In a supplementary textbook for world history students, the Johnsons tackle the huge task of presenting the history of worldwide religious developments strategically and efficiently. The authors defined Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam as the ‘universal religions’, since these three ‘welcome all who believe’, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or nationality (p. 6). The commonalities and differences among the three are noted throughout the entire book, and regional religions, including Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, and several heretical spin-offs from Christianity, are also addressed. Thus the reader acquires a well-structured presentation of almost all major religious events and trends in the eastern hemisphere before 1500.

Chapter One begins with the historical settings of the births of Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. Both the socio-economic conditions and the spiritual atmosphere at the time of their foundings are presented with clarity. The reader can get a good sense of Siddhartha, Jesus, and Muhammad as real persons taking up the challenges of their times. The only problem with regard to the life stories of the early religious teachers is Siddhartha Gotama's transition from ascetic teacher into the Buddha. At first, the authors set the stage for the coming of the Buddha in South Asia: ‘In this milieu of reform the questioning groups of ascetics, almost entirely non-brahmins who most often came from small republics bordering larger kingdoms, began to teach new ways to moksha … One of these wandering teachers was Siddhartha Gotama, who would become the Buddha’ (p. 12). In spite of this good beginning, when they begin to discuss the spiritual worlds of Buddhism, the reader encounters the old textbook stereotype that Siddhartha was a prince who had a luxurious life before reaching enlightenment (p. 19). Apparently, when describing the Buddha as a former prince, they relied on scholarship based on Pali Buddhist texts discovered in the nineteenth century. In fact, the story of the Buddha as a young prince was the creation of Ashvaghosha, a Mahayana Buddhist theologian and playwright who lived in the early centuries CE, some 600 years after the Buddha's passing. Prior to Ashvaghosha's account there was never any suggestion that Siddhartha was a prince. Hopefully, this minor mistake can be corrected in the next printing of the book.

The strength of the book is the early history of Christianity. Due to discoveries of early Christian documents, the Christian public has been taking a fresh look at the history of the church. In their analysis of the environment of early Christianity, the Johnsons emphasize the legacies of Zoroastrianism. Even though most students, especially Christian ones, know the story of the magi who brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the newborn Jesus, they do not even suspect that the magi were actually Zoroastrian priests. Here one learns that early Christians were familiar with Zoroastrian beliefs and practices. The analyses of the impact of Mithraism, Gnosticism, and Hellenism also reveal the theological diversity of the early Christian church. In addition, the development of a variety of different Christian churches is also more comprehensible. What is puzzling in this section is the omission of any discussion of Manichaeanism, an essential bridge between Zoroastrianism and Christianity. Readers will eventually find the section on Manichaeanism near the end of the book (pp. 184–6) under the heading ‘New syncretic faiths develop’, where it is discussed along with Sikhism. Given the chronological distance between these two religions, it would be better if they were discussed separately. Furthermore, a discussion of Manichaeanism in the Christian section would give more insight into the early church.

In the section on Christianity, the authors describe all major events from the time of Paul to the reformation with great smoothness and clarity. The highlight in this brief history of the Christian church is the section on ‘The debate over relics’ (pp. 102–3). Although the cults that surrounded saints are an accepted historical fact, relic worship has been a source of embarrassment for modern Christians. Here the Johnsons address relic worship in Europe along with the worship of icons and the subsequent period of iconoclasm in the Byzantine Empire. Thus, both relics and icons were a part of the cult of saints, which was expressed differently in different historical contexts. The contrasts and similarities within the various controversies regarding relics and icons reveal some of the intrinsic concerns of medieval Christendom, in both the east and the west.

The narrative describing the development of Islam from its origin on the Arabian Peninsula to its spread throughout the Dar Al-Islam is brief, yet comprehensive. The account of the split between Sunnis and Shi'as, the role of women in early Islamic politics, and the different and supplementary roles of the Ulama and the Sufis in guiding Muslim religious life are all eye-opening to world history students. Using the concept of ‘Islamization’ to explain the wide reach of Islamic culture is an effective way to rebut the simplistic picture that bloody conquests won quick conversion to Islam. The cultural achievements under Islamic rule, with a beautiful illustration of the observatory in Istanbul (p. 156), should be an important section under its own subtitle. In addition, the discussion of science and scholarship should be removed from the section entitled ‘Soldiers and mamluks’. Again, these are minor shortcomings that could be easily mended.

The last chapter, ‘Similarity and differences among the universal religions’, is a useful tool to help students understand that the religions did not develop in isolation from each other, but were constantly learning from each other in spite of numerous hostile encounters. The section entitled ‘Attitudes toward science’ (pp. 193–4), for instance, points out that Islamic scientists learned from Greek thinkers, and ‘Christian Europe gained a deep knowledge about the classical Greek thinkers in the thirteenth century, largely from Muslims in al-Andalus’ (p. 194).

In short, Universal religions in world history is a very useful supplementary textbook for world history classes, either general or thematic. I, for instance, plan to use it for my thematic world history course ‘Silk and religion’.