Theory and Method in the Study of Religion : Twenty Five Years On.
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Theory and Method are two words that cause considerable consternation in the academic study of religion. Although everyone claims to be aware of and to engage them, the fact of the matter is that they remain poorly understood. Some see the terms as irritants that get in the way of data interpretation and translation. Others may invoke them sporadically to appear in vogue but then return quickly and myopically to their material and with little concern for the larger issues that such terms raise. To contribute to these debates, the present volume reproduces select articles from Method and Theory in the Study of Religion (MTSR) from the first 25 volumes of the journal, and allows a group of younger scholars to introduce and review them, asking if the issues raised are still relevant to the field. Read the Inaugural Editorial now, please click here .
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List of ContributorsIndex. :
1 online resource (314 pages) :
9789004257573 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Scripture and Knowledge, An Essay on Religious Epistemology.
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At the core of Scripture and Knowledge lies the problem of the nature of religious knowledge. The author argues that religion is a particular framework rather than a particular content or defined set of performances. He sees this framework as epistemological, that is, as one that furnishes believers with a conception of knowledge alternative to that of philosophical reasoning. The thesis on the epistemological nature of religion will be developed by the examination of the concept of scripture as a body of authoritative and even infallible texts. The concept of scripture is presented as one of the constitutive concepts of the epistemological framework of religion. The author argues that the various scriptures and their commentaries should be understood as the arena within which the epistemological process of religion takes place and the central epistemological means by which religious knowledge is made possible.
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1 online resource. :
9789004378919
What is Religion?, Origins, Definitions, and Explanations.
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What is Religion? consists of fourteen essays written by a selection of scholars who represent a wide spectrum of approaches to the acedamic study of religion. Each of the essays is an effort not only to take stock of the present controversy concerning appropriate methodologies for the study of religion, but also to take one giant step beyond that to formulate a precise definition of religion. Given the considerable confusion today about what it is exactly that religious studies scholars take to be their subject matter when they presume to professionally teachabout religion, this volume provides a much needed forum for leading scholars to debate and clarify what professors of religious studies understand as the central object or objects under their scrunity.
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1 online resource. :
9789004379046
Religious discourse in modern Japan : religion, state, and Shinto /
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Religious Discourse in Modern Japan explores the introduction of the Western concept of "religion" to Japan in the modern era, and the emergence of discourse on Shinto, philosophy, and Buddhism. Taking Anesaki's founding of religious studies ( shukyogaku ) at Tokyo Imperial University as a pivot, Isomae examines the evolution of this academic discipline in the changing context of social conditions from the Meiji era through the present. Special attention is given to the development of Shinto studies/history of Shinto, and the problems of State Shinto and the emperor system are described in relation to the nature of the concept of religion. Isomae also explains how the discourse of religious studies developed in connection with secular discourses on literature and history, including Marxism.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004272682 :
1878-8106 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Future of the Study of Religion, Proceedings of Congress 2000.
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This volume brings together diverse voices from various fields within religious and theological studies for a conversation about the proper objects, goals, and methods for the study of religion in the twenty-first century. It approaches these questions by way of the most recent contemporary challenges, debates, and developments in the field, and provides a forum in which contending perspectives are tested and contested by their proponents and opponents. Contributors address topics such as: the connection between the 'normative' and the 'scientific' approaches to the study of religion, the meaning of religion in a context of globalization, the relation between religious studies and religious traditions, the viability of comparative and cultural studies of religious phenomena, and the future of gender studies in religion.
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1 online resource. :
9789047404125
Syncretistic Religious Communities in the Near East : Collected Papers of the International Symposium "Alevism in Turkey and Comparable Syncretistic Religious Communities in the Ne...
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This volume deals with Islamic sects in the Near East such as the Alevis (Turkey), Druzes (Libanon), Alawis (Syria), Ahl-i Haqq (Iran, Iraq) and Shabak (Iraq), which have in common a syncretistic system of belief with a strong Shi'ite influence, as well as secrecy and endogamy. The contributions in this volume focus on the present situation of these communities, their relation to mainstream Islam, their involvement in national and ethnic politics, aspects of faith and rituals, the relevance of sacred texts, modes of religious and social transformation, and the recent revival of Alevism. In view of the new visibility of these formerly "hidden" sects and their increasing social and political importance, this volume provides important information for all scholars interested in the religious and political situation of the region.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004378988 :
0169-8834 ;
The study of religion under the impact of fascism /
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The study of religion under the spell of fascism has not received due attention. One reason for the noticeable lack of interest was the political involvement of many historians of religions. Among those who had good reason to leave the era of fascism untouched, we find prominent figures in the field. Another obstacle to examining the past impartially has been the connection with religious and other worldviews which render historical accounts in the study of religion an intricate matter. The articles in this volume provide evidence of the great complexity of the problems involved. Laying the groundwork in many cases, they shed new light on a dark and poorly-lit era of the academic study of religion in Europe.
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Includes index.
