Understanding Theories of Religion: An Introduction - Softcover

Strenski

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1444330845 ISBN 13: 9781444330847

Verlag: Wiley-Blackwell, 2015

Inhaltsangabe

Featuring comprehensive updates and additions, the second edition of Understanding Theories of Religion explores the development of major theories of religion through the works of classic and contemporary figures.

• A new edition of this introductory text exploring the core methods and theorists in religion, spanning the sixteenth-century through to the latest theoretical trends
• Features an entirely new section covering religion and postmodernism; race, sex, and gender; and religion and postcolonialism
• Examines the development of religious theories through the work of classic and contemporary figures from the history of anthropology, sociology, psychology, philosophy, and theology
• Reveals how the study of religion evolved in response to great cultural conflicts and major historical events
• Student-friendly features include chapter introductions and summaries, biographical vignettes, a timeline, a glossary, and many other learning aids

 

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Ivan Strenski is Holstein Family and Community Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Riverside, USA. He served as North American editor-in-chief of the international journal Religion from 1979 to 2004, and is the author of numerous books, including Why Politics Can't Be Freed from Religion (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), Émile Durkheim (ed. 2009), The New Durkheim: Essays on Philosophy, Religious Identity and the Politics of Knowledge (2006), Thinking about Religion: A Reader (ed., Wiley-Blackwell, 2006), Theology and the First Theory of Sacrifice (2003), and Contesting Sacrifice: Religion, Nationalism and Social Thought (2002).

Von der hinteren Coverseite

"Finding (or twisting) a red thread, linking pre-modern, modern, and, with this revised second edition, also post-modern thinking and theories of religion, is no easy task. Especially if you also aim at a more nuanced understanding by way of historicizing and contextualizing thinkers and theories. It takes comprehensive knowledge as well as a personal 'vision' of the discipline and field. Strenski has both. This book, therefore, is an excellent choice for scholars looking for a textbook for courses on the history and theories of the academic study of religions. Students are in need of both a red thread and a personal take when it comes to the introduction into the history and theories of the scientific study of religions."
―Tim Jensen, University of Southern Denmark

Understanding Theories of Religion explores the core methods and theorists in religion through the works of classic and contemporary figures from the history of anthropology, sociology, psychology, philosophy, and theology. It offers a comprehensive study of the development of theories of religion, spanning the classics of early modern and Enlightenment Europe to modern theories of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and through to post-modern theories of religion and the latest theoretical trends. This second edition expands coverage of religious theories from the 1960s through to the present day, exploring topics including religion and post-modernism; race, sex, and gender; and religion and post-colonialism.

Updated throughout, the book offers illuminating insights into the questions that challenged various theorists, and how their successors then adapted and built upon their ideas. By integrating both critical and historical approaches, it reveals how the study of religion evolved in response to great cultural conflicts and major historical events. Individual chapters address the theory attached to a significant individual or school, and reveal how these ideas and methods were then brought into the study of religion. Offering a fresh perspective to conventional approaches which often seek only to demonstrate why theorists were wrong, this expanded new edition of Understanding Theories of Religion seeks to press the question of why these theorists so deeply believed that they were right.

Aus dem Klappentext

"Finding (or twisting) a red thread, linking pre-modern, modern, and, with this revised second edition, also post-modern thinking and theories of religion, is no easy task. Especially if you also aim at a more nuanced understanding by way of historicizing and contextualizing thinkers and theories. It takes comprehensive knowledge as well as a personal 'vision' of the discipline and field. Strenski has both. This book, therefore, is an excellent choice for scholars looking for a textbook for courses on the history and theories of the academic study of religions. Students are in need of both a red thread and a personal take when it comes to the introduction into the history and theories of the scientific study of religions."
Tim Jensen, University of Southern Denmark

Understanding Theories of Religion explores the core methods and theorists in religion through the works of classic and contemporary figures from the history of anthropology, sociology, psychology, philosophy, and theology. It offers a comprehensive study of the development of theories of religion, spanning the classics of early modern and Enlightenment Europe to modern theories of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and through to post-modern theories of religion and the latest theoretical trends. This second edition expands coverage of religious theories from the 1960s through to the present day, exploring topics including religion and post-modernism; race, sex, and gender; and religion and post-colonialism.

Updated throughout, the book offers illuminating insights into the questions that challenged various theorists, and how their successors then adapted and built upon their ideas. By integrating both critical and historical approaches, it reveals how the study of religion evolved in response to great cultural conflicts and major historical events. Individual chapters address the theory attached to a significant individual or school, and reveal how these ideas and methods were then brought into the study of religion. Offering a fresh perspective to conventional approaches which often seek only to demonstrate why theorists were wrong, this expanded new edition of Understanding Theories of Religion seeks to press the question of why these theorists so deeply believed that they were right.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Wiley-Blackwell
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2015
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1444330845
• ISBN 13: 9781444330847
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Auflage: 2
• Anzahl der Seiten: 278
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Wiley-VCH GmbH; product_safety@wiley.com; ; Boschstrasse 12; Weinheim; 69469; Deutschland