Patterns in Comparative Religion

by Mircea Eliade, Rosemary Sheed (Translator), John Clifford Holt (Introduction)

In this era of increased knowledge the essence of religious phenomena eludes the psychologists, sociologists, linguists, and other specialists because they do not study it as religious. According to Mircea Eliade, they miss the one irreducible element in religious phenomena—the element of the sacred. Eliade abundantly demonstrates universal religious experience and shows how humanity’s effort to live within a sacred sphere has manifested itself in myriad cultures from ancient to modern times; how certain beliefs, rituals, symbols, and myths have, with interesting variations, persisted.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, Philosophy, History, Mythology, Anthropology, Spirituality

510 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1949

About the author

Romanian-born historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, professor at the University of Chicago, and one of the pre-eminent interpreters of world religion in the last century. Eliade was an intensely prolific author of fiction and non-fiction alike, publishing over 1,300 pieces over 60 years. He earned international fame with LE MYTHE DE L'ÉTERNAL RETOUR (1949, The Myth of the Eternal Return), an interpretation of religious symbols and imagery. Eliade was much interested in the world of the unconscious. The central theme in his novels was erotic love.

Reviews

[Mahdi Lotfi · Rating 3 out of 5]

پژوهنده صاحبنظر، در این کتاب "صور" و "اشکال" عالم قداست و دیانات و آئین‌ها و اساطیر و رمزها را بررسی کرده است. دو مسأله مذهب چیست؟ و به چه میزانی می‌توان از تاریخ ادیان سخن گفت؟ موضوع اصلی کتاب است و چون نویسنده در باب فایده تعریف مقدماتی پدیده مذهبی بدگمان است، در این کتاب به بحث درباره تجلیات قداست یا لاهوت به گسترده‌ترین معنای کلمه بسنده شده است. در نتیجه فقط پس از بررسی شمار کلانی از این تجلیات، می‌توان مسأله تاریخ اشکال و صور مذهبی را مطرح ساخت. روش تحقیق نویسنده در این کتاب بسیار ساده و قابل اطمینان است. او پژوهش خود را با شرح چندین تجلی قداست در کیهان، قداستی که در سطوح و مراتب مختلف کیهان، در آسمان و آب و زمین و سنگ، ظاهر می‌شود، آغاز کرده است، نه بدین علت که آن را کهن‌ترین تجلیات قداست می‌پندارد بلکه از این‌رو که شرح آن‌ها از سویی، دیالکتیک قداست و از سوی دیگر ساختمان و ساختارهای ظرف قداست را توضیح می‌دهد.

[Werner]

This is a book which I haven't known how to shelve here for some time. I picked it up at a used book sale in the early 80s on a whim, and read the first chapter; but I never got back to it, and eventually donated it to the library here at Bluefield College. It's sat on my "maybe-to-read" shelf for awhile; but realistically, I'm facing the fact that in the years I have left, there are too many other subjects I want to investigate more than the themes in the rest of this book. So, "started -not-finished" is the more honest shelf choice. In this case, though, that's not a negative judgment on the book; on the contrary, I liked and benefited from what I read --I think that chapter was, from my personal perspective, the real "meat" of the book anyway!

The book is organized in terms of broad common themes running through a large number of the world's religious traditions (with particular attention to "primitive" religions), over a worldwide geographical range. And the first of these to be treated is the idea of a transcendent Creator sky god, not identified with any heavenly body --a surprisingly widely distributed concept, including not only the Semitic El, but such deities as the Siberian Bai Ulgen, etc. To me, that chapter was fascinating, and IMO, the facts presented strongly suggest primitive monotheism. (Eliade himself stops short of drawing that conclusion; but he does present several bibliographic references to other scholars who do draw it.)

From what I did read and skim, I would say that for any readers who have a serious interest in comparative religion, this would be a great introduction to that field. (During his lifetime, Romanian scholar Eliade was a world-class authority on the subject; he served as editor-in-chief for Macmillan's monumental 1987 Encyclopedia of Religion, and also wrote Shamanism in Siberia, the definitive study of that phenomenon.)

[Biron Paşa · Rating 4 out of 5]

En önemli şeyi en başta söyleyeyim: Bu kitap bir dinler tarihine giriş kitabı değil, herhangi bir şeye "giriş" kitabı da değil, böyle bir giriş kitabı olmaz çünkü.

