Varieties of Religious Experience by William James; Abridged with an Introduction by Robert H. Abzug - First Edition, 2013 from Macmillan Student Store

Varieties of Religious Experience

First  Edition©2013  William James; Abridged with an Introduction by Robert H. Abzug

About

As one of the most widely read books on religion and religious experience, William James' Varieties of Religious Experience sought to reconcile religion and science by psychologically interpreting the experience of religious states of mind. Originally published in 1903, this abridged version offers insight into the author's background and situates his work within the context of late nineteenth and early twentieth century intellectual currents, including psychology and philosophy.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

PART ONE. Introduction: William James and the Reality of the Unseen

     Historical and Biographical Perspective

     William James between the Worlds of Religion and Science

     Religious and Other Abnormal Experiences

     The Gifford Lectures

     Beyond Edinburgh

PART TWO. The Document: The Varieties of Religious Experience

     Lecture I: Religion and Neurology

     Lecture II: Circumscription of the Topic

     Lecture III: The Reality of the Unseen

     Lectures IV and V: The Religion of Healthy Mindedness

     Lectures VI and VII: The Sick Soul

     Lecture VIII: The Divided Self, and the Process of its Unification

     Lecture IX: Conversion

     Lecture X: Conversion – Concluded

     Lectures XI, XII, and XIII: Saintliness

     Lectures XIV and XV: The Value of Saintliness

     Lectures XVI and XVII: Mysticism

     Lecture XVIII: Philosophy

     Lecture XIX: Other Characteristics

     Lecture XX: Conclusions

APPENDIXES

     A William James Chronology (1842-1910)

     Questions for Consideration

     Selected Bibliography

Index

William James

Robert H. Abzug

Robert H. Abzug (Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley) is Professor of History and American Studies, Audre and Bernard Rapoport Regents Chair of Jewish Studies, and founding director of the Schusterman Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. His research and teaching interests focus on American cultural history, history of psychology and religion, and the history of the Holocaust. His major publications include Cosmos Crumbling: American Reform and the Religious Imagination;  Inside the Vicious Heart: Americans and the Liberation of Nazi Concentration Camps; and Passionate Liberator: Theodore Dwight Weld and the Dilemma of Reform.