Paul Hedges

Biographic Data

ID	1201642
NAME	Paul Hedges
GIVEN NAMES	Paul
FAMILY NAME	Hedges
SIGNATURE	HEDGES P
AFFILIATIONS	University of Winchester
ORCID	0000-0002-6865-900X
VERIFIED	Yes
TOTAL WORKS	55
TOTAL CITATIONS	17
AUTHOR COUNT	52
EDITOR COUNT	3
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR	2008
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR	2025
H-INDEX	3

Multi-Devotionalism and Mono-Devotionalism: Beyond the Problems of Polytheism and Monotheism
Open AccessPaul HedgesARTICLEJournal of the American Academy…2025References: 24
It is argued that the terms polytheism and monotheism are both problematically rhetorical and analytically weak, while they are typically applied in essentializing ways. Noting the history of these terms, especially in relation to such terms as idolatry, this article makes the argument that more analytical language is needed. The terms mono-devotionalism and multi-devotionalism are introduced, not as replacements, but as a reconceptualization. Po…
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, written by Kristen Kobes Du Mez
Paul HedgesARTICLEJournal of Religion Media and…2024
Meaning and Method in Comparative Theology, by Catherine Cornille
Paul HedgesARTICLEInterreligious Studies and…2023
Meaning and Method in Comparative Theology, by Catherine Cornille. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2020, pp. 214 + ix. $ 47.95 US. ISBN: 978-111-953-5225
Discovering ‘Religion: Nineteenth Century Colonial Attitudes Towards Religious Identity and Difference in Southeast Asia
Farish A Noor, Paul HedgesARTICLEJournal of Intercultural Studies2023References: 20
This paper seeks to show how the example of colonial writings in Southeast Asia display, but also complicate, some already identified patterns in how religion, and the world religions paradigm (WRP), alongside such discursive terms as ‘superstition’, were applied to the religious practices and worldviews of indigenous Southeast Asians through the nineteenth century. Such figures as Sir Stamford Raffles and John Crawfurd, amongst others, from both…
Is Interreligious Dialogue in International Relations “Dialogue-Washing” for Authoritarian Regimes? an Exploration of Kaiciid and ICCS as Track 1.5 Diplomacy
Paul HedgesARTICLEThe Review of Faith & International…2023References: 29
This paper explores whether interreligious dialogue (IRD) is employed by state actors that may be perceived as authoritarian as a form of window dressing, or dialogue washing. Two examples are chosen, the King Abdullah International Centre for Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue (KAICIID), and Singapore’s International Conference on Cohesive Societies (ICCS). It is argued that such examples exemplify IRD as track 1.5 diplomacy, and the cont…
Islamophobia in Singapore and/ vs Western Islamophobia: The state, colonialism, and the Muslim experience
Open AccessPaul HedgesARTICLEMelbourne Asia Review2022
The colonial and Western heritage of Islamophobia influences the way that Muslims are perceived today in Singapore.Focusing upon structural and governmental discourses, rather than personal or day-to-day instances, I argue that while a Southeast Asian Islamophobia will be distinct from a Western one, we must be aware of this heritage and the way it manifests within current perceptions of Muslims.This forms a backdrop for understanding how Muslims…
Circling the Elephant: A Comparative Theology of Religious Diversity. By John J. Thatamanil
Open AccessPaul HedgesARTICLEJournal of the American Academy…2022
Many readers of this journal will undoubtedly have long awaited John Thatamanil’s next text, and in Circling the Elephant: A Comparative Theology of Religious Diversity they will not be disappointed. Invoking the readers of this journal, though, reminds me that the American Academy of Religion is a “broad tent,” and Thatamanil’s writings will be seen by some readers not as an important new work in theory but rather as mere “data” produced by the …
Religious Hatred: Prejudice, Islamophobia, and Antisemitism in Global Context
Paul HedgesBOOKReligious Hatred2021
Why does religion inspire hatred? Why do people in one religion sometimes hate people of another religion, and also why do some religions inspire hatred from others? This book shows how scholarly studies of prejudice, identity formation, and genocide studies can shed light on global examples of religious hatred. The book is divided into four parts, focusing respectively on: theories of prejudice and violence; historical developments of Antisemiti…