İngilizce adı "Patterns in Comparative Religion"; Karşılaştırmalı Dinlerde Örüntüler diye çevirebiliriz sanırım ve bence kitabın esas meramını tamamen anlatan bir başlık. Kitabın tüm olayı, büyük-küçük, eski-yeni ayırt etmeksizin dinlerin içerisindeki örüntüleri, birbirinin içine giren gelenekleri, davranışları incelemek. Eliade zaten dinler tarihini anlattığı üç ciltlik bir eser yazdığı için, burada dinleri en baştan anlatmaya çalışmıyor; sözgelimi gökyüzü ile ilgili bölümde, hem Zeus'tan hem Asya dinlerinden hem de Muhammedin göğe yükselişinden bahsediyor, ama bunun için önce İslamı anlatmıyor. Kitabın orijinal adı da (Google Translate bizi yanıltmıyorsa) Dinler Tarihi Üzerine Bir İnceleme. Yani ortada "girişlik" herhangi bir şey yok, hatta daha ziyade bu bir sonuç kitabı bence. Kitabı benim gibi bu sebeple almak, okumak isteyenlere bir uyarı olarak koyayım bunu buraya.

Ayrıca örüntü mörüntü bu kitap böyle satmaz deyip kitabın kapağına "Giriş" yazısını yapıştıranların da iş ahlakından yoksun olduğunu düşünüyorum, sanırım çeviri ve başlık Kabalcı'ya ait, sözüm Alfa'dan ziyade onlaradır, çünkü Alfa'nın daha önce satılan bir kitabı aldığında ismini değiştirmemesini anlıyorum. Ama en azından bir not koyabilirmiş.

İkinci önemli konu çeviri. Çevirisi yer yer tamamen şirazesinden çıkıyor, bazı ciddi hatalar da var ama genel olarak okunmayacak seviyede değil, cümleler karmaşıklaşmadıkça, ki genel olarak çok da karmaşıklaşmıyor, çevirmen idare etmiş durumu, zaten genel olarak uzun cümleleri kısaltmış düzgün çevirebilmek için. Cümleleri kesip kısaltamayacağı zamanlarda da yapacak bir şey yok deyip, bulamaç gibi atmış, ben İngilizcesine bakınca "Haa bunu demek istiyormuş," dedim defalarca. Çevirmen okuduğunu çoğu zaman anlamış, ama Türkçe yazma konusunda beceriksiz, bu da bir şeydir. Kitabın içinde bir giriş bölümü var, bilhassa orada yazarın kesik kesik hızlıca anlattığı şeyleri toparlamakta güçlük çekmiş.

Kitabın kendisi insanı şaşkınlığa düşürecek kadar müthiş bir çalışma. Zaten ancak dinler tarihini yazan biri yapabilirmiş böyle bir çalışmayı. Bir zaman sonra tekrar dönüp okumayı düşünüyorum.

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

آنچه به نام "رساله در تاریخ ادیان" توسط جلال ستاری ترجمه شده و انتشارات سروش در 1372 منتشر کرده، تقریبن چیزی کمتر از نیمی از این کتاب دو جلدی قطور "میرچا الیاده" است که یا جلال ستاری به سلیقه ی خود بخش هایی را برای ترجمه انتخاب کرده، و یا ممیزی مانع انتشار بخش هایی از کتاب شده، به ویژه آن که در کتاب حاضر سخنی از اسلام نرفته است! با این همه آنچه به فارسی در آمده، خواندنی ست، حتی اگر در همین سیزده فصل منتشر شده هم تغییراتی داده باشند!

