Hans Joas & Matthias Jung 
The Varieties of Transcendence 
Pragmatism and the Theory of Religion

The Varieties of Transcendence traces American pragmatist thought on religion and its relevance for theorizing religion today. The volume establishes pragmatist concepts of religious individualization as powerful alternatives to the more common secularization discourse. In stressing the importance of Josiah Royce’s work, it emphasizes religious individualism’s compatibility with community. At the same time, by covering all of the major classical pragmatist theories of religion, it shows their kinship and common focus on the interrelation between the challenges of contingency and the semiotic significance of transcendence.

About the author

Hans Joas (Author)
Hans Joas is Ernst Troeltsch Professor for the Sociology of Religion at Humboldt University and Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago.


Matthias Jung (Author)
Matthias Jung is professor for practical philosophy at Koblenz University.


Magnus Schlette (Author)
Magnus Schlette is Permanent Fellow at the FEST–Protestant Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in Heidelberg.