Beschreibung
The book sums up several years of research into religion
from a perspective informed by history, phenomenology and
psychology. It is typical of humans to create forms of
understanding at a symbolic level of the biological and
physiological reality which confronts them. This gives
meaning and a coherent structure to the often chaotic nature
of that reality. Religion has been a means of creating such
symbolic understandings. The similarities between various
religions are actually very great, although their
differences tend to dominate our view of them. Everything in
the world of religion can be traced back to everyday and
simple circumstances which, through the construction of
symbols at both the cognitive and the behavioural levels,
acquire a more elevated and “sacred” character. This book
provides an introduction to the key aspects of a
psycho-phenomenological study of the forms of expression
within religions.
Nils G. Holm is professor emeritus of Science
of Religion at Åbo Akademi University, Finland
