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
Method and theory in the study of religion : working papers from Hannover /
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Since the downfall of the phenomenology of religion as the leading paradigm in the study of religion in the 1960s, theoretical and methodological discussions surrounding the nature and identity of the study of religion as an academic discipline have proliferated. The essays included in this volume approach these debates from a variety of angles. Based on a series of talks held at the University of Hannover over the last few years, the essays are intended to be understood as diagnostic works in progress and thus as working papers, all of which strive to point out important problems and perspectives in the field of theories and methodology and to draw attention to the future of the discipline. Using developments in Hanover as a launch pad, the volume forms the basis for further insights into the direction of the study of religion as a discipline at large.
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1 online resource (ix, 276 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004347878 :
2214-3270 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The science of religion : a defence : essays by Donald Wiebe /
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Donald Wiebe, Professor of Philosophy of Religion at Trinity College, University of Toronto, has spent much of his academic career arguing for a clear demarcation between Theology and Religious Studies. The Science of Religion: A Defence offers a brilliant overview of Professor Wiebe's contributions on methodology in the academic study of religion, of the development of his thinking over time, and of his intellectual commitment to 'a science of religion'. The work is divided into three parts. The first part identifies pertinent connections between 'religion', 'religious studies', and 'science' and why 'reductionism' in the academic study of religion, when properly applied, can bridge the explanatory gap between the sceptic and the devotee. The second part treats conceptual debates in the academic study of religion, with particular reference to the place of 'belief', 'understanding', and 'meaning' in the modern study of religion. The third part addresses the theological resistance to the scientific study of religion and how that resistance can be overcome. Finally, two new essays are included: a critique on 'The Preconceptions of a Science of Religion' by Anthony J. Palma, and an accompanying reply by Donald Wiebe. The Science of Religion: A Defence is an essential resource for both scholarly and non-scholarly audiences alike, and will be of particular interest to both defenders and critics of a scientific study of religion.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004385061 :
2214-3270 ;
Diversity in the structure of Christian reasoning : interpretation, disagreement, and world Christianity /
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Diversity in the Structure of Christian Reasoning examines the effect of Christian commitments on rationality. When Christians read scripture, traditions supply concepts that shape what counts as normal, good, and true. This book offers an account of how different communities produce divergent readings of the Bible. It considers two examples from World Christianity, first a Bakongo community in central Africa, and then a Tamil bishop in southern India. Each case displays a relation between tradition and reason that reconfigures the hermeneutical picture developed by Martin Heidegger and Hans-Georg Gadamer. To see what transpires when readers decide about a correct interpretation, this book offers theologians and scholars of religion a fresh strategy that keeps in view the global character of modern Christianity.
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1 online resource (x, 242 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004298057 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Is theology a science? the nature of the scientific enterprise in the scientific theology of Thomas Forsyth Torrance and the anarchic epistemology of Paul Feyerabend /
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When Barth and Scholz clashed over the scientific status of theology, Barth drew the conclusion that if natural science was to be drawn up in such positivistic terms, theology had much to lose and little to gain by engagement with it. A generation later Barth's translator and pupil Thomas Torrance maintained that science had changed enough to make an engagement more fruitful. In works such as Theological Science , Torrance sketched out the contours of such and engagement. However at the same time the anarchic philosopher of science, Paul Feyerabend, in books such as Against Method , sought to deconstruct any notion of 'science' as ultimately the protection of vested interests. This book analyses whether Torrance's notion of science can withstand this newer post-modern threat.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and (p. [283]-293) and index. :
9789004194601 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Essays in ecumenical theology
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In the first volume of Essays in Ecumenical Theology Ivana Noble depicts differences between what she calls a sectarian outlook and one which engages in the search for common roots, dialogical relationships and shared mission in a world that has largely become post-Christian, but often also post-secular. Drawing on both Western and Orthodox scholarship, and expressing her own positions, Noble sketches what ecumenical theology is, how it is linked to spirituality, the methods it uses, how it developed during the twentieth century, and the challenges it faces. Specific studies deal with controversial interpretations of Jan Hus, Catholic Modernism, the problematic heritage of the totalitarian regimes, and responses to the current humanitarian crisis.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004381094 :
1571-4799 ;
Religious experience revisited : expressing the inexpressible? /
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Religious Experience Revisited explores a dilemma which has haunted the study of religion since William James. Is religion rooted in experiences? Is religion rooted in expressions? How are experiences and expressions related? The contributors to this international and interdisciplinary compilation explore the possibilities and the impossibilities of a hermeneutics of religion. Combining theology and philosophy with biblical, cultural, historical and literary studies, they examine how religious experiences and religious expressions have been entangled in the past and in the present. These entanglements call for interdisciplinary conversations in which those who study experiences and those who study expressions can learn from each other in order to carve out important and instructive spaces for the study of religion.
