"A minor classic . . . The essay has all the celebrated clarity and incisiveness of Hume, and it provides us, in a short and readable form, with the substance of the beliefs about the origins of religion which dominated the first attempts of later and more scientific writers to account for the rise and development of religion."
Philosophy
"A philosophical classic that caused considerable stir in its time. It is good to have a new editions of this brief work completely edited for the use of modern students."
Peabody Journal of Education
"Hume's view of religion was one-side and his anthropology out of date, but his blows were shrewd. In the historical development of modern theology his challenge has a point of departure; and even today, as the editor says, unless we have an answer to him our faith is unreal."
The Times Literary Supplement