Philosophy 1600 - Honors Seminar

 

Topic 6: Religious Experience and the Existence of God

Mysticism – Additional Readings

There are important discussions of mysticism and mystical experiences that are neither represented in the selections in Louis Pojman's Philosophy of Religion anthology, nor listed in the additional suggested readings that he gives at the end of the chapter on religious experience. If you want to pursue some of the relevant issues further, or write an essay on mysticism, you may need to look at some of the following discussions:

1. Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception, and Heaven and Hell (New York" Harper & Row 1963, c1956).

2. R. C. Zaehner, "Nature Mysticism, Soul Mysticism, and Theistic Mysticism", in Philosophy of Religion - Selected Readings, edited by William L. Rowe and W. J. Wainright, pages 280-6.

3. Huston Smith, "Do Drugs Have Religious Import?", in Philosophy of Religion - Selected Readings, edited by William L. Rowe and W. J. Wainright, pages 325-36.

4. James Bissett Pratt, The Religious Consciousness: A Psychological Study (New York : Macmillan, 1930).

5. James H. Leuba, The Psychology of Religious Mysticism, revised edition (London, Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1972).

The last of these is not available in the library here. Another book, however, covers some of the relevant ground:

6. James H. Leuba, The Psychological Origin and the Nature of Religion, (London, A. Constable and Company, 1921).