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1 online resource (xi, 281 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004328600 :
1566-208X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Taking 'Religion' Seriously: Essays on the Discursive Study of Religion /
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"This book demonstrates through methodological reflections and carefully chosen case studies a new way to conduct the study of religion. It focuses on how social actors negotiate what counts as "religion" and how discourses on religion are part of the way in which contemporary societies organise themselves. The present volume draws on examples from judicial processes, media discourses, and scholarly debates related to Wiccans, Druids, and Jedi knights, among others. By analysing discourses on religion and building on, rather than rejecting, genealogical critiques of religion, Teemu Taira argues that the study of religion can be constructive and socially relevant"--
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004511682
9789004511699
Perspektiven der Philosophie : Neues Jahrbuch. Band 48 - 2022 /
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Perspektiven der Philosophie. Neues Jahrbuch eröffnet Forschern, denen die philosophische Begründung des Denkens wichtig ist, eine Publikationsmöglichkeit. Wir verstehen uns nicht als Schulorgan einer philosophischen Lehrmeinung, sondern sehen unsere Aufgabe darin, an der Intensivierung des wissenschaftlichen Philosophierens mitzuwirken. Besonders fördern wir den wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchs und laden ihn zur Mitarbeit ein. Mit Beiträgen von: Arantzazu Saratxaga Arregi, Artur R. Boelderl, Elke Brock, Angelo Cicatello, Steffen Dietzsch, Christian Fernandes, Jutta Georg-Lauer, Rolf Kühn, Salvatore Lavecchia, Andrea Le Moli, Thorsten Lerchner, Rosa Maria Marafioti, Harald Seubert und Thorsten Streubel.
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1 online resource :
9789004528598
9789004528710
Absolute Form: Modality, Individuality and the Principle of Philosophy in Kant and Hegel /
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"Knowing precisely what philosophy actually is, is itself a matter of philosophical science. It is knowledge of the idea of philosophy that is explicit to itself; knowledge's cognition of itself in the separation of its beginning and its end, from which difference its precise determination follows, is not itself a knowledge "about something""--
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004441071
9789004441057
Deciphering reality : simulations, tests, and designs /
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In Deciphering Reality: Simulations, Tests, and Designs , Benjamin B. Olshin takes a problem-based approach to the question of the nature of reality. In a series of essays, the book examines the detection of computer simulations from the inside, wrestles with the problem of visual models of reality, explores Daoist conceptions of reality, and offers possible future directions for deciphering reality. The ultimate goal of the book is to provide a more accessible approach, unlike highly complex philosophical works on metaphysics, which are inaccessible to non-academic readers, and overly abstract (and at times, highly speculative) popular works that offer a mélange of physics, philosophy, and consciousness.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004353077 :
0929-8436 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Without any doubt Gersonides on method and knowledge /
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Gersonides-Rabbi Levi ben Gershom (Provence, 1288-1344)-was a multifaceted thinker. Endowed with his original and critical mind, he did not accept the authority of his predecessors but investigated every matter for himself. His extraordinary attention to method-both of inquiry and of writing-stands out clearly in his own work and in his reading of certain biblical books. The eight articles on Gersonides' thought and method collected in this volume address four main topics: Gersonides' methods of inquiry and composition; the use of introductions in his own works and in biblical books; his method in the supercommentaries on Averroes; and his methods of biblical exegesis. \'Klein-Braslavi's (sic) book...is highly recommended for all libraries that take seriously philosophy, the life of the mind and cognition.\' David B. Levy, Touro College
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004206991 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
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 ;
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.
Making religion : theory and practice in the discursive study of religion /
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Discursive approaches to the study of religion have received a lot of attention recently. Making Religion brings together leading theorists in the field who explore the theoretical and practical dimensions of the analysis of religious discourse. The volume provides an overview of current debates in the field, extends and improves upon contemporary theories and methodologies, and contributes to the discipline more broadly by flagging the importance of this emerging field of research. The combination of theoretical reflection and practical application of discourse analysis as a tool to study religion opens up new perspectives for future research.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004309180 :
2214-3270 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
A modest proposal on method : essaying the study of religion /
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A Modest Proposal on Method further documents methodological and institutional failings in the academic study of religion. This collection of essays-which includes three previously unpublished chapters-identifies the manner in which old problems (like the presumption that our object of study is a special, deeply meaningful case) yet remain in the field. But amidst the critique there are a variety of practical suggestions for how the science of religion can become methodologically even-handed and self-reflexive-the markings of a historically rigorous exercise. Each chapter is introduced and contextualized by a newly written, substantive introduction.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004281417 :
2214-3270 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Formal and informal methods in philosophy /
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"This book examines the tension between formal and informal methods in philosophy. The rise of analytic philosophy was accompanied by the development of formal logic and many successful applications of formal methods. But analytical philosophy does not rely on formal methods alone. Elements of broadly understood informal logic and logical semiotics, procedures used in natural sciences and humanities, and various kinds of intuition also belong to the philosopher's toolkit. Papers gathered in the book concern the opposition formality-informality as well as other pairs, such as methodology versus metaphilosophy, interdisciplinarity versus intradisciplinarity, and methodological uniformity versus diversity of sciences. Problems of the nature of logic and the explanatory role of mathematical theories are also discussed".
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004420502
Die Religionswissenschaft und das Christentum, Eine historische Untersuchung über das Verhältnis von Religionswissenschaft und Theologie.
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What are religious studies? What is theology? And what is their relationship to each other? In the light of such theoretical and methodological questions this historical inquiry asks what characterizes the study of Christianity within comparative religion-as distinguished from that of Christian theology? In the three main sections of the book representative texts from the history of comparative religion-including Schleiermacher and some other theological forerunners in the 19th century-are analyzed from a methodological and a material point of view. On this basis an answer is sought to the following questions: What has been the place of the study of Christianity within this discipline? On which methodological principles has it been based? And what kind of picture of Christianity has it presented?
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1 online resource. :
9789004378834