In  the classic Text The Sacred and The Profane, famed historian of religion Mircea Eliade observes that even moderns who proclaim themselves residents of a completely profane world are still unconsciously nourished by the memory of the sacred. Eliade traces manifestations of the sacred from primitive to modern times in terms of space, time, nature, and the cosmos. In doing so he shows how the total human experience of the religious man compares with that of the nonreligious.

This book of great originality and scholarship serves as an excellent introduction to the history of religion, but its perspective also encompasses philosophical anthropology, phenomenology, and psychology. It will appeal to anyone seeking to discover the potential dimensions of human existence.

 Mircea Eliade was Chairman of the departement of the history of religions at the University of Chicago. Among his many books are The Myth of the Eternal Reunion, Patterns in Comparative Religion, Birth and Rebirth, and Yoga: Immortality and Freedom.

Translated by William Trask

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