Fits, Trances, and Visions: Experiencing Religion and Explaining Experience from Wesley to James

Ann Taves examines religious experience in American Protestant traditions from the 1740s through the early 1900s. Her analysis focuses on how people understood and explained unusual physical and mental phenomena that occurred during religious practices. The book tracks debates between religious leaders, doctors, and scholars about the nature of religious fits, trances, and visions. Taves documents how explanations shifted from supernatural to psychological interpretations over time, particularly as medicine and science advanced. Methodists, Adventists, Mesmerists, and other groups feature prominently as Taves explores their different approaches to religious experience. The narrative culminates with William James and his influential work on religious psychology. By tracing these historical perspectives on religious experience, the book reveals deep connections between American religious practice and the development of psychology as a field. The work provides insight into how societies explain phenomena that exist at the intersection of mind, body, and spirit.

Academic readers value the book's detailed analysis of how Americans interpreted religious experiences from 1740-1910. Multiple scholars note its contribution to understanding how terms like "trance," "ecstasy," and "enthusiasm" evolved over time. Positives: - Clear organization and research methodology - Extensive primary source documentation - Bridges religious studies and psychology perspectives - Useful for graduate-level religious studies courses Negatives: - Dense academic writing style makes it challenging for non-specialists - Some sections focus heavily on methodology at expense of historical narrative - Price point ($45+) limits accessibility Ratings: Goodreads: 4.0/5 (12 ratings) Amazon: 4.5/5 (6 reviews) One doctoral student on Goodreads wrote: "Taves provides an invaluable framework for analyzing religious experience across traditions." An Amazon reviewer criticized: "The theoretical portions become repetitive and could have been condensed."

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🔍 Ann Taves explores how religious experiences like trances and visions shifted from being seen as purely supernatural events to becoming subjects of psychological study during the 18th and 19th centuries. ⚡ The book examines how Methodist founder John Wesley's own spiritual experiences shaped his theology and influenced later Protestant views on religious enthusiasm. 📚 Taves is a professor at UC Santa Barbara and pioneered an interdisciplinary approach combining religious studies with cognitive science and psychology. 🧠 The work challenges the idea that religious and scientific explanations of extraordinary experiences are necessarily in conflict, showing how both frameworks were often used together. ⚜️ The book won the 1999 Association of American Publishers Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Philosophy and Religion.