Understanding Religion (eBook)

Theories and Methods for Studying Religiously Diverse Societies

Paul Michael Hedges (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2021
584 Seiten
University of California Press (Verlag)
9780520970861 (ISBN)

Infos

A cutting-edge introduction to contemporary religious studies theory, connecting theory to data. This innovative coursebook introduces students to interdisciplinary theoretical tools for understanding contemporary religiously diverse societiesboth Western and non-Western. Using a case-study model, the text considers: A wide and diverse array of contemporary issues, questions, andcriticalapproaches to the study of religionrelevant to students and scholarsA variety of theoretical approaches, including decolonial, feminist, hermeneutical, poststructuralist, and phenomenological analysesCurrent debates on whether the term religionis meaningfulMany key issues about the study of religion, including the insider-outsider debate, material religion, and lived religionPlural and religiously diverse societies, including the theological ideas of traditions and the political and social questions that arise for those living alongside adherents of other religionsUnderstanding Religion is designed to provide a strong foundation for instructors to explore the ideas presented in each chapter in multiple ways, engage students in meaningful activities in the classroom, and integrate additional material into their lectures. Students will gain the tools to apply specific methods from a variety of disciplines to analyze the social, political, spiritual, and cultural aspects of religions. Its unique pedagogical design means it can be used from undergraduate- to postgraduate-level courses.

Inhalt

List of Illustrations 
List of Boxes 
Acknowledgments and Dedications 

Introduction 

PART I. WHAT IS RELIGION AND HOW TO APPROACH IT?
1. Religion: Language, Law, and Legacies 
Case Study 1A: Falun Gong: Religion or Self-Cultivation Practice? 
Case Study 1B: Christians and Ancestor Veneration: Religion or Culture? 

2. Method: Insider-Outsider Debates, Phenomenology, and Reflexivity 
Case Study 2A: Living between Religious Worlds: Conversion and Reconversion
Case Study 2B: Hindu and Christian? Multiple Religious Identities

3. Life: Lived Religion, Syncretism, and Hybridity
Case Study 3A: Mexican American Catholicism and Our Lady of Guadalupe
Case Study 3B: Thai Buddhism as Lived Religion and Syncretic Practice

PART II. THEORIES, METHODOLOGIES, AND CRITICAL DEBATES
4. History: Historical Methodology and the Invention of Tradition
Case Study 4A: The Historical Jesus and the Christ of Faith 
Case Study 4B: Laozi, the Daodejing, and the Origins of Daoism

5. Power: Social Constructionism, Habitus, and Authority 
Case Study 5A: Mosques, Minarets, and Power 
Case Study 5B: Individual (New Age/Alternative) Spirituality as Modernity's Ideology 

6. Identity: Social Identity Theory, In-Groups, Out-Groups, and Conflict 
Case Study 6A: Shiv Sena, Hindu Nationalism, and Identity Politics 
Case Study 6B: Race, Religion, and the American White Evangelical 

7. Colonialism: Postcolonialism, Orientalism, and Decolonization 
Case Study 7A: Beyond "Inventing" Hinduism
Case Study 7B: Magic, Superstition, and Religion in Southeast Asia and Africa

8. Brains: The Cognitive Science of Religion and Beyond 
Case Study 8A: Religion, Non-Religion, and Atheism
Case Study 8B: Ancestors, Jesus, and Prosocial Behavior in Fiji

9. Bodies: Material Religion, Embodiment, and Materiality
Case Study 9A: Weeping Gods and Drinking Statues
Case Study 9B: Embodied Practice at a Christian Shrine 

10. Gender: Feminism, Sexuality, and Religion 
Case Study 10A: Priests, Paul, and Rewriting Texts
Case Study 10B: Buddhist Feminisms and Nuns 

11. Comparison: Comparative and Contrastive Methodologies
Case Study 11A: Comparing Hinduism and Judaism 
Case Study 11B: A Comparison of Zen Buddhist and Protestant Christian Sitting Practices

12. Ritual: Ritualization, Myth, and Performance 
Case Study 12A: The Zen Tea Ceremony and Protestant Eucharist as Performance and Ritual
Case Study 12B: Buddhist Ordination Rites 

PART III. RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY AND SOCIETY
13. Diversity: Religious Borders, Identities, and Discourses
Case Study 13A: The Memory of Al-Andalusia 
Case Study 13B: Dominus Iesus and Catholic Christianity in Asia

14. Dialogue: Interreligious Discourse and Critique 
Case Study 14A: Christian and Muslim Women Reading Scriptures 
Case Study 14B: Buddhist-Christian Dialogue: History and Discourse

15. Violence: Fundamentalism, Extremism, and Radicalization 
Case Study 15A: The Invention of Islamic Terrorism 
Case Study 15B: Buddhism and Violence 

16. Secularism: Secularization, Human Rights, and Religion 
Case Study 16A: Laïcité and the Burkini Ban 
Case Study 16B: Singapore's Common Space 

17. Geography: Place, the Lived Environment, and Environmentalism
Case Study 17A: Trees as Monks? 
Case Study 17B: Protestant Christian Understandings of the "Holy Land"

18. Politics: Governance, the Colonial Wound, and the Sacred 
Case Study 18A: Ethnicity and Religion: The Singaporean Malay-Muslim Identity 
Case Study 18B: Saluting the Flag: The Case of Jehovah's Witnesses in the United States 

Glossary 
Who's Who 
Notes 
Index

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 23.2.2021
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Schulbuch / Wörterbuch ► Lexikon / Chroniken
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie
• ISBN-13: 9780520970861 / 9780520970861