Cover: Standard Ebooks edition cover · CC0 public domain dedication · source
The Varieties of Religious Experience
A Study in Human Nature
William James · 1842–1910
A psychologist takes religious experience seriously without taking a side: the 'healthy-minded' and the 'sick soul', conversion, saintliness and mysticism, all studied through first-hand accounts. James's question is not whether these experiences are true but what they do — and his chapter on the 'religion of healthy-mindedness' is a direct study of the mind-cure movement our first shelf belongs to.
- First published
- 1902
- Difficulty
- Demanding
- Reading time
- About 13 hours
- Translation
- Written in English
Reading time: 188,472 words in Project Gutenberg text #621, read at 238 words per minute.
Longmans, Green & Co., 1902 — the Gifford Lectures delivered in Edinburgh, 1901–1902.
- conversion
- mysticism
- healthy-mindedness
- the sick soul
- pragmatism
Where to read it
- Read free — Standard EbooksPublic domain text, carefully proofread and produced. · checked 11 Oct 2026(opens in a new tab)
- Read free — Project GutenbergPublic domain in the USA; check your local law outside it. · checked 11 Oct 2026(opens in a new tab)
Copyright
- Kenya
- Public domain (author d. 1910)
- United States
- Public domain
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Questions for discussion
James describes the 'mind-cure' movement from the outside. Is his account of it fair?
Are you more 'healthy-minded' or a 'sick soul'? Does the distinction hold up?
James judges religious experience by its fruits. Is that a good test?
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