Review by Choice Review
A June 1988 feature article reviews this title on page 0000.
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
A full nine years after its appearance in print, the most authoritative multivolume set on world religions is available in electronic format. The CD-ROM version of the 16-volume Encyclopedia of Religion [RBB O 1 87] offers DOS, Macintosh, and Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 versions all on one disc. The DOS version features pull-down menus and a sidebar offering various retrieval capabilities. The accompanying 19-page manual points out, however, that the DOS version does not offer all of the query functions available in the Windows version, such as the ability to retrieve by entry title. Therefore, this review concentrates on the Windows version. The entire text of the encyclopedia is available on the CD-ROM, as well as the relatively few illustrations that were in the print set. None of the articles were updated for the CD-ROM--an important consideration for any library already owning the print work. The opening screen features three major search buttons: "Synoptic Outline," "Contributors," and "Encyclopedia." The first is divided into two categories: Religions and The History of Religion. The Religions category features hyperlinks to entries on specific religions (Indian Religions, Southeast Asian Religions), while the latter covers more philosophic topics (Art, Science, Society). "Contributors" is a list of all contributors with hyperlinks to their articles, while "Encyclopedia" offers the complete text of the work, literally "cover-to-cover," starting with the prefatory material on through the entries proper. Unfortunately, this method does not allow for specific article lookup but only the ability to click on a letter of the alphabet and then scroll through all the entries until the desired one is found. A toolbelt features options such as the table of contents and the ability to bookmark articles. The search button will be the one used most often. Clicking this button results in a window where one may enter keywords. They can be combined with Boolean operators, truncated, and phrase searched using quotation marks (such as "second great awakening" ). There are also some fairly sophisticated features available, including the use of symbols for ordered or unordered proximity operators, followed by the number of words allowed to separate them. Searching luther melancthon/25, for example, retrieves luther within 25 words of melancthon in that order. (Unfortunately, wildcards may not be used in phrase or proximity searching.) Another advanced feature is using the "%" sign to search for word roots. Entering give%, for example, will retrieve gave, giving, etc. Using a dollar sign after a word will retrieve synonymous terms. A search on satan, for example, retrieves 174 hits. Searching satan$, however, retrieves 355 hits, as the search also retrieves occurrences of devil, Mephistopheles, and Beelzebub. These latter two features are excellent enhancements for a full-text database. Most of these options (except for the availability of the NOT operator) are briefly outlined in the search box screen, although there are a variety of help screens available, too. The help system, unlike most Windows-based help systems, does not offer searchable help. Instead, the user must pore through a variety of menu-based help options. The search box features one confusing piece of information. At the top of the box are the directions: "Enter a word or '[' to begin query." If the user enters a bracket as instructed, another message appears: "Which scope: Level, Field, Highlighter, Note, Popup or Group." We could not locate any onscreen help regarding these options, nor are they mentioned in the manual. To further confuse matters, when one chooses search from the pull-down menu at the top of the screen, the very first option is Query, which opens a retrieval window where the only instructions given are: "Enter a word or '[' to begin query" without any indication of the availability of Boolean operators. It is only when one chooses search, then search
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Eliade, assisted by ten well-known editors and an impressive group of contributors, has produced a monumental encyclopedia that aptly reflects contemporary religious scholarship and interdisciplinary influences from the humanities, the fine arts, the social sciences, and the natural sciences. The work largely replaces the Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, edited by James Hastings (Edinburgh, 1908-1926; New York, 1955. reprint), an important reference series that has become outdated both in its conception of religion as chiefly theoretical (rather than also sociological and practical) and its Western bias, and by the progress of religious research (including hermeneutical and methodological approaches) and discovery (e.g., Dead Sea Scrolls, Nag Hammadi library, and research in folk religion and in gnostic and esoteric traditions). While there are several one-volume encyclopedias and dictionaries of religion in general, as well as multivolume encyclopedias of single religions, nothing compares in scope and currency to the present work. The entries are clearly written, with attention to scholarly detail; alphabetized, but with sub-topical organization (e.g.,``Rites of Passage'' has five adjacent articles providing an overview, several definitions, and separate articles on Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim rites); and accompanied by end-of-entry bibliographies. The work especially deserves commendation for its internationalism of topics, contributors, and points of view; its attention to primitive religions throughout the world; its treatment of alchemy, the occult, mysticism, and popular traditions; and its conception of religion as a vital part of human culture (including articles on atheism and Marxism). Religious information is used to illuminate human experience and the meaning of being humana use that implies, for many of the contributors, a belief in the unity of core experience beneath its diverse manifestations. Its coverage of the so-called great religions is comprehensive and balanced but avoids presenting them (or anything else) as normative. As editor Joseph M. Kitagawa says, the aim was ``to produce not a dictionary but a genuine encyclopedia that would introduce educated, nonspecialist readers to important ideas, practices, and persons in the religious experience of humankind from the Paleolithic past to our day.'' In this aim the editors have succeeded admirably. Nonspecialist readers of all types will find here a wealth of information on religion and its interaction with other aspects of human culture. Indispensable for all libraries. (Index not seen.) Carolyn M. Craft, English, Philosophy & Modern Languages Dept., Longwood Coll., Farmville, Va. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Library Journal Review
