Abstract
The fifteen autobiographical essays by distinguished scholars in various specialties center around methodological issues in the interdisciplinary field of religious studies. First published in hardcover editions (Great Britain: Macmillan, 1998; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999), they strikingly reveal how personal life experiences during childhood, youth, and adulthood aroused and shaped spiritual quests. These in turn awakened questions and interests that became major stimuli for their intellectual journeys and careers centered around philosophical explorations, conceptual reflections, research investigations, theological adaptations, and theoretical innovations. For example, Jacob Neusner, whose 675-plus books make him the most published humanities scholar in the world, shares how self-doubt has influenced much of his career and made him his own harshest critic.