When William James published his Varieties in 1902, it marked a turning point in the approach to philosophy of religion. His preparation of the essays was guided by his pragmatism, the conviction that the significance of a belief should be judged not by its source but by its fruits.

The result was a massive change of emphasis from an almost exclusive involvement with dogma and the external forms of religion to a sympathetic and respectful concern for the "religious experi- ence" itself as a prime source of religious knowl- edge. James writes with boldness and keen analysis on such phenomena as conversion, repentance, mysticism, saintliness, the hopes of reward and the fears of punishment; in short, what he has called "man's religious appetites.'