[Aleksandra Bekreneva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Мой мир никогда не будет прежним
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• Если вы хотите расширения сознания легально, без регистрации и смс, читайте Мирчу Элиаде
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• Если вы нормальный человек, читайте Мирчу Элиаде
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• И вообще, в любой непонятной ситуации — читайте Мирчу Элиаде
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Элиаде крут. Очень крут. Фанатею!
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Я очень долго, почти месяц, читала маленькую книжечку Мирчи Элиаде — «Трактат по истории религий», потому что для меня это оказалось мощно. Мозг взрывался. Через каждые пару страниц коротило озарениями, чувство примерно как разряд током.
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Могу сказать, что мои взгляды на многие вещи изменились после прочтения. Я узнала из этой книги кучу всего интересного об истории религий, поняла откуда ноги растут у многих религиозных обрядов и праздников, по какому принципу выбирались святые места или места, где строили монастыри.
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Тут надо добавить, что эта тема, история религий, меня по-настоящему прёт. В моём блоге достаточно фанатов Мирчи Элиаде, поэтому вам будет так же классно при чтении, как и мне. За других не отвечаю.
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Так, достаточно ли хорошо я выразила свой восторг? Теперь о самом «Трактате по истории религий».
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Он детальный. Подробный. Препарирует историю религий, объясняет почти всё. Фактически, это небольшая энциклопедия. Особенно любимые главы у меня — про символику и мистику Луны, Вод, Земли и Камней. Безумно интересно было подробно прочитать про культы плодородия и про то, как ведущие мировые религии безуспешно боролись с древними архаическими верованиями, чтобы затем их органично в себя впитать.
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В нашем современном сознании упорно продолжают жить архаические верования, несмотря ни на что. Когда вы в лесу обнимаете дуб — вам передаёт привет ваш предок. Когда вы набираете в молчании воду до рассвета в роднике — ваш предок снова вам машет. Когда вы путешествуете в горах и в благоговении идёте мимо дольменов — это снова отголоски того, во что верили наши предки. Термальные воды, целебные источники — тоже оно.
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Меня вдохновляют такие вещи. Читать об истории, религии, мифах, древних архаических обрядах и верованиях.
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Также, не могу не восхититься широтой кругозора Мирчи Элиаде и глубиной его знаний. Этот человек — просто бездонный колодец. Его книги всегда меня погружают в какое-то магическое состояние. Это круто! Всем советую!

[Emil · Rating 5 out of 5]

The original title of this work is "Traité d'histoire des religions", but the English translation "Patterns in Comparative Religion " is somehow more suggestive. In his influential "History of Religious Ideas", Eliade is tackling religious ideas from a historical perspective, from the stone age animism to the great monotheistic religions. In "Patterns in Comparative Religion "he takes a completely different approach. The religious phenomenons are classified by the manifestations of the sacred, the so-called "hierophanies". For example, the Christian rite of baptism is not studied as a part of Christianity but within the universal water symbolism, along with other immersion rituals around the globe.

Each symbol, myth, or religion has a diffusion area but there is a universality in the religious feeling which cannot be explained merely through religious syncretism. Eliade brilliantly identifies and classifies those patterns and gives us an irreducible depiction of the religious phenomenon. Highly recommended.


“A religious phenomenon will only be recognized as such if it is grasped at its own level, that is to say, if it is studied as something religious. To try to grasp the essence of such phenomenon by means of physiology, psychology, sociology, economics, linguistics, art or any other study is false; it misses the one unique and irreducible element in it —the element of the sacred."

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

The one Eliade book to read to get him in a nutshell.

[Diletta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Le manifestazioni e le rivelazioni in strutture eterne e mutanti. Nutriente e perfetto dal punto di vista sistematico.

[Lance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though I don't care much for the encyclopedia approach to studying religion, there are some very interesting thoughts in this book, particularly influenced by Eastern Orthodoxy, Yogic mysticism, and neo-platonism. Sounds like an odd mix, and it certainly isn't well accepted in academia these days, but I find that Eliade expresses an academic view of mysticism in a rather well-defined way. I'm not sure I buy into his methodology or all of his thoughts, but it is definitely a must read for those interested in comparing religions.

Oh, and I am on the side of returning back to more "Archaic" ways of thinking, which is Eliade's explicit agenda.

[Phạm Quang · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book very usefull

[Michael Neal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This outline serves like an infrastructure of all Eliade's work. Brilliant. He examines the foundation motifs of religious expression. Very helpful for a student of Jung.

