On Waves of Religious Experience: The Varieties of Religious Experience
Pro-Fil June 29, 2017 Ondřej Vrabeľ 1 citation
William James's *The Varieties of Religious Experience* (1902) analyzes religious experience by examining its content, approach, and arguments. The paper reconstructs James's method and critically assesses his views on mysticism, philosophy, and the science of religion as guarantors of personal religious experience. Despite being over a century old, James's ideas continue to inspire researchers. The article aims to provide readers with a foundational understanding of the study of religious experience through a historiographical analysis of James's work, clarifying the argumentative structure of *Varieties*. It concludes by reflecting on how some of James's ideas appear in contemporary neuroscience research on religious experiences.