The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature
William James, My Old Classics, My Old Classics
- 727 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature
William James, My Old Classics, My Old Classics
About This Book
The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James - is a book by Harvard University psychologist and philosopher William James. It comprises his edited Gifford Lectures on natural theology, which were delivered at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland between 1901 and 1902. The lectures concerned the psychological study of individual private religious experiences and mysticism, and used a range of examples to identify commonalities in religious experiences across traditions.In this first lecture, James outlines the scope of his investigation. Neither a theologian nor a historian of religion, James states that he is a psychologist and therefore his lectures will concern the psychology of religious feelings, rather than the institutions of religion. This further limits his enquiry to religious phenomena that have been articulated and recorded by individuals, limiting his study to either modern writers or sources from history which have become classic texts.