EBOOK Varieties of Religious Experience

'By their fruits ye shall know them, not by their roots.'The Varieties of        Religious Experience (1902) is William James's classic survey of religious belief in        its most personal, and often its most heterodox, aspects. Asking questions such as        how we define evil to ourselves, the difference between a healthy and a divided        mind, the value of saintly behaviour, and what animates and characterizes the mental        landscape of sudden conversion, James's masterpiece stands at a unique moment in the        relationship between belief and culture. Faith ininstitutional religion and dogmatic        theology was fading away, and the search for an authentic religion rooted in        personality and subjectivity was a project conducted as an urgent necessity. With        psychological insight, philosophical rigour, and a determination not to jump to the        conclusion that in tracingreligion's mental causes we necessarily diminish its truth        or value, in the Varieties James wrote a truly foundational text for modern        belief.Matthew Bradley's wide-ranging new edition examines the ideas that continue        to fuel modern debates on atheism and faith.