Sacred Drugs: How Psychoactive Substances Mix with Religious Life

Sacred Drugs touches on the presence of drugs in a number of religious traditions, including Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam. It also delves into the religious textures, sensibilities, and histories of psychoactive agents, sometimes intersecting with these traditions, sometimes with Indigenous cultures around the world, and sometimes not directly related to any particular religion, but instead related to more basic existential religious concerns: a mortal body that suffers, ages, and dies, but also yearns for transcendence, healing, and ecstasy; or the desire to uncover and live true to one's identity, as well as to find energizing communities that bind individuals together; or how to counter chaos, meaninglessness, and disorder. This controversial book will be the go-to volume for readers interested in the complex relationship between religious life and psychoactive substances.