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History of Religious Ideas, Volume 3

From Muhammad to the Age of Reforms

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.

367 pages | 6.00 x 9.00 | © 1985

Religion: Comparative Studies and History of Religion

Table of Contents

31. The Religions of Ancient Eurasia: Turko-Mongols, Finno-Ugrians, Balto-Slavs
32. The Christian Churches up to the Iconoclastic Crisis (Eigth to Ninth Centuries)
33. Muhammad and the Unfolding of Islam
34. Western Catholicism from Charlemagne to Joachim of Floris
35. Muslim Theologies and Mystical Traditions
36. Judaism from the Bar Kokhba Revolt to Hasidism
37. Religious Movements in Europe: From the Late Middle Ages to the Eve of the Reformation
38. Religion, Magic, and Hermetic Traditions before and after the Reformation
39. Tibetan Religions
List of Abbreviations
Present Position of Studies: Problems and Progress. Critical Bibliographies
Index

Awards

The University of Chicago Press: Gordon J. Laing Award
Won

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