Religion, Theory, Critique

Religion, Theory, Critique is an essential tool for learning about theory and method in the study of religion. Leading experts engage with contemporary and classical theories as well as nonwestern scholarship. Unlike other collections, this anthology emphasizes the dynamic relationship between "religion" as an object of study and different methodological approaches and openly addresses the question of the manifold ways in which "religion," "secular," and "culture" are imagined within different disciplinary horizons. This volume is the first textbook which seeks to engage discussion of classical approaches with contemporary cultural and critical theories.

Contributors write on the influence of the natural sciences in the study of religion; the role of European Christianity in modeling theories of religion; religious experience and the interface with cognitive science; the structure and function of religious language; the social-scientific study of religion; ritual in religion; the phenomenology of religion; critical theory and religion; embodiment and religion; the impact of colonialism and modernity; theorizing religion in terms of race and ethnicity; links among religion, nationalism, and globalization; the interplay of gender, sex, and religion; and religion and the environment. Each chapter introduces the topic, identifies key theorists and issues, and respects the pluralistic nature of the scholarship in the field. Altogether, this collection scrutinizes the explicit and implicit assumptions theorists make about religion as an object of analysis.

Richard King is professor of Buddhist and Asian studies at the University of Kent. He is the author of Selling Spirituality: The Silent Takeover of Religion (2004); Indian Philosophy: An Introduction to Hindu and Buddhist Thought (1999); Orientalism and Religion: Postcolonial Theory, India, and the "Mystic East" (1999); and Early Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism (1995).

Once driven by a comparative method on the trail of timeless universals, the academic study of religion is today an entirely different beast; for although some scholars still understand religion as a deeply meaningful, personal experience, a newer generation is far more sensitive to viewpoint, theory, and the practical implications of scholarship itself. Religion, Theory, Critique is largely a work of this generation, offering a set of state-of-the-art essays that keep in sight both the study of religious people as well as those who classify them as religious. It therefore sets a table for scrutinizing the entire field—including our tools and our assumptions—making it ideal for readers keen to do something more than describe self-evidencies.

M. Gail Hamner, Professor of Religion at Syracuse University:

This volume will quickly become essential to undergraduate and graduate 'theory and method' courses, as well as a range of 'religion and culture' courses and graduate student reading lists.