John C. Stephens is an adjunct professor of religion at San Joaquin Delta Community College, USA, and received his PhD in the field of religious studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is a specialist in the history of religions, and his work focuses on the ancient religious traditions of the West. His previous books include The Dreams and Visions of Aelius Aristides: A Case-Study in the History of Religions; Ancient Mediterranean Religions: Myth, Ritual and Religious Experience; Journeys to the Underworld and Heavenly Realm in Ancient and Medieval Literature; and The World of the Axial Sages: The Age of Awakening.
"""John Stephens is a veteran scholar of collective approaches to the divine in different places and periods. Here, he gives an engaging and readable account of individual approaches to the divine in selected texts from the western literary canon, by authors such as Augustine, Dante, Margery Kemp, Kafka, and C. S. Lewis. Stephens balances capacious overview and focused analysis to help the reader explore how spiritually minded individuals experienced and recorded their quest for the highest good."" --F. Regina Psaki, professor emerita of romance languages, University of Oregon"