On Religious Life: William James and I

William James was a great-hearted and generous philosophical spirit. He was also–beneath his human sympathy, his experiments, his scholarship, and his captivating writings–a religious seeker, a pilgrim looking for a new Jerusalem he was ready to define for himself. Cordell Strug, as a young philosophy student, was enthralled by James, especially by his lectures on religion, The Varieties of Religious Experience. He was drawn by the alternative James offered to religious traditions, by his passionate searching, and by his rich humanity. Yet he found he had to part company with James on the very nature of religious experience and the source of its power. Out of the struggle with James's religious vision, he found a way back to a more traditional religious life, eventually becoming a Lutheran pastor. In this book, he looks back at how he came under James's spell, how he embraced and wrestled with James's vision, and how James remained with him as a living presence, both a guiding and a critical companion.