The Varieties of Religious Experience · Lecture II: Circumscription of the Topic
William James
For James, religion is personal before it is institutional. Theological systems and church structures are secondary growths, branching from the solitary encounter with the divine. This perspective contrasts sharply with the prevailing view of his time, which often began with dogma and worked backward to individual experience. James shifts the focus from the communal to the individual, from collective doctrine to private revelation.