Papers presented at an international symposium on "The Study of religion under the Impact of National Socialist and Fascist Ideologies in Europe" held 16-18 July 2004 at the University of Tübingen--Pref. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047423065 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Textual and Literary Criticism of the Books of Kings : Collected Essays /
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This volume contains a collection of the author's life-long study (along with some new research written specifically for this book) of the text of 1-2 Kings, some of them translated into English for the first time. Julio Trebolle's career has focused on the history of these biblical books from the triple angle of a combined textual, literary and source-compositional criticism. His usage of the Septuagint and its secondary versions like the Old Latin as a basis for the reconstruction of the history of the text is an invaluable contribution to the panorama of textual pluralism in the Bible during the Second Temple period which has emerged after the discoveries of the Dead Sea.
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1 online resource. :
9789004426016
9789004388314
Geschichte und Probleme der Religionswissenschaft.
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This book contains a collection of 18 articles written by the author in the last 30 years on methodological, terminological and historical problems concerning the field of his discipline at Leipzig University, namely Religious Studies. Some articles are rewritten, others only revised or complemented. Much influenced at this University in considering the field of Religious Studies as an area based primary on history and philology, independent of theology and philosophy, this work focuses a.o. on terms like Myth, Mythology, Demythologizing, and Syncretism; on subjects like Mohammed, the relation between Jews, Christians and Muslims; and on leading figures of the discipline in past and present. An introductory essay provides the autobiographical considerations, necessary for a good understanding of the collection. Das Buch enthält 18 Aufsätze des Autors aus den letzten 30 Jahren, die sich mit wissenschaftsgeschichtlichen, methodologischen und terminologischen Problemen der Religionswissenschaft (Rw) beschäftigen. Mehrere von ihnen sind neubearbeitet, andere wenigstens durchgesehen und ergänzt worden. Da der Verfasser das Fach fast 25 Jahre an der Universität Leipzig (früher DDR) vertreten hat, ehe er nach den USA und dann nach Marburg berufen wurde, waren seine Möglichkeiten begrenzt, sich zu grundlegenden und aktuellen Fragen seiner Disziplin zu äußern, und wenn, dann in Zeitschriften, die nicht so verbreitet sind, daß sie international beachtet werden konnten. Seine Ausbildung in Leipzig mit einer der ältesten Traditionen der deutschen Rw und die damalige Situation bestimmen daher die Mehrzahl seiner Arbeiten in bemerkenswerter Weise, indem sie versuchen der Rw ein eigenständiges Profil zu geben, und zwar auf der Grundlage einer streng historisch-philologischen, nichttheologischen Position, die vor allem auch ihre ideologiekritische Seite mit einschließt. Einige Beiträge widmen sich außerdem terminologischen Themen (Mythos, Entmythologisierung, Synkretismus, Entwicklung, Sekte), andere historischen (Mohammed, Verhältnis von Juden, Christen und Muslimen, Frühes Christentum) und wissenschaftsgeschichtlichen (H. Haas, J. Wach, W. Baetke, Eliade, Religionsgeschichtliche Schule). Der einleitende Essay gibt autobiographische Reflexionen wieder, die zum Verständnis der Sammlung nötig sind. Das Buch greift grundlegende Probleme der Rw auf, die bis heute diese Disziplin begleiten, auch wenn verständlicherweise neue Fragestellungen aufgekommen sind, von denen der Verfasser z.B. die der Religion-Umwelt-Beziehung (der älteren Religionsgeographie) aufgreift.
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1 online resource. :
9789004378766
Evolution, cognition, and the history of religion : a new synthesis : festschrift in honour of Armin W. Geertz /
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Evolution, Cognition, and the History of Religion: A New Synthesis comprises 41 chapters that push for a new way of conducting the study of religion, thereby, transforming the discipline into a genuine science of religion. The recent resurgence of evolutionary approaches on culture and the increasing acknowledgement in the natural and social sciences of culture's and religion's evolutionary importance calls for a novel epistemological and theoretical framework for studying these two areas. The chapters explore how a new scholarly synthesis, founded on the triadic space constituted by evolution, cognition, cultural and ecological environment, may develop. Different perspectives and themes relating to this overarching topic are taken up with a main focus on either evolution, cognition, and/or the history of religion.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004385375 :
2214-3270 ;
Reappraising Durkheim for the Study and Teaching of Religion Today.
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Reappraising Durkheim for the Study and Teaching of Religion Today is an occasion to critically analyze and reassess the work of this intellectual pioneer. It is also an effort to signal the continuing importance of Durkheim for today's graduate and advanced undergraduate classrooms. Reappraising Durkheim brings together ten new critical essays in which noted sociologists, psychologists, phenomenologists, philosophers, and historians of religion grapple with the questions Durkheim raised and the solutions he proposed. Taken together, the volume is a careful historical and multi-disciplinary study of Durkheim that will lead students to a better understanding of how to study religion. Reappraising Durkheim will be an excellent text for courses focusing on theory and method in the academic study of religion at both the graduate and advanced undergraduate level. It would therefore be appropriate for use in departments of religious studies, philosophy, sociology, and anthropology.
