Scholars of comparative religion, theology, geography, philosophy, and, of course, religion, present essays that answer some of the most basic questions in the study of religion and help shape the key concepts necessary to explore religion as a class of everyday social practice. Organization is in three sections discussing ways to define, classify, interpret, and compare religions; describe and evaluate theories used to study religious practice; and understand Western conditions that have encouraged the growth of the modern study of religion. Distributed by Continuum. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)