William James's Study Of Religious Thought

William James (1842-1902) is a famous American religion psychologist, the religious thoughts are unique. Base on his philosophy and psychology, he is looking for the value of religion. He established religious empiricism and pragmatism. This paper starting from the unity of his thought, based on the 19 th-century American religious social situation, discussing its religious thought, hoping to be able to for building a system in James religious thought. This article is divided into five parts.First, James’s religious thought is based on the condition of the religion in the United States, American religion focus on personal religious experience. In the family, old Henry James’religious thought and admire of science makes James change the relation of science and religion; In personal experience, spiritual crisis made him began to think the religious beliefs. German voluntarism saved the spiritual crisis and let him understand the connotation of faith; James in Europe learning psychology, and he build the systematic psychology; he study Peirce’s pragmatism principle and establish the pragmatic truth base on his own psychology; James absorbs British empiricism, adhere to the attitude of empiricism, create the radical empiricism philosophy. These together constitute the theoretical basis of his religious thought.Secondly, the main purpose of James’s religious thought is to defend the religious belief and find the value of religion. In the early thought of the will to belive, James stressed the significance of faith is faith itself, only faith in order to recognize the significance of faith and religious salvation. With the development of the psychological and philosophical ideas, James began to legitimacy in the most extensive significance on the establishment of the religion, he will be defined religion as religious experience, through to choose a religion to true refuge and become saints the religious experience in detail, and psychological interpretation of religious experience, in order to explain religion, to satisfy the psychological needs of the individual, with a pragmatic value.Finally, James not only establish a religious ideology, but also provide methods of the study of religion. This paper based on the consistency of James thought and Zhuang Zi’s thought, use James’s religious thought in order to analysis the text of Zhuang Zi and understand the ZhuangZi’s thought. In the end this essay indicating that the Zhuangzi thoughts of religious. James’s phenomenological approach to religious studies is the characteristic of his religious thought, which has guiding significance for the study of religion.