The Spiritual Heritage of the Human Race: An Introduction to the World's Religions

In this book based on his acclaimed classes at the University of Maryland, Bushrui, a Baha'i professor of the history of religions, empathetically describes each major world religious path and shows its connection to the spiritual quest of humanity from earliest ages. In collaboration with four other experts, the author begins with traditions of the first peoples, moves through the major world religions and ends with the Baha'i faith, which views many of the world's significant religious teachers—Zoroaster, Buddha, Abraham, Jesus, Muhammad—as messengers of the divine who preceded founder Baha'u'llah. General readers interested in religion will find a helpful travel guide to today's global religious community in this book, neither lightweight nor unnecessarily dense. The origins and founders of each religion are presented along with explanatory passages from other works. With notes and an extensive bibliography, readers will find this book a well-grounded starting point for understanding the interrelationships, commonalities and differences of faiths, and for seeing development of religious expression through time. (Nov.)