This volume completes the immensely learned three-volume A History of Religious Ideas. Eliade examines the movement of Jewish thought out of ancient Eurasia; the Christian transformation of the Mediterranean area and Europe; and the rise and diffusion of Islam from approximately the sixth through the seventeenth centuries. Eliade's vast knowledge of past and present scholarship provides a synthesis that is unparalleled. In addition to reviewing recent interpretations of the individual traditions; he explores the interactions of the three religions and shows their continuing mutual influence to be subtle but unmistakable.As in his previous work; Eliade pays particular attention to heresies; folk beliefs; and cults of secret wisdom; such as alchemy and sorcery; and continues the discussion; begun in earlier volumes; of pre-Christian shamanistic practices in northern Europe and the syncretistic tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. These subcultures; he maintains; are as important as the better-known orthodoxies to a full understanding of Judaism; Christianity; and Islam.
#1165324 in Books 2010-11-15Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x 1.00 x 6.00l; 1.10 #File Name: 0226027848368 pages
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