Encountering World Religions

Irving Hexham is professor of Religious Studies at the University of Calgary and adjunct professor of World Christianity at Liverpool Hope University. He has published twenty-seven academic books, including The Concise Dictionary of Religion, Understanding Cults and New Religions, and Religion and Economic Thought, plus eighty major academic articles and chapters in books, numerous popular articles, and book reviews. Recently he completed a report for the United Nations’ refugee agency on religious conflict in Africa and another for the Canadian Government’s Department of Canadian Heritage on Religious Publications in Canada. He is listed in Who’s Who in Canada and various scholarly directories. In 2008, he was honored at the historic Humboldt University in Berlin with a Festschrift, Border Crossings: Explorations of an Interdisciplinary Historian (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag).

As a good teacher, Hexham is not afraid to offer the kind of opinion or insight that is bound to provoke discussion and debate. This book is the fruit of many years of trying to encourage university students to engage meaningfully with the study of religion. -- Gerald J. Pillay, vice-chancellor and rector, Liverpool Hope University

Hexham is well known to his many readers through his publications on religious studies, both as a general field of research, as well as represented in various movements, both local and worldwide. -- Gary R. Habermas, distinguished research professor and chair of the department of philosophy and theology, Liberty University

Hexham offers an introduction to the study of religions based on his years of teaching the subject, an impressive multicultural knowledge of various religious traditions. -- Larry Hurtado, emeritus professor of New Testament language, literature and theology, University of Edinburgh

Hexham's book is a resource that brings clarity to the vast world of religious beliefs. This needs to be on the bookshelf of every Christian leader. -- Rev. Dr. Carson Pue, Trinity Western University