The Secular Religion of Franklin Merrell-Wolff : An Intellectual History of Anti-Intellectualism in Modern America

Vliegenthart, Dave. The Secular Religion of Franklin Merrell-Wolff : An Intellectual History of Anti-Intellectualism in Modern America
. Leiden: Brill, (2018). First edition. Octavo. viii, 378pp. Index and 64 page bibliography. Pictorial buckram, light blue spine lettered in white & black. A near fine, but ex-library copy with a minimal rubber library stamp on title page and at bottom edge of text block.

In The Secular Religion of Franklin Merrell-Wolff: An Intellectual History of Anti-intellectualism in Modern America, Dave Vliegenthart offers an account of the life and teachings of the modern American mystic Franklin Merrell-Wolff (1887–1985), who combined secular and religious sources from eastern and western traditions in order to elaborate and legitimate his metaphysical claim to the realization of a transcendental reality beyond reason. Using Merrell-Wolff as a typical example of a modern western guru, Vliegenthart investigates the larger sociological and historical context of the ongoing grand narrative that asserts a widespread anti-intellectualism in modern American culture, exploring developments in religious, philosophical, and psychological discourses in North America from 1800 until the present. (Publisher)

Contents: Origination (1887-1914) — Investigation (1914-1936) — Realization (1936-1978) — Routinization (1978-today). (OCLC)

Volume 158 of Brill’s “Numen Book Series: Studies in the History of Religions.” near fine. Hardcover. (52842) $95