The Oxford Handbook of the Study of Religion
Abstract
This Handbook offers an authoritative and up-to-date survey of original research in the study of religion. Its fifty-one chapters, written by authors from twelve countries, are organized into seven systematic parts. Part I (“Religion”) comprises chapters on definitions and theories of religion, history/translation, spirituality, and non-religion. Part II (“Theoretical Approaches”) reviews cognitive science, economics, evolutionary theory, feminism/gender theory, hermeneutics, Marxism, postcolonialism, semantics, semiotics, structuralism/poststructuralism, and social theory. Part III (“Modes”) addresses communication, materiality, narrative, performance, sound, space, and time. Part IV (“Environments”) relates religion to economy, law, media, nature, medicine, politics, science, sports, and tourism. Part V (“Topics”) discusses belief, emotion, experience, gift and sacrifice, gods, initiations and transitions, priests/prophets/sorcerers, purity, and salvation. Part VI (“Processes”) deals with differentiation, the disintegration and death of religions, expansion, globalization, individualization/privatization, innovation/tradition, objectification/commoditization, and syncretism/hybridization. Part VII (“The Discipline”) discusses the history and relevance of the study of religion.
Keywords:
history of religions,
religion,
religious studies,
study of religion,
theories of religion
Bibliographic Information
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- Print Publication Date:
- Nov 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780198729570
- Published online:
- Jun 2017
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198729570.001.0001
Editors
Michael Stausberg,
editor
Michael Stausberg is Professor of Religion at the University of Bergen, Norway. His recent publications include Religion and Tourism: Crossroads, Destinations, and Encounters (2011) and, as co-editor, The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism (2015, with Yuhan S.-D. Vevaina), Defining Magic (2013, with Bernd-Christian Otto), and The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in the Study of Religion (2011, with Steven Engler).
Steven Engler,
editor
Steven Engler is Professor of Religious Studies at Mount Royal University, Canada, Professor Colaborador at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, Brazil, and Affiliate Professor at Concordia University, Canada. He is co-editor of the Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in the Study of Religion (2011, with Michael Stausberg) and the Handbook of Contemporary Religions in Brazil (2016, with Bettina E. Schmidt).
