Josiah Royce, William James, and the Social Renewal of the “Sick Soul”: Exploring the Communal Dimension of Religious Experience

This essay argues that Josiah Royce's communal model of religious experience, presented in The Sources of Religious Insight, complements rather than merely criticizes William James's individualistic account in The Varieties of Religious Experience. Rather than opposing the two thinkers, the author contends that James's concept of the "sick soul" finding health through religious conversion gains depth when paired with Royce's emphasis on overcoming alienation through communal participation. The essay suggests that bringing together these two models offers an instructive account of individual transformation through communal renewal, particularly relevant in times of dislocation and self-preoccupation.

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Abstract

In The Sources of Religious Insight, Josiah Royce assesses William James’ pragmatic evaluation of exalted, private religious experience, advanced in The Varieties of Religious Experience as inadequate to encompass the full range of religious experience. Among other contributions, Royce adds social and communal experience to James’ individualistic appraisal. Rather than tacking on to the familiar contemporary critical conversation about the Jamesian restriction to private experience, I argue that James and Royce are helpfully brought together through an understanding of religious conversion: James’ foundational predicament of the “sick soul” returned to health through religious conversion gains depth and coherence through the attention Royce gives to overcoming alienation through communal participation. In our time of dislocation and self-preoccupation, drawing together these two seminal models of religious experience provides an instructive account of the individual’s transformation by way of communal renewal.