CHEMICAL ECSTASY: Psychedelic Drugs and Religion

This is a candid and interesting look at the relationship between drugs and religion: whether drugs should in fact play a role in the religious experience, whether the problems involved are worth the results obtained, and, generally, whether the good outweighs the bad. The author presents his material systematically, judiciously and sympathetically, if cautiously. His own experiences (""I have learned at least as much, though not more, from my six 'trips' as I have from all the plodding study in my field of the psychology of religion"") does not move him to abandon caution in concluding that psychedelic drugs, though they may be spiritually useful in carefully controlled conditions, and that the churches, as well as individuals, should consider carefully both the pros and cons (many of which are graphically illustrated in a series of case-histories) before attempting to form a judgment in any direction. Chemical Ecstasy is an important work for concerned-clergymen, and particularly for those working with students at the university level.