The Invention of World Religions

The Invention of World Religions

Author: Tomoko Masuzawa

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2012-04-26

Total Pages: 377

ISBN-13: 0226922626

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The idea of "world religions" expresses a vague commitment to multiculturalism. Not merely a descriptive concept, "world religions" is actually a particular ethos, a pluralist ideology, a logic of classification, and a form of knowledge that has shaped the study of religion and infiltrated ordinary language. In this ambitious study, Tomoko Masuzawa examines the emergence of "world religions" in modern European thought. Devoting particular attention to the relation between the comparative study of language and the nascent science of religion, she demonstrates how new classifications of language and race caused Buddhism and Islam to gain special significance, as these religions came to be seen in opposing terms-Aryan on one hand and Semitic on the other. Masuzawa also explores the complex relation of "world religions" to Protestant theology, from the hierarchical ordering of religions typical of the Christian supremacists of the nineteenth century to the aspirations of early twentieth-century theologian Ernst Troeltsch, who embraced the pluralist logic of "world religions" and by so doing sought to reclaim the universalist destiny of European modernity.


Stepping Back and Looking Ahead: Twelve Years of Studying Religious Contact at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg Bochum

Stepping Back and Looking Ahead: Twelve Years of Studying Religious Contact at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg Bochum

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2023-09-04

Total Pages: 431

ISBN-13: 9004549315

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This book includes a collection of articles by leading researchers on the topic of religious contact in the study of religion. Resulting from the final conference of the Käte Hamburger Kolleg "Dynamics in the History of Religions"–one of the largest research initiatives in the interdisciplinary study of religion worldwide in recent years (2008-2020)—this book encapsulates the twofold aim of this conference: first, to "step back" and reflect upon the merits and challenges of studying religious dynamics as a result of intra-, inter-, and extra-religious contact, and second "to look beyond" and pave ways for future approaches to study religion as a social phenomenon.


George Sandys

George Sandys

Author: James Ellison

Publisher: DS Brewer

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 9780859917506

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The Caroline poet George Sandys had an exceptionally interesting early career as traveller and colonist; this study of his work following his return to England sheds new light on the expression of religious and political moderation prior to the Civil War. The poet George Sandys is one of the most interesting figures of the Renaissance period, his life and career encompassing a number of varied aspects. As a colonialist leader in Virginia he and his colleagues pursued a lenient policy towards the Indians which nearly cost the colony its existence. Returning to England, and settling at Great Tew along with other poets such as William Chillingworth and Lord Falkland, he won limited favour at the Caroline court; although he was loyal to the king, and adopted a richly Laudian style for his religious verse, he was implacably opposed to the divisive and confrontational policies of the Laudian church, and became an increasingly outspoken critic of absolutist government. His last work, a translation of a Latin religious play by Hugo Grotius, was the first in a series of literary attacks by moderate Royalists on Archbishop Laud.This book, the first recent examination of his life and work, sheds new light both on an unjustly neglected figure, and on the literature of religious and political moderation prior to the Civil War. JAMES ELLISON is Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Strathclyde.


Religions in Global Society

Religions in Global Society

Author: Peter Beyer

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-01-11

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 1134162782

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Peter Beyer, a distinguished sociologist of religion, presents a way of understanding religion in a contemporary global society - by analyzing it as a dimension of the historical process of globalization. Introducing theories of globalization and showing how they can be applied to world religions, Beyer reveals the nature of the contested category of ‘religion’: what it means, what it includes and what it implies in the world today. Written with exceptional clarity and illustrated with lively and diverse examples ranging from Islam and Hinduism to African traditional religions and new age spirituality, this is a fascinating overview of how religion has developed in a globalized society. It is recommended reading for students taking courses on sociology of religion, religion and globalization, and religion and modernity.


Critical Terms for Religious Studies

Critical Terms for Religious Studies

Author: Mark C. Taylor

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2013-07-09

Total Pages: 431

ISBN-13: 0226791734

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A century that began with modernism sweeping across Europe is ending with a remarkable resurgence of religious beliefs and practices throughout the world. Wherever one looks today, from headlines about political turmoil in the Middle East to pop music and videos, one cannot escape the pivotal role of religious beliefs and practices in shaping selves, societies, and cultures. Following in the very successful tradition of Critical Terms for Literary Studies and Critical Terms for Art History, this book attempts to provide a revitalized, self-aware vocabulary with which this bewildering religious diversity can be accurately described and responsibly discussed. Leading scholars working in a variety of traditions demonstrate through their incisive discussions that even our most basic terms for understanding religion are not neutral but carry specific historical and conceptual freight. These essays adopt the approach that has won this book's predecessors such widespread acclaim: each provides a concise history of a critical term, explores the issues raised by the term, and puts the term to use in an analysis of a religious work, practice, or event. Moving across Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Native American and Mayan religions, contributors explore terms ranging from experience, territory, and image, to God, sacrifice, and transgression. The result is an essential reference that will reshape the field of religious studies and transform the way in which religion is understood by scholars from all disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, psychology, cultural studies, gender studies, and literary studies.


Relating Religion

Relating Religion

Author: Jonathan Z. Smith

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2004-11-10

Total Pages: 429

ISBN-13: 0226763870

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One of the most influential theorists of religion, Jonathan Z. Smith is best known for his analyses of religious studies as a discipline and for his advocacy and refinement of comparison as the basis for the history of religions. Relating Religion gathers seventeen essays—four of them never before published—that together provide the first broad overview of Smith's thinking since his seminal 1982 book, Imagining Religion. Smith first explains how he was drawn to the study of religion, outlines his own theoretical commitments, and draws the connections between his thinking and his concerns for general education. He then engages several figures and traditions that serve to define his interests within the larger setting of the discipline. The essays that follow consider the role of taxonomy and classification in the study of religion, the construction of difference, and the procedures of generalization and redescription that Smith takes to be key to the comparative enterprise. The final essays deploy features of Smith's most recent work, especially the notion of translation. Heady, original, and provocative, Relating Religion is certain to be hailed as a landmark in the academic study and critical theory of religion.


On Language, Theology, and Utopia

On Language, Theology, and Utopia

Author: Francis Lodwick

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2011-02-24

Total Pages: 454

ISBN-13: 0199225915

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This is the first complete edition of the writings of the merchant, scholar, and F.R.S. Francis Lodwick (1619-94). He wrote extensively on language, religion, and experimental philosophy, much of it too controversial to be published during his lifetime. This edition includes an introduction, a commentary, and primary and secondary bibliographies.


Postcolonial Theology of Religions

Postcolonial Theology of Religions

Author: Jenny Daggers

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-07-18

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1135038996

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This original and ambitious book considers the terms of engagement between Christian theology and other religious traditions, beginning with criticism of Christian theology of religions as entangled with European colonial modernity. Jenny Daggers covers recent efforts to disentangle Eurocentrism from the meeting of the religions, and investigates new constructive possibilities arising in the postcolonial context. In dialogue with Asian and feminist theologies, she reflects on ways forward for relations between the religions and offers a particularist model for theology of religions, standing within a classical Trinitarian framework.