The Devil is a Gentleman
The Variety Show of Religious Experience New York Times
A review of .C. Hallman’s new book, The Devil is a Gentleman, the heart fo which is given over to eight chapters dedicated to U.F.O. believers, druids, Christian wrestlers, Satanists, Scientologists, atheists, Wiccans and Orthodox monks. Also: An Interview with J.C. Hallman.
The Variety Show of Religious Experience
At least since Gilgamesh went on a quest for immortality in the ancient Babylonian epic that bears his name, road novels have often doubled as flights of spiritual fancy. In "Dharma Bums," for example, Jack Kerouac read the pilgrimages of his Beat Generation friends through the lens of "A Buddhist Bible," an anthology of Zen and other Buddhist scriptures edited by the Christian-minister-turned-Buddhist-advocate Dwight Goddard.
THE DEVIL IS A GENTLEMAN
Exploring America's Religious Fringe.
By J. C. Hallman.
332 pp. Random House. $25.95.
Readers’ Opinions
"The Devil Is a Gentleman," by J. C. Hallman, is nonfiction, but it too is a tale of the sort of spirituality that can be found on the American road. Like Kerouac, Hallman reads the characters that animate his story through the lens of another book — in this case, "The Varieties of Religious Experience" (1902), by the Harvard philosopher William James.
James's classic in the psychology of religion defines religion as "the feelings, acts and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider the divine." Into this definition are packed many of the idiosyncrasies of James's approach to religion — his preference for feelings over ideas, his preoccupation with individual experience, his mistrust of religious institutions and his determination to sidestep the sticky matter of the reality of God.
Given James's interest in spiritual experiences, it should not be surprising that he celebrates religious diversity. And that is precisely what Hallman does, too. "The Devil Is a Gentleman" devotes a series of bridge chapters providing workmanlike summaries of James's life and thought, but its heart is given over to eight chapters dedicated to U.F.O. believers, druids, Christian wrestlers, Satanists, Scientologists, atheists, Wiccans and Orthodox monks.
Stephen Prothero is the chairman of the religion department at Boston University and the author of "American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon."
via: the anomalist
posted by Indigobusiness @ Wednesday, July 05, 2006
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