Historical Events and Structural Meaning in Tension

This important short excerpt give some flavor of Eliade’s understanding of the role of the historian of religions vis-à-vis other specialists in the field and vis-à-vis historians in general. Particularly noteworthy is his conclusion that “1) All the phases of the human past are, fundamentally, inaccessible to a total and certain understanding. 2) On the other hand, there is not a single expression of a human life which is absolutely sealed to our understanding.” From Mircea Eliade, “Historical Events and Structural Meaning in Tension,” Criterion (a publication of the University of Chicago Divinity School) 6/1 (winter 1967): 29–31. All rights reserved. Copyright © 1967. Reprinted by permission of Criterion.