ANCIENT MYSTERY CULTS

Harvard University Press. Near Fine in Very Good dust jacket. 1987. Hardcover. 0674033868 . Scholar's name to ffep (D. Gerber). Dustjacket has waviness to rear panel with minor shelfwear. ; Carl Newell Jackson Lectures; 192 pages; The foremost historian of Greek religion providers the first comprehensive, comparative study of a little-known aspect of ancient religious beliefs and practices. Secret mystery cults flourished within the larger culture of the public religion of Greece and Rome for roughly a thousand years. This book is neither a history nor a survey but a comparative phenomenology. Concentrating on five major cults. In defining the mysteries and describing their rituals, membership, organization, and dissemination, Walter Burkert displays the remarkable erudition we have come to expect of him; he also shows sensitivity and sympathy in interpreting the experiences and motivations of the devotees. Contents: Personal Needs in This Life and After Death; Organizations and Identities; Theologia and Mysteries : Myth, Allegory and Platonism; The Extraordinary Experience .