The Cambridge Companion to Religious Studies is both informative and provocative, introducing readers to key debates in the contemporary study of religion and suggesting future research possibilities. A group of distinguished scholars takes up some of the most pressing theoretical questions in the field. What is a 'religious tradition'? How are religious texts read? What takes place when a religious practitioner stands before a representation of gods or goddesses, ghosts, ancestors, saints, and other special beings? What roles is religion playing in contemporary global society? The volume emphasizes religion as a lived practice, stressing that people have used and continue to use religious media to engage the circumstances of their lives. The volume's essays should prove valuable and interesting to a broad audience, including scholars in the humanities and social sciences and a general readership, as well as students of religious studies.
• Features a distinguished list of contributors • Each chapter is framed by pressing theoretical issues or questions, rather than presenting simple 'introduction' or encyclopedia style surveys • Each chapter considers new directions in critical thinking about religion and provides readers with a sense of how scholars of religion deal with complex and contentious issues
Contents
Introduction Robert A. Orsi; Part I. Religion and Religious Studies: The Irony of Inheritance: 1. On sympathy, suspicion, and studying religion: historical reflections on a doubled inheritance Leigh E. Schmidt; 2. Thinking about religion, belief and politics Talal Asad; 3. Special things as building blocks of religions Ann Taves; 4. The problem of the holy Robert A. Orsi; Part II. Major Theoretical Problems: 5. Social order or social chaos Michael J. Puett; 6. Tradition: the power of constraint Michael L. Satlow; 7. The text and the world Anne M. Blackburn; 8. On the role of normativity in religious studies Thomas A. Lewis; 9. Translation Martin Kavka; 10. Material religion Matthew Engelke; 11. Theology and the study of religion: a relationship Christine Helmer; Part III. Methodological Variations: 12. Buddhism and violence Bernard Faure; 13. Practicing religions Courtney Bender; 14. The look of the sacred David Morgan; 15. Reforming culture: law and religion today Winnifred Fallers Sullivan; 16. Sexing religion R. Marie Griffith; 17. Constituting ethical subjectivities Leela Prasad; 18. Neo-Pentecostalism and globalization Marla Frederick; 19. Religious criticism, secular critique, and the 'critical study of religion': lessons from the study of Islam Noah Salomon and Jeremy F. Walton.
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