For courses in Religions of the World, History of Religions, Comparative Religion, and Introduction to Religious Studies in departments of Religion, Religious Studies, Theology, and Philosophy.

This text combines study of the dynamic historical development of each religious tradition with a comparative thematic structure. Students are encouraged to discover and explore the nature of religious experience by comparing basic themes and issues common to all religions, finding connections with their own personal experiences. By sensitively introducing descriptive material within a comparative thematic structure, this text helps students to understand how each religion provides, for its adherents, patterns and meanings that make up a full way of life.