Kathy Cao Cao itibaren Porrentruy, Switzerland itibaren Porrentruy, Switzerland

Eliade was frequently assigned for seminary classes. As a consequence I came to perceive him as redundant, each book repeating many of the points made by others previously read. This book is a bit different in that he consciously works off Otto's Idea of the Holy, a book I'd read in college. What struck me as original at the time was Eliade's treatment of the axis mundi, whereby all is oriented. Eliade's personal history was unknown to me at the time of reading his books. Since then, thanks to an article in The New York Review of Books, I've learned of his support for the Iron Guard, the Rumanian fascist movement, during his youth in the thirties, and his post-war affiliations with the right-wing leaderships of Portugal and Spain. If I were to read him again I would be sensitive to these political associations and would seek to understand how, if it all, they influenced his treatment of religion.