I NTEREST in religious experience other than one's own can
be found in various cultures and religious communities ( 1 ).
The Greeks, Romans, Hebrews, Babylonians, Egyptians,
Moslems, Zoroastrians, Hindus, Mongols, Confucians, and
Buddhists were aware of and showed interest in religious atti-
tudes and institutions differing from their own. In most cultures
this interest remained pragmatic, while in some it developed
into a systematic study of the religious concepts and practices
of other peoples and groups, as among the Greeks, the Romans,
the Hindus, the Moslems, the Buddhists, and the Confucians.
We find such interest arising on three different sociological
levels: as the concern of rulers faced with the task of integrating
peoples of different religious persuasions into a politically uni-
fied realm; as that of the theologian in defending his faith
against one or many competing cults and in buttressing the
intellectual and moral presuppositions upon which his own
faith rests; and, finally, as an interest among the rank and file
of the people as a result of local contiguity. However, syncretistic
practice and theological concern are two different things,
though the former may be conducive to a development of the
latter.

The history of the study of alien religious experience in
Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism re-
mains to be written. As far as the Western world is concerned,
the task has been done ( 2 ). We have learned of the development
and growth of knowledge of other religions among the Greeks
and Romans, in early and medieval Christianity, and, finally,

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