The minister will find the Britannica an excellent encyclopaedia of comparative religion and of church history, with the newest and most authoritative information on any subject in this field. For a brief outline course in these topics let him read:
The article Religion (Vol. 23, p. 61; equivalent to 50 pages of this Guide), by Dr. Joseph Estlin Carpenter, principal of Manchester College, Oxford, and Robert R. Marett, fellow and tutor of Exeter College, Oxford, author of the Threshold of Religion and contributor to the Britannica of articles on Prayer, Ritual, etc. This article is made up of: a general introduction sketching the history of the study of religions, especially in the last century, and concluding that “the origin of religion can never be determined archaeologically or historically; it must be sought conjecturally through psychology”; a section on primitive religion, which is a remarkable summary of all that is known of this subject; and a section on the higher religions which discusses developments of animism, transition to polytheism, polytheism, the order of nature (a half-way stage to monotheism), monotheism, classification of religions, revelation, ethics and eschatology and bibliography.
Another class of articles comprises Ancestor Worship, Animal Worship, Animism, Fetishism, Folklore, Magic, Mythology, Prayer, Ritual, Sacrifice, Serpent-Worship, Totemism and Tree-Worship, written by such authorities as N. W. Thomas, author of Kinship and Marriage in Australia, etc., Andrew Lang, Stanley Arthur Cooke and R. R. Marett.
Certain primitive religions are separately treated, as in the article Indians, North American (Vol. 14, especially pages 471–473), by A. F. Chamberlain, assistant professor of anthropology, Clark University, Worcester; in the article Australia (Vol. 2, especially p. 957); in the article Hawaii (Vol. 13, pages 87, 88).
On higher religions there are the following separate articles (among many):
Babylonian and Assyrian Religion, by Morris Jastrow of the University of Pennsylvania; and the articles Anai, Ishtar, Ea, Marduk, Assur and Gilgamesh,—all by the same author and all of particular value as throwing sidelights on Hebrew Religion.
Egypt (Vol. 9, pp. 48–56), by Allan H. Gardiner, editor of the New (Berlin) Hieroglyphic Dictionary.
Hebrew Religion (Vol. 13, p. 176; equivalent to 40 pages of this Guide), by Dr. Owen Charles Whitehouse, professor of Hebrew, Cheshunt College, Cambridge; and the articles Hebrew Literature, Jews, etc.
Brahmanism (Vol. 4, p. 381) and Hinduism (Vol. 13, p. 501), by Julius Eggeling, Professor of Sanskrit, Edinburgh.
Buddhism, Buddha and Lamaism, by T. W. Rhys Davids, author of Buddhist India, etc.