Product Description

Product Description
By the end of World War II, religion appeared to be on the decline throughout the United States and Europe. Recent world events had cast doubt on the relevance of religious belief, and modernizing trends made religious rituals look out of place. It was in this atmosphere that the careers of Scholem, Eliade, and Corbin--the twentieth century's legendary scholars in the respective fields of Judaism, History of Religions, and Islam--converged and ultimately revolutionized how people thought about religion. Between 1949 and 1978, all three lectured to Carl Jung's famous Eranos circle in Ascona, Switzerland, where each in his own way came to identify the symbolism of mystical experience as a central element of his monotheistic tradition. In this, the first book ever to compare the paths taken by these thinkers, Steven Wasserstrom explores how they overturned traditional approaches to studying religion by de-emphasizing law, ritual, and social history and by extolling the role of myth and mysticism. The most controversial aspect of their theory of religion, Wasserstrom argues, is that it minimized the binding character of moral law associated with monotheism.

The author focuses on the lectures delivered by Scholem, Eliade, and Corbin to the Eranos participants, but also shows how these scholars generated broader interest in their ideas through radio talks, poetry, novels, short stories, autobiographies, and interviews. He analyzes their conception of religion from a broadly integrated, comparative perspective, sets their distinctive thinking into historical and intellectual context, and interprets the striking success of their approaches. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Excellent book
I found this book to be concise and well-articulated. Interesting discussion of the Eranos group and how the three scholars had a fairly distinct view of religion rooted a broad array of German philosophers and writers, including Shelling, Cusa, Hamann, Jung, and Heidegger, all of whom influenced their romantic conception of mythology.The three scholars discussed emphasized mythology over religous law and placed the symbolism and mystical experience in a central role of religious experience, minimizing historicism. Wasserstrom also calls attention to the Eranos scholar's (excluding Scholem) personal esoteric beliefs and experiences with esoteric groups. Fascinating scholarship.

Windbag in need of a point
Eranos was characterised by thinkers who got to the point and made one.If the author of this work was similarly inclined, this book might be worth a read.

Instead, what we find is a distinctly un-Eranos-like fog of unrelated tid bits, cobbled together with a claim that it's some kind intellectual history.Despite considerably familiarity with the three Eranos thinkers in question, I wasn't able to see the point and suspect the author doesn't really have one, except perhaps Eranos was interesting, these thinkers were amazing, but he doesn't really "get" their theses.

The experience is made worse by a startlingly low standard of editing.The mouthy style constantly distracts, large quotations in French go untranslated, and, despite an excess of footnotes (half a page per page of text), hundreds of quotes cite no source.

If there is a religion after religion, it may be best practiced by engaging with the Eranos scholars in a less encumbered environment, such as that once found beside a lake in Swizterland.

Religion after Religion
The subject is extremely interesting: three of the most prestigious scholars -- Scholem, Eliade and Corbin -- three friends belonging to the Eranos group, dedicated to the study of esoterism: the inner contents of religious experience, that which is not usually visible.The book, however, is poorly written and very poorly organized; that, added to the total lack of editing (surprising in an academic press like Princeton), make reading it a frequently frustrating experience.

A Remarkable Work of Scholarly Synthesis
Steven Wasserstrom's brilliant and fascinating book is a marvellous study of three of the most brilliant and fascinating twentieth-century scholars of religion. All too often, readers are unaware of the human, idiosyncratic elements that inevitably shape the perspective of writers in various fields of the humanities. Dr. Wasserstrom gives us an objective view of these elements, and brings a new sense of depth to the background that contributed to the interests and, ultimately, to the published work of Corbin, Eliade, and Scholem.

