Hellenistic Mystery Religions

Preface.

This small book, which appears here for the second time after barely a decade, holds a certain significance for my life; it marked for me the pinnacle of my teaching career at the German University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg was a major center of German academic life during the period of 1871–1918, known for its rigorous scholarship in both the humanities and sciences., to which I dedicated the best strength of my prime for more than seventeen years. At the same time, it was able to outwardly express that gratifying sense of a shared community of interest with a "liberal theology" in the noblest sense—a connection that had become a necessity of my heart following the experiences of my childhood and youth. "Liberal theology" refers to a movement in 19th and early 20th-century Protestantism that aimed to bridge the gap between traditional Christian faith and modern historical-critical research.

Thus, I could not bring myself to strip the first part of its lecture format, even though it can no longer provide the literal words once spoken before a circle of theologians. I have, of course, left as much as possible unchanged, only indicating in a longer insertion what I have learned in the meantime. In the subsequent discussions and notes, I have naturally acted with greater freedom. To reshape them into a systematic presentation—as some theologian friends had wished—proved impractical if the basic structure was to remain. Some books can only offer piecemeal work, precisely because they were a piece of the writer themselves.

I have attempted to utilize the vast literature that has grown since then—I mention Eduard Norden’s original: "Agnostos Theos" The Unknown God as the most powerful work—and I ask for forgiveness if anything has escaped my notice. Anyone who, late in their career, ventures into such secondary studies at the border of their own actual field of expertise Reitzenstein was primarily a classical philologist (a scholar of ancient texts and languages) rather than a trained theologian, though his work revolutionized New Testament studies. must accept that they will overlook some things if they wish to offer anything original at all.

Thus, from the