The Spiritual Quest

Transcendence in Myth, Religion, and Science

Robert M. Torrance

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9780520081321
• eBook ISBN: 9780520920163
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Ethnic & Tribal Religion

Robert Torrance's wide-ranging, innovative study argues that the spiritual quest is rooted in our biological, psychological, linguistic, and social nature. The quest is not, as most have believed, a rare mystical experience, but a frequent expression of our most basic human impulses. Shaman and scientist, medium and poet, prophet and philosopher, all venture forth in quest of visionary truths to transform and renew the world. Yet Torrance is not trying to reduce the quest to an "archetype" or "monomyth." Instead, he presents the full diversity of the quest in the myths and religious practices of tribal peoples throughout the world, from Oceania to India, Africa, Siberia, and especially the Americas. In theorizing about the quest, Torrance draws on thinkers as diverse as Bergson and Piaget, van Gennep and Turner, Pierce and Popper, Freud, Darwin, and Chomsky. This is a book that will expand our knowledge—and awareness—of a fundamental human activity in all its fascinating complexity.
Robert Torrance's wide-ranging, innovative study argues that the spiritual quest is rooted in our biological, psychological, linguistic, and social nature. The quest is not, as most have believed, a rare mystical experience, but a frequent expression of o

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• PREFACE
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• PART ONE Animal Quaerens The Quest as a Dimension of Human Experience
• PART TWO The Spiritual Quest in Ritual and Myth
• PART THREE Spirit Possession as a Form of the Spiritual Quest
• PART FOUR Forms of the Shamanic Quest
• PART FIVE Forms of the Quest in Native America
• PART SIX The Theory of the Quest Some Closing Considerations
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• INDEX