Understanding Religion: Theories and Methods for Studying Religiously Diverse Societies
Paul Hedges, Paul Michael HedgesBOOKUnderstanding Religion2021
Editors’ Foreword
Paul HedgesARTICLEInterreligious Studies and…2020
White Jesus and Antisemitism: Toward an Antiracist and Decolonial Christology
Open AccessPaul HedgesARTICLEThe Ecumenical Review2020
This article argues that traditional Christology is intimately bound up with a triumphalist agenda that denies Jesus’ Jewishness and is structurally antisemitic. Taking an antiracist stance, the article argues that systemic rethinking of Christianity’s theological resources is needed, which must be anti‐antisemitic and antiracist. This involves reconfiguring how we take on board Jesus’ Jewishness in a post‐Holocaust context and recognizing Jesus …
Theorising a Decolonising Asian Hermeneutic for Comparative Theology: Some Perspectives from Global and Singaporean Eyes
Paul HedgesARTICLEInternational Journal of Asian…2020
This paper advances some ways in which Asian perspectives challenge the regnant discourse of comparative theology. It sets out some key aspects of the postcolonial critique of comparative theology, and shows how conceptions of “religion” in the discipline are often based in problematic Western paradigms. However, it also challenges any reified distinction of “Orient” and “Occident”. It is argued that if Asian comparative theology is to fulfil its…
The Secular Realm as Interfaith Space: Discourse and Practice in Contemporary Multicultural Nation-States
Open AccessPaul HedgesARTICLEReligions2019Cited by: 4References: 29
While classically posited as the separation of religion from public life, it is suggested that the contemporary secular public sphere in multicultural contexts has become a habitat for interfaith dialogue. Looking at dynamics in classical secular theory as well as some recent theorists of secularism and multiculturalism, most particularly Jürgen Habermas, Charles Taylor, Tariq Modood, and Rajeev Bhargava, it is shown that far from being hostile t…
Encounters with Ultimacy: Autobiographical and Critical Perspectives in the Academic Study of Religion
Open AccessPaul HedgesARTICLEOpen Theology2018
“Ultimacy,” it is argued, is not an area that academic studies in theology nor the study of religion can properly investigate; nevertheless, it is also illegitimate to argue therefore that claims to it are simply linguistic power plays. Using an autobiographical methodology, the author explores how their own “imagined” “mystical” experience and scholarly studies may shed light on approaching the study of religious experience, noting particularly …
Deconstructing Religion: Some Thoughts on Where We Go From Here — A Hermeneutical Proposal
Paul HedgesARTICLEExchange2018Cited by: 2
This paper overviews contemporary debates on the deconstruction / historization of the category ‘religion’. It argues that a hard deconstruction which seeks to suggest the term is an empty signifier and analytically useless is unfounded philosophically and empirically. However, a soft deconstruction which accepts the problems of employing the term, especially as found in the World Religions Paradigm, but suggests that ‘religion’ remains a useful …
Nicholas Griffiths: Sacred Dialogues: Christianity and Native Religions in the Global Americas 1492–1700 , 2nd edn, Morrisville, NC: Lulu.com, 2017; pp. 626
Open AccessPaul HedgesARTICLEJournal of Religious History2018
Twenty-First Century Theologies of Religions: Retrospection and Future Prospects
Elizabeth Harris, Paul Hedges et al.BOOKTwenty-First Century Theologies…2017
Within Christian theology, debates on the theology of religions have intensified over the last thirty or so years. This volume surveys the field and maps future directions in this expanding and important area of research. Both established experts and new voices address typological debates, comparative theology, multiple religious belonging or identity, and how dialogue between different religious traditions affects our understanding of these issu…
Anglican Inter-Faith Relations from 1910 to the Twenty-First Century
Paul HedgesBOOKThe Oxford History of Anglicanism,…2017
This chapter explores the development of Anglican inter-faith relations since 1910 which has been shaped by a number of factors including: the ecumenical context, changing dynamics within the global Communion, globalization issues, and moves from mission to dialogue. The chapter begins with a historical overview and traces developments in key Anglican Communion texts and meetings, especially in recent times the Lambeth Conferences of 1988, 1998, …
