Ninian Smart (1927 - 2001) was Emeritus Professor of Comparative Religion and of Religious Studies at the Universites of California and Lancaster. He was recognised as one of the world's foremost scholars in religious studies and was President of the American Academy of Religion for the year 2000. He authored many acclaimed books, including The Religious Experience, Dimensions of the Sacred and The World's Religions.

Oliver Leaman is Zanker Professor of Judaic Studies and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Kentucky. He has written and edited numerous books, including Key Concepts in Eastern Philosphy (Routledge, 1999) and the Encyclopedia of Asian Philosophy (2001).

Preface 1. The History of the World and our Philosophical Inheritance (Donald Wiebe) 2. South Asian Philosophies (Chris Bartley) 3. Chinese Philosophies (Sor-hoon Tan) 4. Korean Philosophies (Oliver Leaman) 5. Japanese Philosophies (Gereon Kopf) 6. Philosophies of Greece, Rome and the Near East (David Bradshaw) 7. Islamic Philosophies (Oliver Leaman) 8. Jewish Philosophies (Aaron Hughes) [...]ope (Oliver Leaman) 10. North America (Cynthia Gayman) 11. Latin America (Susanna Nuccetelli) 12. Modern Islam (Muhammad Kamal) 13. Modern South and South-East Asia (Chris Bartley) 14. China, Korea and Japan in Modern Times (Geron Kopf, Sor-hoon Tan) 15. African Philosophies (Safro Kwame) 16. Concluding Reflections Bibliography (Patrick O' Donnell) Index