Huston Smith's many books have garnered countless accolades during his half-century career as one of the world's preeminent religious historians. But when I met with him at his Berkeley, California, home following the lecture series devoted to the subject of his latest book, Why Religion Matters, the genial professor told me that one of his favorite reviews appeared in the Journal's sister publication, The Christian Science Monitor. "Do you remember how it opened?" Smith asked me with a delighted grin. "They said I was 'as close to a rock star' as anyone in religion! Wasn't that a good line?"
Smith himself is full of good lines—and has a broad and penetrating perspective on religion and history. I asked him why he felt conferences such as this one were important today.
He explained that the religious and metaphysical dimensions of life are absent in academia. Independent organizations such as the California Institute for Integrative Studies, which sponsored this series of lectures, are needed because they give more room and credence to the spiritual view. Learning about other religions is an aspect of multiculturism, which is "a distinct novelty of our time," he said. "Civilizations are rubbing shoulders. We are aware of the world. The global monetary economy is one aspect of that. All this going on naturally arouses interest in the religious dimension in the cultures of the world."
