As world events driven by religious fervor take center stage, more and more of us seek to identify and understand the religions of the world.

We couldn’t ask for a more erudite spiritual guide than Father Michael Collins, a Catholic priest and teacher of world religion at the American University in Rome. Father Collins delivers a thorough, engaging, and in-depth chronicle of the world’s major faiths.

About the Author

Father Michael Collins was born in Dublin and was ordained in 1985. He worked in a number of Dublin parishes and pursued postgraduate studies at the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology in Rome. He currently lectures on world religion at the American University in Rome. Father Collins recently wrote The Fisherman’s Net: The Influence of the Popes on History (Columba, 2004), and is co-author of The Story of Christianity: 2000 Years of Faith (DK, 2003).