The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature

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Penguin, Dec 16, 1982 - Philosophy - 576 pages
Standing at the crossroads of psychology and religion, this catalyzing work applied the scientific method to a field abounding in abstract theory. William James believed that individual religious experiences, rather than the precepts of organized religions, were the backbone of the world's religious life. His discussions of conversion, repentance, mysticism and saintliness, and his observations on actual, personal religious experiences - all support this thesis. In his introduction, Martin E. Marty discusses how James's pluralistic view of religion led to his remarkable tolerance of extreme forms of religious behaviour, his challenging, highly original theories, and his welcome lack of pretension in all of his observations on the individual and the divine.
 

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Contents

RELIGION AND NEUROLOGY
1
CIRCUMSCRIPTION OF THE TOPIC
26
THE REALITY OF THE UNSEEN
53
THE RELIGION OP HEALTHYMINDEDNESS
78
THE SICK SOUL
127
THE DIVIDED SELF AND THE PROCESS OF ITS UNIFICATION
166
CONVERSION
189
CONVERSION Concluded
217
THE VALUE OF SAINTLINESS
326
MYSTICISM
379
PHILOSOPHY
430
OTHER CHARACTERISTICS
458
CONCLUSIONS
485
POSTSCRIPT
520
INDEX
529
Copyright

SAINTLINESS
259

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About the author (1982)

Older brother of novelist Henry James, William James (1842-1910) was a philosopher, psychologist, physiologist, and professor at Harvard. James has influenced such twentieth-century thinkers as Richard Rorty, Jurgen Habermans, Michel Foucault, and Julia Kristeva.

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