After World Religions. Reconstructing Religious Studies

Description

Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Preface List of contributors Foreword: Before the ‘After’ in ‘After World Religions’ – Wilfred Cantwell Smith on the meaning and end of religion 1. Introduction: The World Religions Paradigm in contemporary Religious Studies Classify and conquer: taxonomies and power ‘Mixed motivations’: the Science of Religion Critiques of the WRP ‘Chairs on the Titanic’: problems of operationalization of critiques Outline of chapters Notes References Part I: Subversive pedagogies: data and methods 2. The problem of ‘religions’: Teaching against the grain with ‘new age stuff’ The problem of ‘religions’ ‘World religions’ as symptom In practice: teaching ‘new age stuff’ in the introductory course Conclusion: against the grain Notes References 3. ‘Not a task for amateurs’: Graduate instructors and Critical Theory in the World Religions classroom Introduction In practice: the textbook is always right? In practice: textbooks as data? In practice: heterogeneity as homogeneity Conclusion Notes References 4. The critical embrace: Teaching the World Religions Paradigm as data Introduction Familiarity allows critique Critiquing while teaching Critiquing representations In practice: comparisons provide alternatives In practice: assessment and subversion The challenges of subverting the paradigm Notes References Part II: Alternative pedagogies: power and politics 5. Religion as ideology: Recycled culture vs. world religions In practice: the evolution of Jesus In practice: religions of the East Concluding thoughts Notes References 6. Doing things with ‘religion’: A discursive approach in rethinking the World Religions Paradigm Introduction What is a discursive approach to ‘religion’? In practice: teaching ‘Religions in the world’ In practice: resources for the classroom Conclusion Notes References 7. Looking back on the end of religion: Opening re Marx Introduction In practice: learning to situate reason In practice: from domination to communicative reason Conclusion: why Religious Studies needs Marx Note References 8. The sacred alternative Introduction Approaching ‘the sacred’ In practice: contested space Conclusion: making sacred Notes References Part III: Innovative pedagogies: methods and media 9. The Desjardins diet for World Religions Paradigm loss Introduction The course Conclusion Notes References 10. Narrating the USA’s religious pluralism: Escaping world religions through media Introduction From American religious history to world religions in the USA In practice: God in America in the classroom References 11. Archaeology and the World Religions Paradigm: The European Neolithic, religion and cultural imperialism Introduction Mission, expansion and colonialism as tropes of ‘world religions’ Monuments and the development of complex societies in the Neolithic Neolithic culture and the WRP: cultural success and issues of power Conclusion Notes References 12. Complex learning and the World Religions Paradigm: Teaching religion in a shifting subject landscape Introduction: a world without world religions? Complex learning: pedagogical processes in category constructions and deconstructions In practice: formations In practice: locations Conclusion: charging at windmills Notes References 13. Afterword: On utility and limits The moral of the story? Notes References Index