Christina M. Gschwandtner. Ways of Living Religion: Philosophical Investigations into Religious Experience. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024, xxiii + 347 pp.

This volume offers a philosophical examination of various forms of religious experiences rather than merely concentrating on beliefs or apologetics.The author, Christina M. Gschwandtner, argues that rather than being isolated acts or one-time occurrences (Erlebnis), these experiences are best understood as ways of life (Erfahrung).According to her, the philosophical approach most appropriate for this type of examination is phenomenology.However, instead of portraying religion as a singular entity, the book provides chapters on ascetic, liturgical, monastic, mystical, devotional, compassionate, and fundamentalist experiences -mostly limited to the Christian tradition.In this instance, Gschwandtner is more interested in exploring how religious events speak to the human condition in general than she is in highlighting the uniqueness of religion.In the opening chapter, the author gives a summary of phenomenology as a method for examining religious experience.According to her, it is an approach that focuses on "how things appear rather than what they are."Because of this, it is oriented towards "careful and detailed description" as opposed to explanation or normative assertions (p. 7).To exemplify this particular philosophical style, we are briefly introduced to thinkers like Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Rudolf Otto, Edith Stein, Jean Hring, and others.Each chapter is dedicated to a different kind of religious experience, beginning with an explanation of its history and setting.For example, the examination of the ascetic experience is preceded by a description of the formation and methods of the desert ascetics in the fourth and fifth centuries.Three components make up an ascetic experience, according to Gschwandtner: withdrawal and abstention, vigilance or discernment, and self-denial or self-abnegation.For example, when it comes to retreating from everyday life, this suggests a certain type of phenomenological minimalism in which time and space are perceived differently (here referred to as "the insignificance of time" and "the emptiness of place").The author argues that ascetic behavior thus recognizes human imperfection and develops a remedy for it through a variety of self-examination and self-discipline techniques.Gschawandtner, however, describes the phenomenal features of liturgical experience as "predictability and preparedness" (p.74).In other words, since liturgical practices typically exist within a tradition, they are experienced as preceding the