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?
This cutting-edge analysis of American and European new religious movements explores the controversies between religious groups and the majority interests which oppose them. It asks how modern societies can best respond to new religious movements,
Addressing the European study of religion in the interwar-period, these proceedings tackle one of the most problematic epochs of its history. The commonplace that understanding the present requires learning from the past is particularly true, as this case well illustrates.
Waardenburg’s magisterial essay traces the rise and development of the academic study of religion from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, outlining the establishment of the discipline, its connections with other fields, religion as a subject of research, and perspectives on a phenomenological study of religion. Futhermore a second part comprises an anthology of texts from 41 scholars whose work was programmatic in the evolution of the academic study of religion. Each chapter presents a particular approach, theory, and method relevant to the study of religion. The pieces selected for this volume were taken from the discipline of religious studies as well as from related fields, such as anthropology, sociology, and psychology, to name a few.
This book explores the representation of Hinduism through myth and discourse in urban Hindi theatre in the period 1880-1960. It discusses representative works of seven influential playwrights and looks into the ways they have imagined and re-imagined Hindu traditions. Diana Dimitrova examines the intersections of Hinduism and Hindi theatre, emphasizing the important role that both myth and discourse play in the representation of Hindu traditions in the works of Bharatendu Harishcandra, Jayshankar Prasad, Lakshminarayan Mishra, Jagdishcandra Mathur, Bhuvaneshvar, Upendranath Ashk, and Mohan Rakesh. Dimitrova’a analysis suggests either a traditionalist or a more modernist stance toward religious issues. She emphasizes the absence of Hindi-speaking authors who deal with issues implicit to the Muslim or Sikh or Jain, etc. traditions. This prompts her to suggest that Hindi theatre of the period 1880-1960, as represented in the works of the seven dramatists discussed, should be seen as truly ‘Hindu-Hindi’ theatre.
Particularly in the humanities and social sciences, festschrifts are a popular forum for discussion. The IJBF provides quick and easy general access to these important resources for scholars and students. The festschrifts are located in state and regional libraries and their bibliographic details are recorded. Since 1983, more than 639,000 articles from more than 29,500 festschrifts, published between 1977 and 2010, have been catalogued.
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.
Thirty classic and contemporary readings - from such writers as Kant, Hume, Schleiermacher, and Otto, to Ninian Smart, Mircea Eliade, Karen McCarthy-Brown, and Wendy Doniger.
This Festschrift brings together a range of scholars who congratulate Reinhard Schulze on the occasion of his 65th birthday, by shedding light and reflecting on the relation between Islam and modernity. Scholars from the fields of Islamic studies, religious studies, sociology and Arabic literature connect in various ways to Reinhard Schulze’s work to constructively criticize a Eurocentric understanding of modernity. The more specific aspects dealt with under the overarching topic of Islam and modernity make for the four thematic sections of this volume: the study of religion, Islam, and Islamic studies; Islamic knowledge cultures and normativity; language and literature as media of modernity; Islam and Islamic studies in the public sphere. Die Beitragenden zu dieser Festschrift gratulieren Reinhard Schulze zu seinem 65. Geburtstag, indem sie mit der Beziehung zwischen Islam und Moderne ein Lebensthema des Jubilars beleuchten. Vertretende der Islamwissenschaft, Religionswissenschaft, Soziologie und der arabischen Literaturwissenschaft beziehen sich in verschiedener Hinsicht auf Reinhard Schulzes Werk, um ein eurozentrisches Verständnis von Moderne konstruktiv zu kritisieren. Die unter dem Oberthema Islam und Moderne näher behandelten Aspekte sind aus den vier thematischen Sektionen des Bandes ersichtlich: Islam(wissenschaft), Religion und der Eigensinn der Moderne; islamische Wissenskulturen und Normativität; Sprache und Literatur als Medien der Moderne; Islam(wissenschaft) in der Öffentlichkeit. Contributors are: Mona Abaza, Hüseyin Ağuiçenoğlu, Aziz al-Azmeh, Katajun Amirpur, Monica Corrado, Ahmad Dallal, Peter Dové, Susanne Enderwitz, Anne Grüne, Stephan Guth, Kai Hafez, Albrecht Hofheinz, Michael Kemper, Hans G. Kippenberg, Karénina Kollmar-Paulenz, Felix Konrad, Gudrun Krämer, Volkhard Krech, Anke von Kügelgen, Jamal Malik, Jürgen Paul, Frank Peter, Stefan Reichmuth, Armando Salvatore, Johannes Stephan, Anna Trechsel, Yves Wegelin, Florian Zemmin.
