approaches religion as a psychologist rather than a theologian or historian. James asserts that understanding personal, subjective experiences of religion is vital, setting the stage for an exploration of various religious figures and movements. He critiques prevalent notions of medical materialism that reduce profound religious experiences to mere physiological phenomena, arguing for the significance and uniqueness of these experiences in their own right. Through his initial lectures, James provides a framework for investigating how individuals perceive the divine and how these perceptions shape their lives, suggesting that the study of extreme religious experiences can illuminate their broader significance for humanity. (This is an automatically generated summary.)