The Religions Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained Kindle Edition

Just received the book, “The Religions Book”, “ Big ideas Simply Explained”, and after a cursory review I would give the book a B-. The book gives a synopsis of various religions both past and present. The actual issue that I ran into was on page 334. While the paragraph at the beginning of the page appears concise, the material afterwards about The Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches is a bit misleading because of the language/grammar used. The author(s) state that the Roman Catholic Church originates during the 1st century CE, and that the Eastern Orthodox Churches originate from 1054. Not so. This is technically not correct. Both Churches stem from Christ and His Apostles during the 1st century. In the beginning there was only one Church and that was the Christian Church. The Churches were; the Church of the West (Substantially centered in Rome) and the Church of the East centered in Constantinople. But even before we can speak of “centers”, of the entire Christian Church, the Church was united through Faith and the Ecumenical Counsels until the Great Schism of 1054. Until that time the Christian Church was fully Catholic (Catholic means Universal), which the Church was considered universal as to one teaching. Why was there a Schism? Various reasons developed between the East and Western Church. One was the use of statues used within the Western Church. The other was the use of Icons by the Eastern Church. The Schism also developed over the use of the Church of the West (Rome) adding the Filioque to the “Creed”. The Creed is and still remains within the Eastern Orthodox Church unchanged and a statement of Faith. The term Filioque meaning “and through the Son” was not used in the original Creed developed during the 1st and 2nd Ecumenical Counsels but added by the Church of the West. One my wonder why would simply changing a single short line in the Creed be so important? The answer is more important than just a few simple words. Adding the Filioque to the Creed posed a very real problem. The Filioque, and the part of the Creed where it was inserted, addresses the how the Holy Spirit proceeds from within the Triune God head of Christianity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In inserting the Filioque stating the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father (and the Son) causes a major problem within the Christian Church. The issue stems from the baptism of Christ, by John the Baptist. The Holy Spirit descended upon Christ, in the form of a dove, while he was being baptized in the Jordan River by John The Baptist. If the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father “and the Son”, this would mean that Christ sent the Holy Spirit unto Himself, which would negate the baptism of Christ. Additionally the first two Holy Ecumenical Councils of the ENTIRE Christian Church composed the Creed and it was agreed by the entire Christian Church, both Eastern and Western, that the Creed would not be changed under any circumstance. The Creed is a statement of Christian Faith for the Entire Christian Church.Getting back to the differentiation on page 334. Both the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church have the same origins within the time line beginning with Christ and His Apostles. So I feel that the book overall may be in question, or slanted one way or the other, for the different religions that are addressed. I will attempt to update this review in the future.

This is a good book for what it is - an overview and short synopsis of many various religions throughput history. The book is separated into major religions and time periods (ancient beliefs, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, etc). No one religion is discussed in much detail. I recommend this book, as I have found it to be very interesting (it's easy to pick up and read for even short periods). Please mark if you find my review helpful. Thank you so much!

The writers constantly refer to gods of religions other than the more modern ones as mythical. They even go so far as to refer to some religions as mythical.That to me is putting out a suggestion that their religion is the "real thing" and the others are a myth.

Mind boggling is an understatement. Page after page after page of wackos that thought God (or someone) was talking to them from the great beyond, telling them to start a new religion (or correct an existing one). All the incredible intricacies that each religion comes up with in service of their God (or gods) completely convinced that they and they alone have it right. There are a few at least, that have an inclusive view of other's beliefs, but a great number of them - not so much. My advice?...If you see humans coming your way...run!

I read some reviews written in 2014 saying that this book wasn't formatted correctly. That is now longer the case. I checked the formatting on my Amazon Fire Kindle and on my Ipad Kindle, both were excellent.

I give this book 5 stars, for being exactly as I hoped for. A brief introduction on the most basic and fundamental subjects in religion. It has achieved its aspirations, by explaining religion in a simple to understand language. Has given enough information in order to understand the key points, but not too much that I would feel like I am wasting my time reading it.

Like all DK books, The Religions Book is an excellent resource. Beautiful, formatted well, easy to read. Fascinating subjects broken down into understandable overviews and reflections. You cannot go wrong when you buy a DK Publishing book. They are always written by reputable scholars, full of incredible illustrations or pictures, and a pure joy to read. You rarely even realize you are LEARNING! This book is no different. Buy it.BUT . . . DO NOT BUY THE KINDLE VERSION. I have never seen a worse Kindle book. Whoever formatted this book for Kindle should be sent back to school (or prison?). You cannot read it on Kindle. You cannot read it on the PC. It pops up in a little box of tiny text that you cannot even zoom in comfortably to read! You cannot highlight. Just a terrible experience.It really is not fair that an awesome book like this gets its reviews skewed because whoever was in charge of the Kindle version RUINED it.I own a dozen or more DK books and treasure them all. The Kindle version is garbage, but the book itself is nearly perfect.

This Religions book was superbly written with intelligent research on the major world faiths still in the world today. This Religions Book informs people of the beliefs and world views of other people and their religious path that they are on. The Authors point out key terms and phrases of the faith groups adherents.This information is vitaly important in engaging with the Religions of this world.Mankind has the eternal within their hearts and searches for truth and wants to know why are we here? Who is God? Where do I come from? How do I live? What does it all mean?When will I obtain the answers I am looking for?

If you have an autistic child I’m sure you are fully aware of how difficult it is to teach them about religion. Or at least it’s been my experience that it’s a subject they don’t always get. My daughter was the same and schooling during lockdown has been a challenge to say the least. This is one of a few books I purchased to help her, and me! This was a great book that explained things in a way she understood. So full marks to them for that.

Incredible book, there is so much information in here it takes a few read throughs to absorb it all. Well laid out so the reader can dip in / out to read specific sections. Good use of illustrations throughout and well worth adding to your collection if this subject matter interests you.

I'm sure the book will be great as DK books are but when i opened it there was that intoxicating stink that occasionally new books have. I couldn't bare it.....it was so up my nose stinking out my room. I tried standing the book up and fanning it out but no luck so sadly sending back and will wait to go to bookshop so I can have a sniff before buying!! Very disappointing as was really looking forward to reading it.

I ended up returning as I initially bought for my 10year old who has many of the other books in this series, but this book just seemed too detailed and the language used maybe too difficult for a 10year old to understand.