3. Secular Theory and the Academic Study of Religion

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Foreword v
3. Acknowledgements vii
4. Table of Contents xi
5. Introduction: Auto-methodological Reflections 1
6. 1. The Academic Study of Religion: A Theological or Theoretical Undertaking? 12
7. 2. The Academic Study of Religions during the Cold War: A Western Perspective 22
8. 3. Secular Theory and the Academic Study of Religion 35
9. 4. Of Religious Syncretism, Comparative Religion and Spiritual Quests 45
10. 5. To Use “Syncretism,” or Not to Use “Syncretism”: That is the Question 54
11. 6. Comparison 66
12. 7. Comparativism and Sociobiological Theory 80
13. 8. Akin to the Gods or Simply One to Another? Comparison with Respect to Religions in Antiquity 94
14. 9. Secrecy in Hellenistic Religious Communities 107
15. 10. The Anti-Individualistic Ideology of Hellenistic Culture 127
16. 11. Rationalism and Relativity in History of Religions Research 149
17. 12. Evolution, Cognition, and History 163
18. 13. Does Religion Really Evolve? (And What Is It Anyway?) 175
19. 14. Religion and Cognition 182
20. 15. The Promise of Cognitive Science for the Study of Early Christianity 202
21. 16. Globalization, Syncretism, and Religion in Western Antiquity: Some Neurocognitive Considerations 221
22. 17. What Do Rituals Do (and How Do They Do It)? Cognition and the Study of Ritual 240
23. 18. The Deep History of Religious Ritual 254
24. 19. Performativity, Narrative, and Cognition: “Demythologizing” the Roman Cult of Mithras 272
25. 20. Cognitive Science, Ritual, and the Hellenistic Mystery Religions 298
26. 21. Why Christianity Was Accepted by Romans but Not by Rome 308
27. 22. Aspects of Religious Experience among the Hellenistic Mystery Religions 323
28. 23. The Uses (and Abuse) of the Cognitive Sciences for the Study of Religion 336
29. 24. The Future of the Past: The History of Religions and Cognitive Historiography 343
30. Author Index 358
31. Subject Index 362