The Making of Religion

This volume offers a measured investigation into how early human societies first imagined invisible forces and spirits. Drawing on the latest psychological research of its time, the author questions the assumptions of classic anthropological theories and suggests that altered states of mind—trance, hallucination, and other abnormal experiences—played a pivotal role in the birth of spiritual belief. The first half of the work reads like a dialogue between the laboratory and the field, inviting readers to reconsider the mental foundations of primitive religion.

In the second section the focus shifts to the emergence of a singular, supreme deity from those earlier spirit concepts. By weaving together insights from anthropology, psychology, and emerging studies of psychical phenomena, the author proposes a more integrated picture of religious development. The approach encourages scholars and curious listeners alike to explore how the human mind, in both savage and civilized contexts, may have forged the ideas that still shape faith today.