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1 online resource. :
9789004379152
Innovation and Tradition in Rabbinic Culture : A Reassessment Through a Linguistic Lens /
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Reading Talmudic Sources as Arguments: A New Interpretive Approach elucidates the unique characteristics of Talmudic discourse culture. Approaching Talmudic literature from a linguistic perspective, the book shows the extensive and hidden ways in which later rabbis used early formulations. Applying Quentin Skinner's interpretive question "What was the author doing in composing the text in this particular way?" to Talmudic literature reveals that Talmudic debate is not only about ideas, concepts and laws but also about the latter's connection to pre-existing formulations. These early traditions, rather than only being accepted or not, are used by later generations to build their own arguments. The book articulates the function of tradition at the time that Rabbinic Judaism was forged.
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1 online resource. :
9789004430044
9789004430037
Man, Meaning, and Mystery : 100 Years of History of Religions in Norway. The Heritage of W. Brede Kristensen /
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At an international symposium in Norway, the 100 years' anniversary of the academic study of religion was celebrated. This volume contains the papers that were presented at this conference. A major part of the papers deals with the situation of this discipline around the turn of the last century, focussing especially on the work of the Dutch-Norwegian scholar W. Brede Kristensen (1867-1953) and on other founding fathers in the Scandinavian countries. Other contributors discuss methodological questions relating to the idea of a phenomenology of religion. Furthermore, an attempt is made to compare the study of religion at the end of the twentieth century with the situation a hundred years earlier, and to trace some of the lines of development. The book includes a bibliography of publications by W. Brede Kristensen.
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Consists chiefly of lectures given during an international symposium, held in Oslo Sept. 17-20, 1998. :
1 online resource. :
"William Brede Kristensen: a bibliography": pages [287]-294.
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047400264 :
0169-8834 ;
The Question of Methodological Naturalism.
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The traditions and institutions that we call religions abound with references to the supernatural: ancestral spirits, karma, the afterlife, miracles, revelation, deities, et cetera How are students of religion to approach the behaviors, doctrines, and beliefs that refer to such phenomena, which by their very nature are supposed to defy the methods of empirical research and the theories of historical scholarship? That is the question of methodological naturalism. The Question of Methodological Naturalism offers ten thoughtful engagements with that perennial question for the academic study of religion. Contributors include established senior scholars and newer voices propounding a range of perspectives, resulting in both surprising points of convergence and irreconcilable differences in how our shared discipline should be conceptualized and practiced.
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1 online resource. :
9789004372436
Religion in the Making : The Emergence of the Sciences of Religion /
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This volume explores the ways in which religion became the object of scientific research in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Most obvious is the development of an increasingly autonomous science of religion (with founding fathers like Max Müller and C.P. Tiele). However, within anthropology (Tylor, Frazer), sociology (Durkheim, Max Weber), and psychology (William James), religion also came to be seen as a separate entity to be studied comparatively. To capture this wide field this book focuses on the emergence of the discourse on religion in a broad academic context, among different disciplines. The emphasis is on general socio-historical developments, rather than on individual biographies. Part I deals with the institutionalization of science of religion in France, Britain, and the Netherlands. Part II focuses on boundary disputes between the emerging \'sciences of religion\'. Part III examines new conceptualizations of religion underlying the new endeavour (\'ritual\', \'magic\', \'survival\').
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Papers from a conference held May 22-24, 1997 at the University of Amsterdam. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004379039 :
0169-8834 ;
Family 13 in St. John's Gospel, A Computer Assisted Phylogenetic Analysis.
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In Family 13 in Saint John's Gospel , Jac Perrin innovatively applies phylogenetic software to shed new light on Family 13 membership. To date, the relocation of the Pericope Adulterae from its traditional location in John 7:53 has been the sole criterion of Family 13 filiality. This book demonstrates the inadequacy of this criterion, and proposes new criteria in its stead. Nineteen potential Family 13 witnesses are analyzed by means of a sampling process developed by David Parker, identifying eight witnesses inappropriately nominated as Family 13 members. This analysis is corroborated by a complete computer assisted collation of all variant readings in all known Family 13 witnesses. Lastly, the volume offers a comprehensive stemma representing the entire Johannine corpus of ten confirmed Family witnesses in constellation.
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1 online resource. :
9789004377561
New Perspectives on Advaita Vedānta, Essays in Commemoration of Professor Richard De Smet, S.J..
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This volume is a collection of essays by leading scholars who treat various aspects of the Hindu thinker Śaṃkara (ca. 700 CE) and his system of Advaita Vedānta. Topics include the contemporary relevance of Śaṃkara for inter-religious dialogue and human rights as well as revised assessments of Śaṃkara's understanding of divine grace, the role of the gods, Buddhism, Śaṃkara's relation to later Advaita, and the unity of the Self. The introductory essay of this commemoration volume assesses the place and value of Richard De Smet's work in the context of twentieth century Śaṃkara scholarship. The contributors break new scholarly ground and offer fresh perspectives on Śaṃkara and Advaita Vedānta and help reassess traditional understandings of this great master of non-duality.
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1 online resource. :
9789004379114