has originated in a series of papers written for the Sunday at Home in the years 1879 and 1881, based upon Lectures delivered in the University of Oxford, from the chair which I have the honour to hold. During the twenty-one years that I have occupied that chair, I have continually felt more and more that the real history of nations is bound up with the history of their religions, and that, unless these are carefully studied and accurately known, the inner life of nations is not apprehended, nor is their history understood.I have also felt that the desire to generalize upon the subject of ancient religions, and to build up a formal "Science of Religion," as it is called, has outrun the necessarily anterior collection of materials on which generalization might be safely based. I have, therefore, in my lectures to students, made a point of drawing their attention, from time to time, to the religious beliefs and practices of the various races and nations with whom my historical teaching has been concerned, and of exhibiting to them, as we was I was able, at once the external features and the internal characteristics of "The Religions of the Ancient World."About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

Hide more