3.8.3: On the Way of Devotion

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Recommended articles in the Encyclopedia of Religion, edited by Mircea Eliade (New York: Macmillan, 1987), include Devotion; PopularReligion; Bhakti; Grace; Faith; Pietism; Evangelical and Fundamental Christianity; Vaisnavism; Krsnaism; Saivism; jodoshu; Jodo Shinshu; Hasidism; and articles on specific religious traditions exemplifying the way of devotion.

Not many good studies of devotion as one way of being religious among others, exist. One of the best attempts in this direction is Frederick J. Streng, Understanding Religious Life, 3rd ed., Ch. 2, "Personal Apprehension of a Holy Presence" (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1985). Streng groups some phenomena under this category that I would classify differently under mystical quest and shamanic mediation. Nevertheless, many of his remarks are helpful, especially his bibliographical suggestions. See also Frederick ]. Streng, Charles L. Lloyd, Jr., and Jay T. Allen, eds., Ways ofBeing Religious: Readings for a New Approach to Religion, Part 1: "Rebirth through Personal Encounter with the Holy" (Englewood Cliffs, N]: Prentice-Hall, 1973). Although Streng treats them as a dif- ferent category altogether, some nontraditional religious phenomena akin to the way of devotion are covered in Ch. 6 of Understanding Religious Life, "The Religious Significance of Fulfilling Human Relationships," and Part 5 of Ways ofBeing Religious, "Attaining an Integrated Self through Creative Interaction."

For examples of the way of devotion in Buddhism and in Christianity, see Chapter 12, below.