Söderblom’s The Living God is an intensive study of the phenomenology of religious practice and experience. He declares his purpose to have been ‘an attempt to indicate the universal application of the belief in revelation’. Touching on primitive religions, Vedic traditions, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Islam and Christianity, Söderblom focuses on the relation of religion and history; the pursuit of salvation through either self-attainment or devotion to a deity; the tolerance of polytheism and the intolerance of monotheism; religious experience and ascetic practice; and the uniqueness of a theology of incarnation for understanding divine revelation. Ultimately, he suggests the three most import factors in the history of religions are: genius, history and spiritual personality.