I say this was great humility, but unfortunately the majority of books recommended here are naive perspectives of religion—with the one exception being the reco

I say this was great humility, but unfortunately the majority of books recommended here are naive perspectives of religion—with the one exception being the recommendation of C.S. Lewis. If you want to understand the psychology behind religion I recommend Wittgenstein's "Remarks on Frazer's Golden Bough"; Eliade's "Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries" and "The Sacred & Profane"; Feuerbach's "The Essence of Religion"; Gertz's "The Religion of Java" and "The Interpretation of Cultures"; and no anthology of introduction to religion would be complete without Ricouer's "Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences". An amazing excerpt from Eliade details the Tjilpa people orientating their small tribe around this sacred gum tree, until one day the tree breaks, the Tjilpa people then "wandered around aimlessly for a time, and finally [laid] down on the ground together and waited for death to overtake them".