Introduction to the Special Issue “Religious and Spiritual Experiences”

William James's classic work examines the personal, experiential core of religious life across diverse traditions, focusing on the feelings, actions, and individual experiences of religious subjects rather than on institutional or theological doctrines. He argues that the value of religious experience should be judged by its practical consequences or 'fruits' in a person's life, such as moral improvement and psychological transformation, rather than by the truth of its intellectual claims. The book draws on a wide range of autobiographical and case-study material to illustrate phenomena like conversion, mysticism, and saintliness, ultimately suggesting that religious experiences represent a genuine aspect of human consciousness with significant adaptive and ethical benefits.

Study at a glance

Abstract

William James’s seminal book, The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902/2012), describes the phenomenology and ‘fruits’ (James 2012, p [...]