The Oxford Handbook of the Study of Religion

Description

The Oxford Handbook of the Study of Religion provides a comprehensive overview of the academic study of religion. Written by an international team of leading scholars, its fifty-one chapters are divided thematically into seven sections. The first section addresses five major conceptual aspects of research on religion. Part two surveys eleven main frameworks of analysis, interpretation, and explanation of religion. Reflecting recent turns in the humanities and social sciences, part three considers eight forms of the expression of religion. Part four provides a discussion of the ways societies and religions, or religious organizations, are shaped by different forms of allocation of resources. Other chapters in this section consider law, the media, nature, medicine, politics, science, sports, and tourism. Part five reviews important developments, distinctions, and arguments for each of the selected topics. The study of religion addresses religion as a historical phenomenon and part six looks at seven historical processes. Religion is studied in various ways by many disciplines, and this Handbook shows that the study of religion is an academic discipline in its own right. The disciplinary profile of this volume is reflected in part seven, which considers the history of the discipline and its relevance. Each chapter in the Handbook references at least two different religions to provide fresh and innovative perspectives on key issues in the field. This authoritative collection will advance the state of the discipline and is an invaluable reference for students and scholars. Contents List of Figures and Tables List of Contributors Introduction: Aims, Scope, and Organization PART I RELIGION 1. Definition 2. Historicizing and Translating Religion 3. Theories of Religion 4. Religion and Spirituality 5. Non- Religion PART II THEORETICAL APPROACHES 6. Cognitive Science 7. Economics 8. Evolutionary Theory 9. Feminism and Gender Theory 10. Hermeneutics 11. Marxism 12. Postcolonialism 13. Semantics 14. Semiotics 15. (Post)structuralism 16. Social Theory PART III MODES 17. Communication 18. Materiality 19. Narrative 20. Performance 21. Sound 22. Space 23. Time PART IV ENVIRONMENTS 24. Economy 25. Law 26. Media 27. Medicine 28. Nature 29. Politics 30. Science 31. Sports 32. Tourism PART V TOPICS 33. Belief 34. Emotion 35. Experience 36. Gift and Sacrifice 37. Gods 38. Initiations and Transitions 39. Priests, Prophets, Sorcerers 40. Purity 41. Salvation PART VI PROCESSES 42. Differentiation 43. The Disintegration and Death of Religions 44. Expansion 45. Globalization 46. Individualization and Privatization 47. Tradition and Innovation 48. Objectification and Commodification 49. Syncretism and Hybridization 50. History 51. Relevance Index of Names Index of Subjects