The Varieties of Religious Experience

James, William

ISBN 10: 0679640118 / ISBN 13: 9780679640110

Published by Random House Publishing Group, 1999

About this Item

Some underlining otherwise the book is solid.

Seller Inventory # ABE-1756312306104

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Varieties of Religious Experience
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0679640118
• ISBN 13: 9780679640110
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Good
• Dimensions: 3.632W x 13.176H x 20.32D centimeters 3.632 centimeters width by 13.176 centimeters height by 20.32 centimeters depth
• Weight: 475 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time

The Varieties of Religious Experience was an immediate bestseller upon its publication in June 1902. Reflecting the pluralistic views of psychologist turned philosopher William James, it posits that individual religious experiences, rather than the tenets of organized religions, form the backbone of religious life. James’s discussion of conversion, repentance, mysticism, and hope of reward and fears of punishment in the hereafter—as well as his observations on the religious experiences of such diverse thinkers as Voltaire, Emerson, Luther, and others—all support his thesis. Walter Houston Clark in Psychology Today deemed it “the most notable of all books in the field of the psychology of religion.”

About the Author

William James (1842–1910), brother of writer Henry James, was born in New York and studied medicine at Harvard, where he taught from 1872; James continued on to write books and become one of the most renowned psychologist-philosophers in the Western world. His other famous works include Principles of Psychology (1890) and Pragmatism (1907).