An overview of three Eranos scholars
This book analyzes three of the amazing group of Eranos scholars who gathered annually in Ascona, Switzerland to explore new horizons in overtrevolt against the petrified academic stance in view of everything thatdoesn't carry the benediction of natural sciences. These three scholars areGerschom Scholem, the foremost scholar of Jewish mysticism and Kabalah,Henry Corbin, a leading specialist in Iranian Sufism and Shiism/Ismailismand Mircea Eliade, a generalist researcher of world religions andmythologies. What distinguishes all these men from the typical academicstance is the way they all inverted the assumptions of cold anddisinterested schoarship, into whose purview mysticism does not enter butas a phenomenon peripheral to orthodox religions, by placing mysticism inthe very core of their scholarship. This inversion also demarcates theiranti-academic stance. These three men were especially remarkable in thattheir scholarship, especially in the case of Corbin and Scholem asexemplified in their translation or recuperation of inaccessible ordifficult texts, towered by the standards of traditional academia, as suchflying on its face downtreading its pride. The book is not long enough totreat every aspect of the lives of these men, which task has been doneindividually for each. The primary objective here is to thematize thecommon denominators that molded the perspectives of these men, who alsowere close friends that saw themselves as brothers in arms againstmaterialism, social sciences, almost all the ingrained presumptions ofmodern mentality, modernism, the myth of eternal progress, and the modernacademia as presiding over the theology ensouling this essentially soullessfallen state. Some common denominators are Heidegger's existentialphenomenology, various Western esoteric currents, especially Germanromanticism as in Hamann, and Martinism, Rene Guenon's traditionalism, andhis Italian disciple Julius Evola, coincidentia oppositorum as shapingtheir worldview, antinomianism of an almost Kierkegaardian type, the riseof Schelling against Kant in Jewish Weimar thought as giving the impetus tothe intellectual currents of the time, and maybe most importantly anaccurate understanding of "symbol", which should by no means beconfused with allegory, and which denotes a revelation of an irreducibleUr-phenomenon in a form particular to a subject. The experience of thesymbol is inextricably entwined with reintegration and totalization ofbeing, which marks the essence of their esotericism. The book can beregarded as a good introduction to how to understand the interrelationshipsand influences between these great men and their time, since one should notforget that Eranos is a product of the aura surrounding the world war, eventhough these men were blatantly opposed to a notion of rectilineartemporality. The indices and bibliographies provide invaluable informationfor further study. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The ideal introduction to alchemy for the novice
This was my third book by Eliade, but certainly not the last. Eliade was a professor of the history of religions at the University of Chicago, among other things, but he was also very well travelled, having studied under the guidance of an Indian yogi back in Mother India. He was born in Rumania, a contemporary of the European idealist freedom fighter Corneliu Codreanu in the 30's, and in fact a member of the Legion of the Archangel Michael, a radical "Right-wing" religious organization opposed to the project of creating a new Israel on European soil. Although Eliade throughout his life claimed to be very "apolitical", his views on religion have a natural conservative and reactionary consequence, so hence this is for sure one of "our own boys".

This particular book deals with alchemy, not from a technical or chemical point of view, but from a historical, religious, cultural and to a certain degree psychological and traditionalist. Most primitive peoples had no access to metals (iron in particular) beside that which fell from the sky, so; "When Cortez enquired of the Aztec chiefs whence they obtained their knives they simply pointed to the sky" (p.21). Meteoric iron was among many peoples held in higher regard than gold, and looked upon as gifts directly from higher powers. From this first chapter "Meteorites and Metallurgy", we onwards learn much about how the first smiths, potters, carpenters and so on ritualized and sanctified their work and viewed it as a mirror-image of the original celestial creation. Later, Eliade teaches us on how many alchemists thoughts of the world as divided into sexes, and hence how various items, parts of nature, chemical solutions, metallic alloys and so on also were divided into various sexes.

We later touch on such issues as "Divine Smiths & Civilizing Heroes", "Smiths, Warriors, Masters of Initiation", "Chinese & Indian Alchemy", "Arcana Artis" and of course, one of Eliade's favourite subjects; "Alchemy and Temporality". All this, and more, in less than 200 pages of large-font text, who would want to miss out on that? Included is also a very useful and comprehensive bibliography. Eliade draws on both Evola and Jung, among many others, in this rather detailed research into the origins of alchemy. As always Eliade renders what is often annoyingly obscure into clear as day facts that anyone can understand. Ideal as the first book you read on this fascinating subject! 5 stars, without a doubt.

The ideal introduction to alchemy for the novice
This was my third book by Eliade, but certainly not the last. Eliade was a professor of the history of religions at the University of Chicago, among other things, but he was also very well travelled, having studied under the guidance of an Indian yogi back in Mother India. He was born in Rumania, a contemporary of the European idealist freedom fighter Corneliu Codreanu in the 30's, and in fact a member of the Legion of the Archangel Michael, a radical "Right-wing" religious organization opposed to the project of creating a new Israel on European soil. Although Eliade throughout his life claimed to be very "apolitical", his views on religion have a natural conservative and reactionary consequence, so hence this is for sure one of "our own boys".

This particular book deals with alchemy, not from a technical or chemical point of view, but from a historical, religious, cultural and to a certain degree psychological and traditionalist. Most primitive peoples had no access to metals (iron in particular) beside that which fell from the sky, so; "When Cortez enquired of the Aztec chiefs whence they obtained their knives they simply pointed to the sky" (p.21). Meteoric iron was among many peoples held in higher regard than gold, and looked upon as gifts directly from higher powers. From this first chapter "Meteorites and Metallurgy", we onwards learn much about how the first smiths, potters, carpenters and so on ritualized and sanctified their work and viewed it as a mirror-image of the original celestial creation. Later, Eliade teaches us on how many alchemists thoughts of the world as divided into sexes, and hence how various items, parts of nature, chemical solutions, metallic alloys and so on also were divided into various sexes.