[Alex]

Am citit-o pe diagonala dar am invatat multe - de avut in biblioteca personala

[Jeffrey Dixon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mircea Eliade (1907–1986) was a Romanian born historian of religions whose huge body of work (short stories and novels as well as essays and books) constitutes part of what has been called ‘an alternative intellectual history of the twentieth century;’ and which remains enormously controversial for two important reasons:
Firstly, because his early belief that Romania, at the crossroads of East and West, could be at the centre of a European spiritual renewal led him to make common cause with the Legion of the Archangel Michael, a movement whose name suggests its fusion of mysticism and para-militarism; and whose legionaries became better known as the notorious Iron Guard. As anti-Semitic as it was anti-capitalist and anti-communist, the Legion was crushed in 1941; but by then Eliade was safe in neutral Portugal, working as a cultural attaché. After the war he moved to France and it was there that he began publication of the series of scholarly works that would cement his reputation.
But during the Thirties Eliade had also come under the influence of the Traditionalist school of metaphysics represented primarily by René Guénon and Julius Evola; and he set out to provide scholarly evidence for their and his belief (later modified) that the religious traditions of all peoples are the expression, however degraded over time, of a primordial wisdom (sophia perennis). Eliade’s great innovation was to translate this belief into the proposition that the sacred is a category of human consciousness and to develop a phenomenological approach to what he called the trans-conscious, insisting on treating religious beliefs on their own terms rather than submitting them to the reductionism of sociology or historicism. It is this (now academically-suspect) insistence on the reality of the sacred that is the second most controversial aspect of his thought.
Eliade finished writing what was to be his first post-WWII book in January 1948; and a year later it was published in French as 'Traité d’Histoire des Religions'; the English translation did not follow until 1958, by which time the author was established in Chicago. This book shows both his intellectual debt to the Traditionalists and also his attempt to distance himself from them academically.
In the second volume of his memoirs Exile's Odyssey), Eliade explains that his “fundamental idea” in the Traité was to show that what he calls ‘hierophanies’ (manifestations of the sacred in the profane cosmos) are paradoxical “because they show and at the same time camouflage sacrality”; and that this camouflage operates still in modern culture: “I wanted to show that even beneath its radically desacralized forms, Western culture camouflages magico-religious meanings that our contemporaries, with the exception of a few poets and artists, do not suspect.” Later, discussing a meeting with Julius Evola, he states that he could not believe in the Primordial Tradition because of its “ahistorical character”; and in the very first chapter of 'Patterns' he argues that understanding religious phenomena “will always come about in relation to history. Every hierophany we look at is also an historical fact. Every manifestation of the sacred takes place in some historical situation.”
In sharp contradistinction to the Traditionalists, who argue a priori for an eternal Truth whose vestiges they then trace in specific religious phenomena, Eliade looks at the specific hierophanies (the Sky, the Sun, the Moon, the Waters, Sacred Stones, the Earth, Vegetation, Fertility Cults, Sacred Places and Sacred Time) and reveals the underlying patterns that unite them in the beginning before they “fall” into history. The dual task of the historian of religions, therefore, is to “understand and explain the modality of the sacred” that any given hierophany discloses and then to trace its history.
For example, sacred stones reveal the Absolute as “invulnerable, steadfast, beyond change” but may come to be venerated as part of a sacred space or as the manifestation of a god: their value changes “according to the religious theory in which that hierophany happens to fit at a given time.” Thus Eliade sees the Lia Fail, the stone marking the sacred centre of pre-Christian Ireland, as a theophany of the divinity of the soil which chooses the sacred king (the guarantor of its fertility) by singing when he who is worthy of the throne sits on it.
Although Eliade does not pursue this thread, Arthurian scholars have seen echoes of the Irish Stone of Destiny in the Siege Perilous of the Round Table, on which only the most spiritually worthy knight (the Grail Hero) can sit, thus recuperating a pagan hierophany to Christian religious theory; but Eliade does also point out that the search for the Holy Grail is echoed in modern novels, “the archaic origins of whose plots are not hard to trace.”
Had he lived longer, Eliade might also have been interested to witness the symbol’s fall into British history: for the Stone of Destiny, whose origin is in the mythical city of Falias in the beginning, is believed to have been brought from Ireland to Scotland whence, as the Stone of Scone, it was stolen by Edward Longshanks and brought to Westminster to symbolise the worthiness of the Kings of England; and only in 1997 returned to Scotland to symbolise its partial regaining of sovereignty with the re-opening of the Scottish Parliament.
But by then Eliade had undergone his final initiatory ordeal and escaped forever the Terror of History. He would never actually write the companion volume to 'Patterns' which he was already planning; but the series of books which flowed from his pen in the following decades must themselves constitute that archetypal companion, fragmented like so many hierophanies briefly appearing in history...

