A cutting-edge introduction to contemporary religious studies theory, connecting theory to data. This innovative coursebook introduces students to interdisciplinary theoretical tools for understanding... Read More
A cutting-edge introduction to contemporary religious studies theory, connecting theory to data. This innovative coursebook introduces students to interdisciplinary theoretical tools for understanding... Read More
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 societies—both Western and non-Western. Using a case-study model, the text considers:
A wide and diverse array of contemporary issues, questions, and critical approaches to the study of religion relevant to students and scholars
A variety of theoretical approaches, including decolonial, feminist, hermeneutical, poststructuralist, and phenomenological analyses
Current debates on whether the term "religion" is meaningful
Many key issues about the study of religion, including the insider-outsider debate, material religion, and lived religion
Plural 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 religions
Understanding 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.
"Explores themes one might expect in a textbook as well as ones welcomely added, emphasizing a 'deeply political' approach that continually draws the reader’s attention back to whose voice gets expressed in scholarship, and whose does not."
- Religious Studies Review
"Understanding Religion is a lucid, creatively structured, and nearly jargon-free introduction to theories and methods for studying religious communities and traditions in diverse societies, bold in scope, and presented in a manner that is undergraduate-friendly, yet sophisticated enough for use in a graduate-level course."
- Journal of Interreligious Studies
Author Bio
Paul Hedges is Associate Professor in the Studies in Interreligious Relations in Plural Societies Programme, RSIS, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He has authored or edited more than a dozen books and over seventy academic papers. His most recent book is Religious Hatred: Prejudice, Islamophobia, and Antisemitism in Global Context.
Table of Contents
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
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 societies—both Western and non-Western. Using a case-study model, the text considers:
A wide and diverse array of contemporary issues, questions, and critical approaches to the study of religion relevant to students and scholars
A variety of theoretical approaches, including decolonial, feminist, hermeneutical, poststructuralist, and phenomenological analyses
Current debates on whether the term "religion" is meaningful
Many key issues about the study of religion, including the insider-outsider debate, material religion, and lived religion
Plural 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 religions
Understanding 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.
"Explores themes one might expect in a textbook as well as ones welcomely added, emphasizing a 'deeply political' approach that continually draws the reader’s attention back to whose voice gets expressed in scholarship, and whose does not."
– Religious Studies Review
"Understanding Religion is a lucid, creatively structured, and nearly jargon-free introduction to theories and methods for studying religious communities and traditions in diverse societies, bold in scope, and presented in a manner that is undergraduate-friendly, yet sophisticated enough for use in a graduate-level course."
– Journal of Interreligious Studies
Paul Hedges is Associate Professor in the Studies in Interreligious Relations in Plural Societies Programme, RSIS, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He has authored or edited more than a dozen books and over seventy academic papers. His most recent book is Religious Hatred: Prejudice, Islamophobia, and Antisemitism in Global Context.
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