We later touch on such issues as "Divine Smiths & Civilizing Heroes", "Smiths, Warriors, Masters of Initiation", "Chinese & Indian Alchemy", "Arcana Artis" and of course, one of Eliade's favourite subjects; "Alchemy and Temporality". All this, and more, in less than 200 pages of large-font text, who would want to miss out on that? Included is also a very useful and comprehensive bibliography. Eliade draws on both Evola and Jung, among many others, in this rather detailed research into the origins of alchemy. As always Eliade renders what is often annoyingly obscure into clear as day facts that anyone can understand. Ideal as the first book you read on this fascinating subject! 5 stars, without a doubt.

The ideal introduction to alchemy for the novice
This was my third book by Eliade, but certainly not the last. Eliade was a professor of the history of religions at the University of Chicago, among other things, but he was also very well travelled, having studied under the guidance of an Indian yogi back in Mother India. He was born in Rumania, a contemporary of the European idealist freedom fighter Corneliu Codreanu in the 30's, and in fact a member of the Legion of the Archangel Michael, a radical "Right-wing" religious organization opposed to the project of creating a new Israel on European soil. Although Eliade throughout his life claimed to be very "apolitical", his views on religion have a natural conservative and reactionary consequence, so hence this is for sure one of "our own boys".

This particular book deals with alchemy, not from a technical or chemical point of view, but from a historical, religious, cultural and to a certain degree psychological and traditionalist. Most primitive peoples had no access to metals (iron in particular) beside that which fell from the sky, so; "When Cortez enquired of the Aztec chiefs whence they obtained their knives they simply pointed to the sky" (p.21). Meteoric iron was among many peoples held in higher regard than gold, and looked upon as gifts directly from higher powers. From this first chapter "Meteorites and Metallurgy", we onwards learn much about how the first smiths, potters, carpenters and so on ritualized and sanctified their work and viewed it as a mirror-image of the original celestial creation. Later, Eliade teaches us on how many alchemists thoughts of the world as divided into sexes, and hence how various items, parts of nature, chemical solutions, metallic alloys and so on also were divided into various sexes.

We later touch on such issues as "Divine Smiths & Civilizing Heroes", "Smiths, Warriors, Masters of Initiation", "Chinese & Indian Alchemy", "Arcana Artis" and of course, one of Eliade's favourite subjects; "Alchemy and Temporality". All this, and more, in less than 200 pages of large-font text, who would want to miss out on that? Included is also a very useful and comprehensive bibliography. Eliade draws on both Evola and Jung, among many others, in this rather detailed research into the origins of alchemy. As always Eliade renders what is often annoyingly obscure into clear as day facts that anyone can understand. Ideal as the first book you read on this fascinating subject! 5 stars, without a doubt. ... Read more

Product Description
Major work is distinguished by an intensity of inspiration and an overwhelming sense of personal vision. This merging of inspiration and vision permits the creation of a classic oeuvre whose creator is deemed to be a 'master of his craft, ' or perhaps better, 'a seminal mind.' Such is the work of the historian of religious, Mirceas Eliade. In his lifelong quest to understand the presence of the Sacred throughout human history, Eliade has been fascinated by two central themes: Creation and Time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A good Place to start but do not stop here.
Now over ten years in print this major account of the world's religions is the best resource for authoritative information on the world's major religious traditions. Still the work remains especially uneven in the quality of articles. Eliade died soon after the work was in production and there was not as strong or even editorial control over the quality and depth of information presented. Some scholars did excellent contributions, others are rather slap-dash and the selection of article length and topics selected seem somewhat bewildering and idiosyncratic. The work did show something of the creative ferment in religious studies but it tended to avoid controversy or provide a systematic view of history or of religions. But even with these qualifications it is the only current Encyclopedia of religion though it is hoped that some of the Internet projects now in creation will eventually make up for its generally uneven executions. Good reading.

Quite informative
Very informative, in fact ... Read more

Product Description
Reconstructing Eliade is a concept-by-concept analysis of the thought of Mircea Eliade and a re-evaluation of his analysis of religion. It illustrates how a thorough familiarity with Eliade's work can produce an interpretation of his thought as systematic, coherent, and fully rational. Part One provides an analysis of the terms of Eliade's understanding of religion--hierophany, the sacred and the dialectic of the sacred and profane, homo religiosus, myths and symbols--and thus of the meaning of religion implied throughout his work. Part Two inspects various problems which arise in light of this analysis, particularly relativism and the role of commitment. Part Three applies this analysis to certain problems--religion in the modern world and Eliade's unfinished analysis of the modern, the postmodern phenomenon, implicit religion, and various related problems in the study of religion. Far from being outmoded and inadequate, Eliade's thought is suggested to be fertile ground for the reconception of religious realities in the contemporary world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Passionate and insightful work
Rennie's work is technical and hard-going in places, but he is passionate and insightful not just on bringing out the ideas of Prof. Eliade, but also on describing the character and role of religion in the modern world. The book deserves careful and thoughtful reading and study. His defense of Eliade's early political involvements seems reasonable and fair. His defense and explanation of an inclusive definition of religion are compelling and helpful. We still have much to learn from Eliade. ... Read more