Geography of Religion: Where God Lives, Where Pilgrims Walk

Christian Century, Dec 14, 2004

Geography of Religion: Where God Lives, Where Pilgrims Walk.

By Susan Tyler Hitchcock, with John L. Esposito. National Geographic Books, 416 pp., $40.00.

This book traces the history and spread of the five major religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. As might be expected in a book published by the National Geographic, the photography is outstanding; unfortunately, there are few maps even though the volume purports to be about the geography of religion. The book has an introduction by Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his daughter Mpho, who is also an Anglican priest, and an epilogue by the Dalai Lama, demonstrating the authors' claim that a requirement for world peace is a better understanding and tolerance among the world's religions. The Tutus note that religion is capable of creating saints and breeding fanatics (both Mother Teresa and Adolf Hitler in the case of Christianity); and that knowledge of other religions and their practitioners need not undermine our own faith, but rather can deepen it as we're challenged to examine its tenets more closely.