Modalities of the Transcendent and Modes of Human Response

With its unique role in human life and society, religion has always been a fascinating subject of study. The modern scientific approach to any natural or human phenomenon takes into consideration even the sacred beliefs and practices of society. Studies on religion are no longer restricted to guarded and apologetic approaches. Today religious phenomena are subjected to rigorous scientific and liberal methods of study. Religion, under these new approaches, is subjected to grueling tests for its relevance and soundness. And the results need not always be, as some may think, detrimental to religion or the values that it professes to uphold. Such studies may indeed lead to a greater clarification of certain fundamental dimensions of religious beliefs and practices. Modalities of the Transcendent and Modes of Human Response systematically investigates the phenomenon of religion, using the phenomenological method. Without being apologetic or negative, it dispassionately studies the foundational elements of originary experience through which the Transcendent manifests itself and the human response to that manifestation, as exemplified in myths, sacraments and institutions that constitute religion as we known it today.