The Varieties of Religious Experience - William James

Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time

The Varieties of Religious Experience was an immediate bestseller upon its publication
in June 1902. Reflecting the pluralistic views of psychologist turned philosopher
William James, it posits that individual religious experiences, rather than the tenets
of organized religions, form the backbone of religious life. James's discussion of
conversion, repentance, mysticism, and hope of reward and fears of punishment in
the hereafter-as well as his observations on the religious experiences of such diverse
thinkers as Voltaire, Emerson, Luther, and others-all support his thesis. Walter
Houston Clark in Psychology Today deemed it "the most notable of all books in the
field of the psychology of religion."