As with many volumes of this kind, it has originated in the US and is heavily geared to education systems there. The opening chapter, giving introductory information as to why one might choose to study religion are more generally transferable to other countries, but one is left sometimes wondering if it is offering insights that the reader will already have, in other words, if someone has decided to study religion and picks up this book, do they want so much detail about why they might want to study the subject, when they have already made that choice?
There are summaries as to why religion continues to be of interest and relevance because of continuing cultural references as well as the more obvious faith reasons and some distillation of religious and philosophical thinking covering ‘classic theories’ from Christian and other religious dimensions to the work of Marx, Freud and Jung.
This second edition also updates information on issues such as globalisation. The book notes two important aspects of life today: that many Christians are ignorant about the facts of their faith and content of the Bible, and that (especially bearing in mind the US perspective) there is an increasing need for people to be informed about a range of religions as so much of modern day politics is bound up with expressions of a number of different faiths. When the book moves on to aspects of faith and the difference between theology and religious studies, this becomes more useful. In that sense it would be good for a prospective student to be sure he or she is undertaking the course that meets his or her needs most appropriately.
For the book's size there is also a good amount of further reading to help the new student. However, with the exception of large institutions where theology or religion is studied, it seems a less relevant purchase for UK institutions on the whole.
