THE ELIADE GUIDE TO WORLD RELIGIONS, by Mircea Eliade and Ioan P. Couliano.

San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1991. xii, 301 pages. $22.95.

This well-organized one-volume encyclopedia will remind readers of Eliade's History of

Religious Ideas and the multi-volume Encyclopedia of Religion. It draws upon both. The body

of the work consists of 33 entries on "major religious traditions"; some might question the

inclusion of "Thracian Religion," etc. Entries are generally readable (if somewhat terse), and are

both descriptive and interpretive: one often discerns Eliade's distinctive voice, suggesting

unexpected (and sometimes debatable) comparisons. Indeed, the volume's principal weakness is

its mingling of data and commentary: the novice can seldom distinguish the rich treasury of

historical facts from Eliade's unique (and at times idiosyncratic) perspective. While most readers

will find this volume useful and convenient, its scholarship is not so balanced or reliable as that

of the authoritative Encyclopedia of Religion.

Russell Kirkland, Macalester College

St. Paul, MN 55105