This book reexamines the meaning and significance of the first World's Parliament of Religions and its impact on the development of the academic study of religion. Held in Chicago in 1893, the Parliament attracted the participation of religious leaders from different faiths and a smaller number of academics who studied religion from what they called "scientific" perspectives. Following an introduction by the editor, the essays are organized into three sections. Part
I reissues six papers on comparative religion from the Parliament's original proceedings. Part II contains two articles, both written within a year of the Parliament, that express an early appraisal of the significance of the Parliament for world religious history and the comparative study of
religion. A third and final Part contains eight contemporary essays reassessing the Parliament itself and its impact on interfaith dialogue and comparative religion.