Author: James George Roche Forlong

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2015-06-14

Total Pages: 712

ISBN-13: 9781330437476

Excerpt from Short Studies in the Science of Comparative Religions: Embracing All the Religions of Asia The following "Short Studies" on very important subjects are published at the urgent request of friends who have read them in a less complete state in an encyclopaedia of religious terms, rites and symbolisms, upon which the author has been engaged for a great many years, and out of which grew his previous volumes. Other subjects might have been selected as more popular, but none could be so vital or fundamental, and as regards religious ideas, so all-embracing. This volume is virtually an epitome of religions, but is rather for the general reader than the specialist, for it shows the former the result of the researches of the latter, and the important scope of these; and it is hoped makes the general literary position more assured. The public are rarely equipped with the necessary information on which to form a judgment, so that much precious time and literary labour is often wasted in arguing or rehearsing matters, which have long passed beyond the province of controversy. The work of the specialist is rarely attractive to the public, because it is not only technical but destructive and seems to surround one with pitfalls and uncertainty. It is the work of the expositor to search solid ground and the task is often as thankless as it is laborious. He must popularise as far as possible, the knowledge hid away in dusty tomes, and scattered in home and foreign magazines, as well as in scientific journals. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.