Death and Afterlife: Perspectives of World Religions (Contributions to the Study of Religion, Vol. 33)
?The 13 short and necessarily selective, but nevertheless substantial chapters of this ably edited cross-cultural survey are to be recommended for being both authoritative (each contributor is an expert) and engagingly and enlighteningly written. The work is quite comprehensive, encompassing preliterate African, ancient Mediterranean, and the mainstream Western and Eastern traditions. It utilizes a variety of approaches--historical, sociological, anthropological, theological, etc. It intersects most notably with both Religious Encounters with Death, ed. by F.E. Reynolds and E.H. Waugh (CH, Apr '78) and Death, Afterlife, and the Soul, ed. by L.E. Sullivan (1989). In format, it is more akin to the former, but it differs from it in at least two main respects: (1) here the focus of each chapter is generally broader, less specialized; and (2) proportionately more attention is given to the major Western traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The new volume thus augments and complements its predecessors. Useful chapter notes, bibliography, and index. Appropriate for graduate students and upper-division undergraduates.?-Choice--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.