From feng shui to holistic medicine, from aromatherapy candles to yoga weekends, from Christian mystics to New Age gurus, spirituality is big business. There has been an explosion of interest and popular literature on mind, body and spirit and ‘personal development’. We now see the introduction of modes of ‘spirituality’...

This is a rather unusual book on the psychology of religion. As usual I try my very best to set down what is empirically true in the light of what is now extensive evidence on this subject. But I also take a sympathetic view of religion—I have faith in both enterprises, psychology and religion, and believe that in the end they can be...

How did British rule in India transform persons from lower social classes? Could Indians from such classes rise in the world by marrying Europeans and embracing their religion and customs? This book explores such questions by examining the intriguing story of an interracial family who lived in southern India in the mid-nineteenth century. The...

In this new edition of the best-selling Introduction to Buddhism, Peter Harvey provides a comprehensive introduction to the development of the Buddhist tradition in both Asia and the West. Extensively revised and fully updated, this new edition draws on recent scholarship in the field, exploring the tensions and continuities between the...

A sacred space is any place recognized for its ability to direct the mind and body to holy matters. The basis for this power varies considerably. Sometimes spaces act like reliquaries—enclosures that mark the deposit of a saint’s remains, or the site of an unusual event such as a vision or manifestation of divine power, or the...