For nearly half a century, Huston Smith has educated people in the East and West about the religions of the world. Being raised in different cultures by parents sensitive to their surrounding afforded Smith a broad, inter-faith and ecumenical mindset from the beginning, rather than one that had to be developed through academic or philosophical persuasion.
When I took a class on Islam as part of my undergraduate degree, the professor recommended this text, 'The Religions of Man', as short but good overview of the world's major religions generally, and I have always appreciated that recommendation. After a brief introduction, entitled 'Points of Departure', Smith looks at the major religions in turn in the following order: Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. This is not an alphabetical ordering, nor geographic or chronological ordering. As Smith realised this book would be mostly read in the West, he put Christianity last, not as a slight, nor as a last-shall-be-first, but rather to develop a sensitivity in the text to other religions without the explicit Christian framework dictating the text.
There are several things which this text is NOT, as Smith explains in the introductory chapter. It is not intended as an historical overview of the religions, although that certainly comes into the discussion. It is not intended as a complete or rounded view of the religions - simply exploring the different denominations of Christianity could fill far more pages than this book in whole. Smith has been selective. Drawing from the best features that demonstrate the best values of each religion, he draws together an essay on each. However, this is not a comparative religions text, either. There are few comparisons and contrasts made throughout, permitting each religion to stand on its own merits.
Huston Smith sees the twentieth century in history not as a period that will be remembered for wars or nuclear weapons or Communism and Nazism, but rather as 'the time in which all the peoples of the world first had to take one another seriously.' Looking at the religions of the world and taking them seriously in their own right is an important step, as the religions of the people tend to be more enduring than politics, nation-states, and even ethnicity and general culture.
This book is accessible and written to the level of beginning undergraduates, relatively free of jargon, with terms defined when they are used, and concepts clearly explained. For each section on the major religions, there are suggestions for further reading, although these may now be somewhat out of date. Originally published in 1958, based on a television series Huston Smith conducted on the major religions of the world, it has been updated occasionally with reprinting.
Smith attempts to present the religions as living faiths rather than dry academic subjects. In many respects, he succeeds in this task, which is one of the primary reason the book remains in print and in demand after decades of use.