There is more on Eliade, literature and religious symbolism in my Goodreads blog: Myth Dancing (Incorporating the Twenty Third Letter). The series of posts dedicated to the life and work of Eliade begins here: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t know whether Evola read Eliade or what exactly the causal relationship of influence between them are - other than the fact that they both read Guenon and operate vaguely within his traditionalist frame - but it feels like there is a correct order to read them. Namely, you read Eliade first, then Evola. This chronological logic seems baked in. The latter feels further along in his thinking, more systematic, confident, convinced. Eliade in comparison now feels overly careful, analytic, passive, lacking the virility that Evola brings. Therefore I find myself unable to read Eliade, now that I’ve embarked on Evola.

[Socrate · Rating 5 out of 5]

"O dublă problemă face obiectul acestei lucrări: 1) ce este religia? 2) în ce măsură se poate vorbi de o istorie a religiilor? Îndoindu-ne de utilitatea unei definiții preliminare a fenomenului religios, ne-am mulțumit să discutăm hierofaniile în accepțiunea cea mai largă a termenului (ceva care manifestă sacrul). În consecință, nu ne vom putea pune problema istoriei formelor religioase, decât după examinarea unui număr considerabil de asemenea forme. O expunere a fenomenelor religioase avansând de la „simplu la complex“ nu ne pare defel indicată, dacă luăm în considerare scopurile fixate acestei cercetări – adică o expunere ce ar începe cu hierofaniile cele mai elementare (mana, insolitul etc …), pentru a se trece apoi la totemism, la fetișism, la cultul naturii sau al spiritelor, apoi la zei, la demoni, spre a ajunge în cele din urmă la noțiunea monoteistă de Dumnezeu. O astfel de expunere ar fi arbitrară; ea implică o evoluție a fenomenului religios de la „simplu la complex“, care nu este decât o ipoteză nedemonstrabilă: nicăieri nu se întâlnește o religie simplă, redusă la hierofanii elementare; pe de altă parte, ea ar contrazice însuși scopul propus, acela de a arăta ce sunt faptele religioase și ce dezvăluie ele. "

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

how religion is a biogenetic structure broken into components related to the geology, botany or astronomy of the locale. once you realize these signs are universal, then each religion's charade about its uniqueness and right to force others to embrace its codes can be seen as an entirely illusory phase of human aggression (it courts war like practice as populations reach certain sizes and distances)

[Ciolacu Giuliano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eliade surprinde in analiza sa transcedenta fenomenului religios care se intinde pe mii de ani. Religia, cu toate formele sale, este un subiect complex, perplex, obscur dar in acelasi timp captivant.

[Rob the Obscure · Rating 4 out of 5]

helpful work if this is your interest

[Victoria Carp · Rating 4 out of 5]

O lectură foarte dificilă pentru cei care nu au cunoștințe în domeniu, dar extrem bogată în date istorice, zei, idoli - piloni ai religiilor, având o explicație genială pe alocuri chiar absurdă! :)

[Adrian Podaru · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the books that made me love mythology.

[Arda Alkkåskøgen · Rating 5 out of 5]

lafı uzatmaya, büyük büyük konuşmalara hiç gerek yok: eliade'nin yazdığı her şeyi 20 kere, 30 kere, 330 kere okuyabilirim.

[Rochu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un paseo por la historia comparada, o más bien el estudio comparativo de la religión deshistorizada, a través de las hierofanías y el complejo entramado de símbolos que componen y repiten la cosmogonía.
Me gustó bastante, me pareció relativamente útil, me dejó pensando en las estructuras del pensamiento religioso. Pero a ciencia cierta su contenido está bastante desactualizado y algunas de las cosas que da por hechas creo que son cuestionables. También es un poco pesado de leer, muchos ejemplos uno atrás de otro y no siempre es claro por qué serían ejemplo de una cosa y no de otra.

[Valentín Serrano García · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sigue siendo insuperable.
Una obra clásica monumental que sintetiza los ingredientes fundamentales de lo sagrado.

