GLIMPSES INTO ELIADE'S RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
GLIMPSES INTO ELIADE'S RELIGIOUS BELIEFS

Summary/Abstract: A subject on which Eliade was always hesitant to speak in later life was his own religion. Three times in the interviews with Claude- Henri Rocquet, Eliade turned aside direct queries concerning his beliefs, with remarks such as: "I made the decision long ago to maintain a kind of discreet silence as to what I personally believe or don't believe." In contrast to this statement, the Portugal Journal is replete with explicit comments and affirmations that show Eliade to have been a man of definite convictions on many religious points, at least at that time. Ordinarily, Eliade did not engage in conventional religious practices. But during the critical stages of Nina's illness and after her death, in his bereavement, he prayed, read the Bible and other devotional writings, and ordered religious ceremonies on his wife's behalf. In the latter part of 1944 and in early 1945, Eliade was, in my opinion, more actively and deeply "religious" than at any other time in his life.3 Most of his personal religious statements and actions recorded in the journal come from this period, but there are others from the earlier years which disclose that his teachings about the history of religions were also his own religious beliefs."[...]

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