This is a one-volume distillation of the 16-volume Macmillan Encyclopaedia of Religion. Drawing on a wealth of data made available by the encyclopaedia, Eliade began work on what was to become this compendium, in which the major religions are arranged in an alphabetical format. The history of 33 religions and information concerning religious events, notions and personalities are listed. The dictionary is arranged in two parts, with the Macro-dictionary containing summaries and explanations of 33 world religions, including Shinto, Shamanism, Taoism, South American religions, Slavic and Baltic religions, Confucianism, Egyptian mystery and Oceanian religions. The Micro-dictionary defines terms and topics of religions as well as providing references to longer explanations in the Macro-dictionary.