidians; Hubbard, L. Ron; UFO religions; and Wicca. The important relationship between religion and science is explored in new entries for Bioethics and Genetics and religion, as well as a thoroughly revised entry for Science and religion.
Each volume now contains a "visual essay"-basically plates of color
illustrations with accompanying text on such topics as "Sacred Time" or
"Efficacious Images"-that seeks "to demonstrate how pervasively visual
culture permeates religion." Sadly, more than 50 new biographical
entries have been added for scholars of religion who have passed away
since the first edition was published. Included is the great Islamicist
Annemarie Schimmel, one of the editors of the first edition of the Encyclopedia of Religion and this reviewer's teacher. Requiescat in pace.
Distinguishing content between the two editions is less clear when
entries have been omitted or incorporated into another. A cursory review
of one volume of the first edition produced a couple of examples.
According to the excellent index, Muro Kyuso, a Japanese scholar of
neo-Confucianism in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, is nowhere
to be found in the second edition. The entry for Nawrz, the Persian New
Year, is now given brief mention in the article on Islamic religious year.
Arguably, both are minor subjects in the greater scheme of the
encyclopedia as a whole, but their omission does suggest that
consideration be given to keeping both editions handy.
Volume 15
contains, in addition to the index, a "Synoptic Outline of Contents"
which sorts entry headings under topics related to either individual
religions and religious traditions or religious studies. Also in this
volume is an appendix with 21 entries that could not be included in the
main A-Z portion of the encyclopedia "due to time constraints."
Academic
specialists may uncover some factual errors in this second edition and
may well quibble with the presentation of material by their colleagues.
But as reviewers of the first edition remarked-an assessment equally
true today-the Encyclopedia of Religion "will indeed provide a
generation of users with valuable summaries and analyses of the best of
current scholarship in the field of religion." If the encyclopedia has
any major flaw, it is the choice of color for the binding. While the
gold lettering against the white binding is handsome indeed, the volumes
will soon be soiled should the set receive anything close to the use it
so richly deserves. Highly recommended for academic and large public
libraries Christopher McConnell
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Encyclopedia of Religion, 15 Volume Set | Publisher: Macmillan Reference USA; 2 edition (December 17, 2004) | Lindsay Jones (Editor)
| 11000 pages | PDF | Language: English
info:http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Religion-Set-Lindsay-Jones/dp/0028657330/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327054628&sr=8-1
Download Here [89 MB]
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