Published in 1902, 'The Varieties of Religious Experience', by a leading American philosopher and psychologist in the 19th century, William James is based on lectures James gave on natural theology. James was the first person to offer a psychology course in the United States and he is often referred to as the Father of American Psychology. In 1901, William came to Britain. He had been invited to deliver a series of prestigious public lectures in Edinburgh. In them, he attempted a daringly original intellectual project.
For the first time, here was a close-up examination of religion not as a body of beliefs, but as an intimate personal experience. When the lectures were printed, as 'The Varieties of Religious Experience', they were an instant success. They laid the ground for a whole new area of study—the psychology of religion and influenced figures from the psychiatrist Carl Jung to the novelist Aldous Huxley.
To date, James's book has been reprinted thirty-six times and has been hailed as one of the best non-fiction books of the twentieth century. It is considered by many to be James's greatest work.
