Pilgrim Library Christian Classics
The Varieties of Religious Experience

The Varieties of Religious Experience

by William James

William James (1842–1910) was an American philosopher and psychologist who taught at Harvard. There he offered the first psychology course in the United States and helped establish pragmatism as a philosophy. In his Gifford Lectures, published as The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902) and held in our library, he studied conversion, saintliness, and mysticism through individual testimonies, asking what religious experience does in a person's life.

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First published
1902
Category
Theology
Length
154k words · about 10 hours
Chapters
31
Narration
🎧 Volunteer Readers

About this book

William James's Gifford Lectures of 1902, a classic study of the psychology of religious experience. Drawing on diaries, biographies, and testimonies, James examines conversion, saintliness, prayer, and mysticism, and asks what individual religious experience shows about human nature. It is a work of psychology and philosophy rather than theology, and it remains widely read on its subject.

Contents

  1. Preface
  2. Lecture I. Religion And Neurology
  3. Lecture II. Circumscription of the Topic
  4. Lecture III. The Reality Of The Unseen 🔒
  5. Lectures IV and V. The Religion Of Healthy-Mindedness · Part 1 🔒
  6. Lectures IV and V. The Religion Of Healthy-Mindedness · Part 2 🔒
  7. Lectures IV and V. The Religion Of Healthy-Mindedness · Part 3 🔒
  8. Lectures VI And VII. The Sick Soul · Part 1 🔒
  9. Lectures VI And VII. The Sick Soul · Part 2 🔒
  10. Lectures VI And VII. The Sick Soul · Part 3 🔒
  11. Lecture VIII. The Divided Self, And The Process Of Its Unification 🔒
  12. Lecture IX. Conversion 🔒
  13. Lecture X. Conversion—Concluded · Part 1 🔒
  14. Lecture X. Conversion—Concluded · Part 2 🔒
  15. Lecture X. Conversion—Concluded · Part 3 🔒
  16. Lectures XI, XII, And XIII. Saintliness · Part 1 🔒
  17. Lectures XI, XII, And XIII. Saintliness · Part 2 🔒
  18. Lectures XI, XII, And XIII. Saintliness · Part 3 🔒
  19. Lectures XI, XII, And XIII. Saintliness · Part 4 🔒
  20. Lectures XI, XII, And XIII. Saintliness · Part 5 🔒
  21. Lectures XIV And XV. The Value Of Saintliness · Part 1 🔒
  22. Lectures XIV And XV. The Value Of Saintliness · Part 2 🔒
  23. Lectures XIV And XV. The Value Of Saintliness · Part 3 🔒
  24. Lectures XVI And XVII. Mysticism · Part 1 🔒
  25. Lectures XVI And XVII. Mysticism · 1. 🔒
  26. Lectures XVI And XVII. Mysticism · 2. 🔒
  27. Lectures XVI And XVII. Mysticism · 3. 🔒
  28. Lecture XVIII. Philosophy 🔒
  29. Lecture XIX. Other Characteristics 🔒
  30. Lecture XX. Conclusions 🔒
  31. Postscript 🔒

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