Sources: Hidden Religion: The Greatest Mysteries and Symbols of the World’s Religious Beliefs
Hidden Religion: The Greatest Mysteries and Symbols of the World’s Religious Beliefs. By Micah Issitt and Carlyn Main. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2014. 531 p. Acid free $100.00 (ISBN 978-1-61069-477-3). E-book (978-1-61069-478-0) available, call for pricing.
This readable reference book generally seems to meet its stated goal. The authors’ preface states their hope “that the information in this book will inspire our readers to take the quest for knowledge further, perhaps exploring fields and issues previously unimagined” (xiv). While it might be a long conversation if a goal were to focus on what “greatest” means in the title, it does seem this work could be a handy supplement or kick start for research.
To begin, there is an opening essay, “Introduction: History and Mystery,” with these discussion sections: “Life, the Universe, and Everything,” “Religious Evolution,” and “Symbols and Secrets.” Reading this discussion is like listening to an interesting speaker, both engaging and stimulating, although a slight frustration for this reviewer was not finding any citations relevant to the historical, sociological, and religious development claims made in the essay.
The book is arranged using these major headings: “Abrahamic and Iranian Religions,” “Dharmic Religions,” “East Asian Religions,” “African Religious Traditions,” “Indigineous American Religions,” “Oceanic Religions,” and “Western Paganism.” Under those headings are short, introductory essays for religions (and nonreligion), along with confidently presented entries for a large array of visual symbols, beliefs, and practices.
An appreciated feature is the reading list with every entry. Lists include at least two books from good publishers or a book and a website. The value of these websites could be limited or need supplementing. For example, there might be a need to supplement information about Jainism obtained using the Jain Student Center website at the University of Michigan. Also, readers using some reading list sources might need to dig for information; not all of the sources focus only on the mystery or symbol being covered in the entry. In all, the lists did seem a good idea, and the author’s use of websites was also helpfully suggestive.
The select bibliography of ninety-nine sources includes books and websites; book publishers included a large number of university publishers, as well as commercial publishers (Cambridge, Oxford, Wiley-Blackwell, Routledge, etc.). There is an eighteen-word glossary that might be helpful and an 11 1/2-page index.
Other related sources not included in the bibliography would be Ferguson’s older An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mysticism and the Mystery Religions (Continuum Book, Seabury Press, 1997) and Anthony S. Mercatante’s small work The Facts On File Encyclopedia Of World Mythology And Legend (Facts on File, 2009), with its good annotated bibliographies. Larger resources would be Thomas Riggs’ Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices (Thomson-Gale, 2006) and this publisher’s companion four-volume Religions of the World, by Melton and Baumann (ABC-CLIO, 2010). Although considerably more expensive, the online Encyclopedia of Religion, edited by Linsay Jones (MacMillan, 2005), would serve as an extensive resource for topics; it contains 939 search hits for “symbols,” a large chapter on “Symbol and Symbolism,” and chapters on iconography for a range of traditions, including traditional African, Buddhist, Confucian, Egyptian, Hindu, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic cultures. Another expensive resource would be the online eHRAF World Cultures (Human Relations Area Files, 2014).
This reference book could be a useful title for high school and public libraries. It might also serve academic libraries as a stimulus for research.—Paul Fehrmann, Reference and Instruction Librarian, University Libraries, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio