Religious Studies at the University of Kent

MA in the study of mysticism and religious experience

Indicative reading

The following selection of titles will give prospective applicants some idea of the variety of themes and diversity of approaches represented within this MA programme.


A H Armstrong (ed), Classical Mediterranean spirituality
Susan Blackmore, Beyond the body
S G F Brandon, Man and his destiny in the great religions
Robert Crookall, The supreme adventure
Caroline Franks Davis, The evidential force of religious experience
E R Dodds, Pagan and Christian in an age of anxiety
Peter Donovan, Interpreting religious experience
Mircea Eliade, Shamanism: archaic techniques of ecstasy
Mircea Eliade, Yoga: immortality and freedom
R S Ellwood, Mysticism and religion
R K C Forman, The problem of pure consciousness
Daniel Goleman, The varieties of the meditative experience
A Hardy, The spiritual nature of man
David Hay, Exploring inner space: scientists and religious experience
John Hick, Death and eternal life
Willard Johnson, Riding the ox home: a history of meditation from shamanism to science
William James, The varieties of religious experience
William Johnston, Silent music
William Johnston, The still point: reflections on Buddhist and Christian mysticism
S T Katz (ed), Mysticism and philosophical analysis
S T Katz (ed), Mysticism and religious traditions
S T Katz (ed), Mysticism and language
Allan Kellehear, Experiences near death: beyond medicine and religion
Marghanita Laski, Ecstasy: a study of some secular and religious experiences
J H Leuba, The psychology of religious mysticism
I M Lewis, Ecstatic religion: an anthropological study of spirit possession and shamanism
Vladimir Lossky, The mystical theology of the Eastern Church
A Maslow, Religions, values and peak experiences
R Moody, Life after life
M Paffard, Inglorious Wordsworths: a study of some transcendental experiences in childhood and adolescence
Nelson Pike, Mystic union: an essay in the phenomenology of mysticism
Nyanaponika Thera, The heart of Buddhist meditation
Kenneth Ring, Life at death: a scientific investigation of the near-death experience
Anne-Marie Schimmel, Mystical dimensions of Islam
G C Scholem, Major trends in Jewish mysticism
S Spencer, Mysticism in world religion
F Staal, Exploring mysticism: a methodological essay
J White, The highest state of consciousness
Ken Wilber, The spectrum of consciousness
Keith Yandell, The epistemology of religious experience
R C Zaehner, Mysticism sacred and profane: an inquiry into some varieties of praeternatural experience
Carol Zaleski, Otherworld journeys: accounts of near-death experience in medieval and modern times
G K Zollschan et al, Exploring the paranormal: perspectives on belief and experience

Recommended reading for students applying for the programme

Books on mysticism published since 1978