«‘World Religions and Their Missions’ is a valuable contribution to a range of sub-disciplines in religious studies, including mission studies, scholarship on religion and globalization, and inter-faith dialogue. Aaron J. Ghiloni and the contributing authors explore what it means for a religion to be considered ‘missionary,’ the long shadow cast by Christianity (so often taken as the normative model of ‘religion’), and the strategies of religious missions in the twenty-first century. The exploration of seven religions/non-religions is framed by three nuanced chapters on the varieties of mission, the comparative study of mission, and a democratic framework in which mission and inter-religious dialogue can both take place and flourish.» (Carole M. Cusack, Professor of Religious Studies, University of Sydney)«Religious mission is widely associated with winning converts to a particular way of believing, but this book shows that mission among the world’s religions is conceived in diverse and complex ways. Written largely by representatives of the major religious traditions, including atheism, this comparative study will serve as an invaluable resource on a topic often overlooked or ignored among researchers and teachers in religious studies.» (James Cox, Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies, University of Edinburgh)«The imperative within many religions to propagate their beliefs and convert those of other religions has been little studied in the past. Despite being somewhat antithetical to today’s trends toward inter-religious dialogue and multiculturalism, the imperative of propagation is a strong element in many religions and shows no signs of diminishing. ‘World Religions and Their Missions’ fills a gap in the literature of the study of religion by an academic analysis of this phenomenon. This interesting book records information that has not been systematically recorded before, reveals perspectives that are not easily accessed by those outside a faith tradition, and produces a framework that can serve as a basis for further research.» (Moojan Momen, Author of Understanding Religion: A Thematic Approach)
