Description
Book SynopsisSince 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.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments List of Contributors Introduction: Theory, Method, Hannover, and the Study of Religion Steffen Führding 2 Comparison, Practice, and Meaning: Martin Riesebrodt’s Theory of Religion Alexander van der Haven 3 A Plea for the Study of Religions Peter Antes 4 Study of Religions in the Era of Globalization of Differences: The Concept of Agonistic Context Břetislav Horyna 5 “Man is the Measure of All Things…”: On The Fabrication of Oriental Religions by European History of Religions Russell T. McCutcheon 6 Will the Real Fundamentalist Please Stand?: Scholars and the Category of ‘Fundamentalism’ Leslie Dorrough Smith 7 The Ideology of Religious Studies Revisited: Abolishing Politics Timothy Fitzgerald 8 Christian Origins and the Gospel of Mark Willi Braun 9 God as Hypothesis: Daniel Paul Schreber and the Study of Religion Alexander van der Haven 10 RS-Based RE – Uphill, Uphill, and Uphill! Tim Jensen 11 The Study of Islamic Education, A Litmus Test on State Relations to Muslim Minorities Jenny Berglund 12 Afterword: The Academic Study of Religions Betwixt and between Different Interests Wanda Alberts Index
