Eric Voegelin (1901-1985) is widely regarded as one of the greatest political philosophers of the 20th century, yet adequate understanding of his writings stands as a challenge for current and future generations. Voegelin-s thought continued to develop at a rapid pace during the last two decades of his life, and as Ellis Sandoz has written, his work found -not only its final but its most profound expression- during this period. Voegelin-s fame stemmed mostly from his many books and the laudatory review articles published in response to them, but he was -preeminently an essayist,- as Sandoz observes. The meditative analyses and essays written in the culminating phase of Voegelin-s career not only expand and deepen his work as a whole, but also revise central components of it in ways that compel reconsideration of even his most widely read texts. Voegelin-s books gave rise to a vast secondary literature that continues to grow, yet the exceptionally impactful late essays and meditative wo
