Category formation and the history of religions

Category formation and the history of religions
Author: Robert D. Baird
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2018-12-03
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3111375137

Since its founding by Jacques Waardenburg in 1971, Religion and Reason has been a leading forum for contributions on theories, theoretical issues and agendas related to the phenomenon and the study of religion. Topics include (among others) category formation, comparison, ethnophilosophy, hermeneutics, methodology, myth, phenomenology, philosophy of science, scientific atheism, structuralism, and theories of religion. From time to time the series publishes volumes that map the state of the art and the history of the discipline.

The Thing about Religion

The Thing about Religion
Author: David Morgan
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2021-03-19
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1469662841

Common views of religion typically focus on the beliefs and meanings derived from revealed scriptures, ideas, and doctrines. David Morgan has led the way in radically broadening that framework to encompass the understanding that religions are fundamentally embodied, material forms of practice. This concise primer shows readers how to study what has come to be termed material religion—the ways religious meaning is enacted in the material world. Material religion includes the things people wear, eat, sing, touch, look at, create, and avoid. It also encompasses the places where religion and the social realities of everyday life, including gender, class, and race, intersect in physical ways. This interdisciplinary approach brings religious studies into conversation with art history, anthropology, and other fields. In the book, Morgan lays out a range of theories, terms, and concepts and shows how they work together to center materiality in the study of religion. Integrating carefully curated visual evidence, Morgan then applies these ideas and methods to case studies across a variety of religious traditions, modeling step-by-step analysis and emphasizing the importance of historical context. The Thing about Religion will be an essential tool for experts and students alike. Two free, downloadable course syllabi created by the author are available online.

Rabbinic Categories

Rabbinic Categories
Author: Jacob Neusner
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 450
Release: 2005-09-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9047415639

A systematic study of the canonical construction of Rabbinic categories, Halakhic, then Aggadic, followed by a comparison of the theological category-formations in Rabbinic Judaism, generative vs. inert, primary vs. subordinate. The book provides a systematic and thorough account of the rules of making connections and drawing conclusions that govern in classes of documents, for the Halakhah from the Mishnah through the Bavli, for the Aggadah from Scripture through the Midrash-compilations, Genesis Rabbah, Leviticus Rabbah, and Pesiqta deRab Kahana; for both the Mishnah and Scripture through the Bavli. The book then compares and contrasts theological category-formations of the Rabbinic Aggadic writings by the criteria indicated in the title: generative vs. inert, primary vs. subordinate.

A Magic Still Dwells

A Magic Still Dwells
Author: Kimberley C. Patton
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2023-09-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0520923863

The first thorough assessment of the field of comparative religion in forty years, this groundbreaking volume surmounts the seemingly intractable division between postmodern scholars who reject the comparative endeavor and those who affirm it. The contributors demonstrate that a broader vision of religion, involving different scales of comparison for different purposes, is both justifiable and necessary. A Magic Still Dwells brings together leading historians of religions from a wide range of backgrounds and vantage points, and draws from traditions as diverse as Indo-European mythology, ancient Greek religion, Judaism, Buddhism, Ndembu ritual, and the spectrum of religions practiced in America. The contributors take seriously the postmodern critique, explain its impact on their work, uphold or reject various premises, and in several cases demonstrate new comparative approaches. Together, the essays represent a state-of-the-art assessment of current issues in the comparative study of religion.

Religious Traditions of the World

Religious Traditions of the World
Author: James F. Lewis
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 425
Release: 1999-03-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1579102301

Originally published: Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, c1991.

Ancient Judaism and Modern Category Formation

Ancient Judaism and Modern Category Formation
Author: Jacob Neusner
Publisher:
Total Pages: 152
Release: 1986
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

Argues that the sole useful categories for the analysis of the Torah derive from the Torah, the canon of the religion under study in this book. The author investigates the categories that commonly serve for the description, analysis and interpretation of ancient Judaism and the principles that form those categories. He asserts that none of those categories constitute social constructs, thus violating the inner composition of the data they are employed to classify. The book concludes with a proposed principle of category formation: Judaism's canon. Co-published with Studies in Judaism.

The Religious Dimensions of Confucianism

The Religious Dimensions of Confucianism
Author: Rodney Leon Taylor
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 216
Release: 1990-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780791403112

"The role of Confucianism in the development of East Asian Cultures has only recently begun to be fully appreciated. Even with this recognition, there is still little understanding of the tradition as a religious tradition. This book presents Confucianism as a religious tradition. In no other book has there been a sustained presentation of the many and varied religious dimensions of the tradition."--From publisher description.

Theory and Method in Religious Studies

Theory and Method in Religious Studies
Author: Frank Whaling
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 436
Release: 2012-10-25
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3110815818

This paperback edition contains selected articles from the original clothbound editions of Contemporary Approaches to The Study of Religion. Vol I: The Humanities. Vol II: The Social Sciences. (Religion and Reason, 27/28).

The Western Construction of Religion

The Western Construction of Religion
Author: Daniel Dubuisson
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2003-06-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780801873201

The Western Construction of Religion not only provides a critical assessment of the whole history of "religionas it is understood in the West but offers better ways of constructing the study of this central part of human experience.