The History of Religions: Understanding Human Experience

This volume collects essays by the renowned scholar and historian of religion Joseph M. Kitagawa. The collection is organized into three parts. Part one presents essays examining such topics as the history of the discipline, its place in the academy, and some of its basic categories and tenets. Part two offers what Kitagawa calls studies in "applied history of religions." These essays demonstrate how insights derived from the practice of the history of religions can be applied to the political and spiritual problems of the day. In a third and concluding section, Kitagawa reflects on his own intellectual heritage, with essays on Joachim Wach, Mircea Eliade, D.T. Suzuki, Gerardus van der Leeuw, Paul Tillich, and Hendrik Kraemer.