This anthology is a collection of key essays by and about the Romanian-American Historian of Religions, Mircea Eliade (1907-1986). It introduces the beginning student to the terms and categories of Eliade's understanding of religious behavior as a universal phenomenon: apprehension of the sacred by homo religious, humanity's religious mode through hierophanies, revelatory events and objects. As well as Eliade's own understanding and its implication for the study of Religions, the collection alerts the reader to the critical response to the problems of his thought. This includes the issues raised by Eliade's biography, politics, and career as one of the most successful and influential historians of religion of the late 20th century. Eliade's career traces a complex trajectory involving many problems central to the academic study of religion and culture.