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The Sacred and Profane

by Mircea Eliade

How the sacred shapes human experience

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AlbakiReads Editorial

How the sacred shapes human experience

Mircea Eliade examines how people distinguish sacred realities from the ordinary world, and how that distinction appears in ideas about space, time, nature, the cosmos, and human life. The book’s guiding premise is that even people who regard their world as secular may remain connected, unconsciously, to memories of the sacred. This framework gives the study a broad comparative scope: myth, symbol, and ritual are considered as ways the sacred has been expressed across different aspects of existence. The book presents Eliade’s interpretation of these patterns as a means of exploring the human experience.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in comparative religion and the study of myth, symbol, and ritual.
  • Readers exploring how religious ideas relate to space, time, nature, and everyday life.

Themes

The sacred and the profaneMyth, symbol, and ritualSacred space and timeNature and the cosmos

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

A groundbreaking work on myth, symbol, and ritual by one of the most acclaimed historians of our time.

In The Sacred and the Profane, Mircea Eliade observes that while contemporary people believe their world is entirely profane or secular, they still at times find themselves connected unconsciously to the memory of something sacred. It's this premise that both drives Eliade's exhaustive exploration of the sacred--as it has manifested in space, time, nature and the cosmos, and life itself--and buttresses his expansive view of the human experience.
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