A Slip in Definitions

Of all the modern classics, one of the most interesting is William James’ Varieties of Religious Experience. Here is a selection of anecdotes from religious history—the funny fervors, the holy hallucinations, the ethereal antics of saints and cranks and eccentrics. There is no difficulty in finding such material; nor, for James, any problem in sorting the material. The actions of saints and religious crackpots are much the same; so are their motives. Love of God merely damages the brain in varying degrees. Some are totally incapacitated by religion; others, like Ignatius of Loyola, are only mad north-northwest, and know a hawk from a handsaw most of the time.

Enthusiasm: A Chapter in the History of Religion, by Ronald A. Knox. Galaxy (Oxford), $2.95

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Garry Wills

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Of all the modern classics, one of the most interesting is William James’ Varieties of Religious Experience. Here is a selection of anecdotes from religious history—the funny fervors, the holy hallucinations, the ethereal antics of saints and cranks and eccentrics. There is no difficulty in finding such material; nor, for James, any problem in sorting the material. The actions of saints and religious crackpots are much the same; so are their motives. Love of God merely damages the brain in varying degrees. Some are totally incapacitated by religion; others, like Ignatius of Loyola, are only mad north-northwest, and know a hawk from a handsaw most of the time.

Enthusiasm: A Chapter in the History of Religion, by Ronald A. Knox. Galaxy (Oxford), $2.95