The Quest: History and Meaning in Religion

by Mircea Eliade

Book Overview

In "The Quest" Mircea Eliade stresses the cultural function that a study of the history of religions can play in a secularized society. He writes for the intelligent general reader in the hope that what he calls a new humanism "will be engendered by a confrontation of modern Western man with unknown or less familiar worlds of meaning." "Each of these essays contains insights which will be fruitful and challenging for professional students of religion,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226203972
• ISBN13: 9780226203973
• Release Date: May 1984
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 187 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Quest for Relevance--Still Relevant Today

The title chapter of the book makes the book as a whole worth a good read through, especially if you are in or are influenced by the field of Religious Studies. Already in the 1960's, Eliade was lamenting the over-specialization running rampant in many humanities fields which tended to make research about little more than an exercise in pointing out random curiosities rather than contributing to the ongoing cultural discourse of our own society. If you've ever felt like academia has grown too detached and irrelevant in recent decades, you'll find a kindred spirit in Eliade.