How can I get an overview of the major religions asap?

September 7, 2014 3:48 AM

Hi, I'm an almost lifelong athiest. I have a job interview in 3 days (was given very little notice) for a job in a church. The job is pretty community-development-ish, but they are looking for someone with some understanding of different faiths. This is the one thing they want that I'm pretty thin on. I think it would also me good to know the main commonalities of them too. Any straightforward resources would be welcome. Thanks
posted by tanktop to Religion & Philosophy (11 answers total)

Not a formal doctrinal overview, but for a way to learn more about the particular "culture"s of different faiths, as well as a window into what issues are currently most pressing among different religious groups, the blogs at patheos are a good resource.
posted by Bardolph at 4:22 AM on September 7, 2014 [3 favorites]

How to Be a Perfect Stranger is pretty great. They provide brief summaries of the beliefs and history of each tiny branch of each religion and include etiquette rules for non-members in visiting and relating to members, which it seems might be the sort of cultural knowledge your job would be looking for.
posted by hydropsyche at 4:24 AM on September 7, 2014 [6 favorites]

The Penguin Handbook of Living Religions is quite good.
posted by Area Man at 5:08 AM on September 7, 2014

You could start here.
Also search Wikipedia.
posted by lungtaworld at 5:25 AM on September 7, 2014

Zach Anner has a wonderful YouTube series "Have a Little Faith"

Have a Little Faith is a show on Soul Pancake where Zach ( a self-proclaimed religious idiot) explores a different religion each week in a light-heated and open-minded way. Whether he’s asking Muslims about doughnuts or Mormons about underwear, Have a Little Faith proves that you don’t have to take religion so seriously to respect other people’s beliefs.
posted by NoraCharles at 5:32 AM on September 7, 2014 [1 favorite]

Beliefnet may be useful.
posted by COD at 5:58 AM on September 7, 2014 [1 favorite]

The BBC has an interesting site that looks at several faiths and religions. I've found it easy to navigate and helpful for comparing and contrasting.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 6:01 AM on September 7, 2014 [1 favorite]

How to Be a Perfect Stranger is pretty great.

Be careful with this one. I saw two glaring errors in the section on Judaism just nanoseconds after clicking on the link. (It claimed the "Haftarah" is the weekly Torah reading... umm, no.)

The BBC site and Wikipedia are good for brief intros. You won't be able to get much in-depth knowledge in 3 days anyway; you can read and learn more as time goes on.
posted by RRgal at 7:11 AM on September 7, 2014

Just a note that the author of How to Be a Perfect Stranger is himself Jewish and began this project as part of an effort to help non-Jews and Jews understand each others' religions. So, I don't know what RRgal is referring to since that word doesn't appear anywhere on the Amazon page, and in fact this book would be especially useful if Judaism is one of the religions you are hoping to understand better.
posted by hydropsyche at 11:07 AM on September 7, 2014

I am a fan of the big religion chart. Looking at them side by side you see they are broadly similar!
posted by TheGuyWhoSucks at 1:55 PM on September 7, 2014

Oxford Very Short Introductions may help.

Also check out the religions section of In Our Time.
posted by persona au gratin at 1:31 AM on September 8, 2014