Homo Faber and Homo Religiosus

Despite Gregory Alles’ admirable attempt to bring system and clarity to Eliade’s application of the term homo religiosus , considerable potential confusion remains. The following article by Eliade might bring some degree of further clarity, or at least familiarity, through the instructive example of contrasting homo religiosus with homo faber. Although twenty years have elapsed since its original publication, the contemporary relevance of this meditation on Apocalyptic is marked. While the technological predictions cited in Eliade’s article are inaccurate (as is the forecast of the self-destruction of The Rolling Stones), Eliade’s diagnosis of the contradictory trends of technological pessimism and optimism as fundamentally religious seems to have been borne out. While the end of the world via uncontrolled technology is still a live possibility, the redemption of the world via technological success seems to be a fading hope (I speak not of actualities but of human aspirations) and the more overtly religious motif of divine eschatology is an increasing concern, particularly in the United States.