Book Review: Nelson's Illustrated Guide to Religions
Nelson’s Illustrated Guide to Religions
by James A Beverly
ISBN:9780785244912
At 850 pages in length, filled with charts, graphics, and scans of texts from various religions, the Illustrated Guide to Religions (From henceforth “the Guide.”) lives up to its name. It is a handy, quick reference to world religions. Being a guide, it is not encyclopedic, yet it gives enough references that one can certainly find it easy to gain more information on a particular religion in which they are interested.
This book is attractive, well bound, well researched, and well written. I believe it was also written fairly. A sampling of various articles showed no prejudice on the part of the writer. The Guide is certainly written from a Christian point of view, yet it does not seek to magnify every short-coming of those religions that are not Christian. Neither does The Guide waste space denigrating cultic off-shoots of Christianity. It is relatively objective in tone.
Another thing that can be said of The Guide is that it is thorough. There are even entries on the modern Purpose-Driven/Seeker Sensitive churches as well as various religions.
One thing that a person might not expect from a book such as this is to find it interesting. My experience demonstrated the fact that it is interesting. In fact, it is quite an enjoyable read.
This book deserves five stars. It is highly recommended.