Fundamentally, Eliade considered religious experience in traditional and contemporary societies as credible phenomena that he termed hierophanies (i.e., manifestations of the sacred in the world). His researches traced the forms that these hierophanies have taken throughout the world and through time. Eliade's essential interpretation of traditional religious cultures and his analysis of the forms of mystical experience characterize his major works: Traité d'histoire des religions (1949; Patterns of Comparative Religion), Le Mythe de l'éternel retour (1949; The Myth of the Eternal Return), and Le Chamanisme et les techniques archaïques de l'extase (1951; Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy). He also expressed his views in works of fiction, notably the novels Forêt interdite (1955; The Forbidden Forest) and The Old Man and the Bureaucrats (1979). Among his later works are two collections of essays, The Quest: History and Meaning in Religion (1969) and Occultism, Witchcraft, and Cultural Fashion: Essays in Comparative Religion (1976). He also wrote a three-volume work entitled A History of Religious Ideas (1978–85) and was editor-in-chief of the 16-volume Encyclopedia of Religion (1987).

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