ABSTRACT
Religion in world history is so vast and complex a subject that it is challenging to draw inferences that might serve as a conclusion, and perhaps an anticipation of the future. Our main difficulty, now clear to the most casual reader, is that religion is internal and external, hidden and revealed, closed and open. Religion permeates the hearts and minds of individuals, thereby saturating societies as well. Its history is much like that of the earth’s terrain and oceans: easy to see and describe from the ground level, but mysterious and unpredictable once the surface is penetrated. The deeper we go into subterranean depths, the greater the challenges we encounter. And the deepest strata and most mysterious currents can be reached only after great effort. So it is with religion. The surface history is difficult enough, but we always need to be mindful that beneath the surface, deeper dramas are unfolding.
