"No one has done so much as Mr. Eliade to inform literature students in the West about 'primitive' and Oriental religions...Everyone who cares about the human adventure will find new information and new angles of vision."--Martin E. Marty, "New York Times Book Review"

'A History of Religious Ideas, volume 1 will arouse the interest of all historians of western religion, since it includes chapters on the religions of Canaan and Israel. However, the book must be read cover to cover if one wants to grasp the significance of its gigantic historical scope...Not only has the work unity through Eliade's authorship, but it lays the foundation of the history of religious' edifice of which he has been one of the principal architects.' -Kees W. Bolle, Church History.