On any given day, news reports from around the world often focus on religion or the effects of religion on people, countries, and events. These range from the “good,” such as religious groups rallying to help others who have been afflicted by natural disasters, to those that are “bad,” such as murder done in the name of God. Thus, understanding the various religions of the world is required in order to make sense of many international events. This encyclopedia seeks to become “a standard reference work for the emerging field of global religion” (xxxvii). The editors have compiled over 750 entries by over 370 contributors that attempt to place the role of religion in its global context. There are articles on specific religions, religious ideas and practices, and individuals. In addition and most importantly, there are articles for every country on the face of the earth which examine religion and its effects on those countries.

As a whole, this encyclopedia fulfills its goals of illuminating the field of global religion, as can be seen by the classification of the articles in the “Reader’s Guide.” The articles are classed into nine major categories: biographies; concepts and theories; countries, cities, and regions; events and historical topics; influential texts and figures of veneration; movements and organizations; religion in public life; religious traditions and groups; and social issues and global trends. The editors, however, do not give an explicit rationale for the inclusion of specific articles. This is evident especially in both the biography and the influential texts and figures of veneration categories. Among the biographies included are figures such as Asoka (the great emperor of ancient India famed for his support of Buddhism), Mircea Eliade (the great scholar of religion), and Thich Nhat Hanh (the well-known Buddhist and teacher of mindfulness meditation). Yet also included are Mohammad Atta (one of the September 11 hijackers), Eric Robert Rudolph (the Atlanta Olympic bomber), and Timothy McVeigh (the Oklahoma City Federal Building bomber). The inclusion of the latter individuals and their importance to global religion is questionable. The class of influential texts and figures of veneration includes only 24 entries, the fewest of any of the categories. Although the religious texts of most religions do not receive an entry, there are entries for the Gospel of Judas and the Gospel of Thomas, which, while invaluable, are of interest primarily to scholars of early Christianity and have not had significant impact on global religious practices. The articles on the Bible, the Qur’an, and the Veda themselves are very short (two to three pages each), which belies their importance to their respective religious traditions and to their impact upon the world. Within the religions covered, there are entries for Anglicans, Mormons (although the index includes an entry for “Church of Latter-Day Saints” instead of the official name “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints”), but no entries for groups such as Presbyterians, Baptists, or Methodists. Surprisingly, however, there are good entries for atheism and neo-paganism.

Although several shortcomings are noted with this set, the editors and contributors do break new ground, and the resulting work will fulfill the editors’ goal of becoming a standard reference work for the expanding field of global religion. Many of the topics are covered well, sometimes even better, in works such as the Encyclopedia of Religion (Macmillan Reference, 2005) and the Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices (Gale, 2006), but the emphasis of this work on the religious environments of the countries of the world make it unique. This encyclopedia will be a helpful purchase for those academic libraries that support programs in religion, international studies, anthropology, sociology, and area studies. In addition, it should be purchased by all seminary libraries.