Search - Altars of the World - The Eastern and Western Religions on DVD

A Survey of Most Eastern Religions

Jeffrey Leeper | Seattle, WA USA | 05/11/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The video starts with the narrator saying that the video will not be making judgments about any of the religions. Its main idea is to expose us to these different religions. Covered on this tape is Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Shinto. Missing from this is Sikhism. It does cover many of the different sects, but there is no formula for how much is covered on each.This video was filmed in the 1970s, and for those of us used to more modern videos, this will seem a bit odd. At times, when a particular holy man is focusing on God (or the Ultimate or gods), the producers tried to add special effects. I found these to be distracting. When taking with the dialogue, it seems like an editorial comment on the religion.If you are just looking for a quick explanation, this would work. At the end is a quick summary of all the religions covered in the series (it includes the Western religions...which is where Sikhism is discussed). I would not use it in a classroom environment, because most textbooks I have viewed go into much deeper detail."

A Survey of Religions

Jeffrey Leeper | Seattle, WA USA | 05/11/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Rather than go into too much detail, this video will give a very brief history about the Western religions, and then will touch on the major ideas of each. Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are covered, but oddly enough, so is Sikhism. I still don't understand why.This video was filmed in the 1970s, and for those of us used to more modern videos, this will seem a bit odd. At times, when a particular holy man is focusing on God, the producers tried to add special effects. I found these to be distracting. When taking with the dialogue, it seems like an editorial comment on the religion.If you are just looking for a quick explanation, this would work. At the end is a quick summary of all the religions covered in the series (it includes the Eastern religions). I would not use it in a classroom environment, because most textbooks I have viewed go into much deeper detail."

Altars of the World

Jeffrey Leeper | 01/27/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Very interesting but dated. Presented in a very open minded way for the viewer to draw their own conclusions. I will be showing this to a Comparative Religions class."

Alters of the World

Charles R. Brown | Illinois | 03/05/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One of the finest, most objective and informational discussions of world religions EVER! I originally got it because of Lew Ayres personal history as a pacifist in WWII. I wanted to see how it manifested itself in his later career...

The artistry is amazing, the narration is easy to follow and well thought out."