The Huston Smith Reader

For more than sixty years, Huston Smith has not only written and taught about the world's religions, he has lived them. This Readerpresents a rich selection of Smith's writings, covering six decades of inquiry and exploration, and ranging from scholarship to memoir. Over his long academic career, Smith's tireless enthusiasm for religious ideas has offered readers both in and outside the academy a fresh understanding of what religion is and what makes it meaningful. As the author of The World's Religions, Smith helped to establish comparative religion as a field of study. But his larger ambition, formulated out of his own religious quests--spiritual journeys that led him in turn from his boyhood Christian faith to Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam--has been to situate human spirituality in the broadest comparative, historical, and philosophical contexts. Edited and introduced by Jeffery Paine, this Readeroffers a comprehensive guide to understanding religion and spirituality as well as a memorable record of Huston Smith's lifelong endeavor to enrich the inner lives of his fellow humans.