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

یکی از مهم ترین آثار میرچا الیاده در زمینه ی صور و اشکال عالم قداست و دیانت و آیین ها و اساطیر و رمزها و ... با مقدمه ی ژرژ دو مزیل که پژوهش هایش در این زمینه ها، کتاب درسی اغلب دانشکده های جهان است. به تعبیری "اسطوره در حکم صورت مثالی و الگوست" (آرکه تایپ) که تکرارش در معنای اعمال و رفتار آدمی مشاهده می شود. لذا بررسی عناصر اسطوره و آیین هر ملت، و نوع قداست زمین و طبیعت و آدمی و قربانی و... در آیین های مختلف، به نوعی تاریخ فرهنگ یک ملت و سرزمین محسوب می شود. منابع و ماخذ این پژوهش میرچا الیاده، تقریبن تمامی ملیت ها و فرهنگ های بشری را در بر می گیرد و گاه به جابجایی عناصر قدسی از فرهنگی به فرهنگ دیگر، یا همسانی های شگرف در باورهای مردمان مختلف از فرهنگ ها و سرزمین های مختلف در ادوار مختلف تاریخ بشر، و بالاخره به ریخت شناسی قداست می پردازد. از این نظر برای کسانی که علاقه به مطالعه ی دقیق تر در باورهای مردمان مختلف دارند، و مایلند در این زمینه مطالعه ای عمیق داشته باشند، کتاب حاضر و مجلد دوم آن که مفصل تر به جزئیات باورها و آیین های بشری پرداخته، جالب خواهد بود. این اثر الیاده توسط جلال ستاری به فارسی برگردانده شده است.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Religia și sentimentul de sacru sunt două lucruri esențiale în viața unui om, dar și a unei societăți. Cred că, indiferent de alegerile personale făcute în acest sens, este foarte important să avem cunoștințe elementare despre modul în care oamenii și-au satisfăcut această nevoie de sacralitate de-a lungul timpului, modul în care au intuit anumite realități, în care și-au trăit viața sacră etc. De aceea, Tratatul de istorie a religiilor nu este o carte destinată (doar) specialiștilor, ci una potrivită oricărei persoane ce vrea să aibă o cultură de bază. Aceasta se bazează pe niște cursuri ținute de savantul român la universitate.

Mai multe aici: https://www.pov21.ro/2020/07/04/ce-am...

[Bilgehan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dinler Tarihine Giriş, tarihsel değil antropolojik bir inceleme. Kitapta Eliade kutsalın neliğini ve tezahürlerini derinlemesine araştırıyor. Din antropolojisinde bunun kadar kapsamlı bir çalışma bulmak zor. Eliade her bölümün sonunda 50'den fazla kaynak kitap vermiş. Kitapta 13 bölüm olduğunu düşünürsek bu 600'den fazla kaynak kitap demek. Bu seviyede entelektüel azmi, dehayı ve kavrayışı bir arada bulmak çok zor. Bu, benim ufkumu açan ve beni derinden etkileyen ender kitaplardan biri oldu. Din antropolojisi, mitoloji, teoloji konularına ilgi duyanlar için Eliade eşsiz bir kaynak.

[Tuğçe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Öncelikle Kabalcı Yayınlarının çevirisine ve olabilecek en iyi düzenlemesine tebriklerimi iletmem gerek. Eliade yine karşılaştırmalar yaparak, din konusuna yeni başlayanların ilgisini daha fazla uyandırarak, konuyla daha önceden ilgilenenleri daha fazla kaynağa yönelterek bana kalırsa başarılı bir kaynak hazırlamış. Bu kitabın ardından gelecek 3 ciltlik Dinler Tarihine de iyi bir giriş olmuş.

[Sol Rezza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro imprescindible. La diversas relaciones que uno puede encontrar en el libro con la historia, la cultura, los sonidos, la forma de desenvolvernos. Es un libro que amplía horizontes y muestra otras miradas e historias acerca de cómo los seres humanos abordamos, la vida, el cosmos, la naturaleza, nuestros miedos, nuestras alegrías.

[PuriP · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eliade never disappoints. The book was fascinating and very well documented, being an in-depth analysis of religious practices that are surprisingly interconnected. Less memorable than "The Sacred and the Profane", but outstanding nonetheless.

[Jeroen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive