What is Religious Studies?
A Reader
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-1-84465-698-1 (ISBN)
Description
The study of religion has never been more important. Religion remains central to the individual lives and social identities of vast numbers of people around the world and provides some of the clearest fracture lines in contemporary global and national politics. This volume describes and scrutinises major ways in which Religious Studies has been imagined in recent decades. It brings together key modern and contemporary essays to present a broad yet penetrating examination of the study of religion as an intellectual enterprise. Grouped into thematic sections, each essay outlines and defends a particular approach to practising Religious Studies as a field of enquiry. Taken as a whole the collection raises pressing questions: What is Religious Studies? Who is it for? What does it accomplish? Where is it going? The aim of the volume is to clarify the nature and purpose of Religious Studies and to renew analytic rigour in the study of religion.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Durham
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 169 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-84465-698-1 (9781844656981)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Steven Sutcliffe is Senior Lecturer in the Study of Religion at the University of Edinburgh.
Content
General Introduction Part I: Orientation: Scope and Remit Introduction 1. Study of Religion(s), T. Thomas 2. Methods and Issues in the Academic Study of Religion, G. Alles Part II: Constitution: Identity and Demarcation Introduction 3. The Principles and Meaning of the Study of Religion, N. Smart 4. Historiography and Disciplinary Formation: the case of "Religious Studies", S. Sutcliffe 5. Interdisciplinarity in Religious and Women's Studies, D. Juschka 6. A Spatial Analysis of the Relationship between Theology and Religious Studies: Knowledge-power Strategies and Metaphors of Containment and Separation, K. Knott Part III: Interpretation: Communication and Understanding Introduction 7. "Religion" and "Religious Studies": No Difference At All, J. Z. Smith 8. Principles of Studying Religions, R. Gothoni 9. Discursive Study of Religion: from States of the Mind to Communication and Action, K. von Stuckrad 10. The Study of Religion as Corrective Reading, G. Flood Part IV: Explanation: Reduction and Causality Introduction 11. Is a Science of Religion Possible? H. Penner & E. Yonan 12. Basic Positions of Religionswissenschaft, K. Rudolph 13. Methodological Foundations of the Comparative History of Religions, W. Tyloch 14. Beyond thick descriptions and interpretive sciences: explaining religious meaning, D. Wiebe Part V: Deconstruction: Reflexivity and Critique Introduction 15. Religion, Religions and World Religions - Religious Studies: a critique, T. Fitzgerald 16. Secularism and the "iatrogenic" effect of studying religion, R. King 17. Postcolonial Reflections: challenges for Religious Studies, M. Joy 18. Outlaws or In-Laws? Queer Theory, LGBT Studies and Religious Studies, M. Wilcox Part VI: Intervention: Engaged and Applied Models Introduction 19. A Default of Critical Intelligence? The Scholar of Religion as Public Intellectual, R. McCutcheon 20. The Academy as Real Life: New Participants and Paradigms in the Study of Religion, J. Plaskow 21. The Task and Function of the Academic Study of Religion in the Face of Religious Diversity, E. Franke Conclusion Bibliography