Multiple Religious Belonging after Religion: Theorising Strategic Religious Participation in a Shared Religious Landscape as a Chinese Model
Open AccessPaul HedgesARTICLEOpen Theology2017
It is argued that the concept of Multiple Religious Belonging as normally conceived relies upon a problematic construction of “religion” which can be expressed as the World Religions Paradigm. This relies upon a modern Western Protestant bias as to how “religion” should be understood. It is argued that religion can be understood otherwise, and looking at the Chinese context an argument is made that participation in different religious traditions …
Towards Better Disagreement: Religion and Atheism in Dialogue
Paul HedgesBOOKTowards Better Disagreement2016
Naher Und Mittlerer Osten / Near and Middle East
Pat Paterson, Cristina Blain et al.ARTICLEVerfassung in Recht und Übersee2016
La transformación
James L.Cox: The Invention of God in Indigenous Societies. Durham and Bristol, CT: Acumen, 2014; pp. x + 182
Open AccessPaul HedgesARTICLEJournal of Religious History2016
Comparative Theology and Hermeneutics: A Gadamerian Approach to Interreligious Interpretation
Open AccessPaul HedgesARTICLEReligions2016References: 28
This paper employs the hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer as a tool to underpin the methodology of Comparative Theology. Acknowledging limitations in Gadamer's framework, it argues these can either be overcome or bypassed in this context. The paper initially sets out Gadamer's own understanding of the relationship of his hermeneutics to theology and its reception within theology. It then outlines Francis Clooney's Comparative Theology using other…
Contemporary Muslim–Christian Encounters: Developments, Diversity, and Dialogues
Paul HedgesBOOKContemporary Muslim–Christian…2015
Contemporary Muslim-Christian Encounters: Developments, Diversity and Dialogues addresses the key issues in the present day global encounter between Christians and Muslims. Divided into two parts, the first examines theoretical issues and concerns which affect dialogue between the two traditions. The second part highlights case studies from around the world. Chapters come from established scholars including Reuven Firestone, Douglas Pratt and Cli…
Burning for a Cause: Four Factors in Successful Political (and Religious) Self-Immolation Examined in Relation to Alleged Falun Gong “Fanatics” in Tiananmen Square
Open AccessPaul HedgesARTICLEPolitics and Religion2015References: 32
This article theorizes the self-immolation of alleged Falun Gong practitioners in Tiananmen Square in 2001 in relation to literature on martyrdom, self-immolation, and political protest. It explores the cultural context in relation to Buddhist traditions of self-immolation, Chinese political protest, and other uses of self-immolation as political protest. It will seek to expand the analysis of why these self-immolations may be said to have “faile…

The Secular Realm as Interfaith Space: Discourse and Practice in Contemporary Multicultural Nation-States
Open AccessPaul HedgesARTICLEReligions2019Cited by: 4References: 29
While classically posited as the separation of religion from public life, it is suggested that the contemporary secular public sphere in multicultural contexts has become a habitat for interfaith dialogue. Looking at dynamics in classical secular theory as well as some recent theorists of secularism and multiculturalism, most particularly Jürgen Habermas, Charles Taylor, Tariq Modood, and Rajeev Bhargava, it is shown that far from being hostile t…
The Old and New Comparative Theologies: Discourses on Religion, the Theology of Religions, Orientalism and the Boundaries of Traditions
Open AccessPaul HedgesARTICLEReligions2012Cited by: 4References: 16
This paper disputes that a strong contrast can be drawn between the Old Comparative Theology and the New Comparative Theology, looking particularly at the arguments of Hugh Nicholson as well as drawing on Francis Clooney. It disputes a simplistic and monolithic dismissal of the Old Comparative Theology as guilty of 'Orientalism', and seeks to show that in figures like Rowland Williams, as well as F. D. Maurice that the discipline was important in…
Discourse on the Invention of Discourse: Why We Need the Terminology of “Religion” and “Religions”
Open AccessPaul HedgesARTICLEJournal of Religious History2014Cited by: 3
T imothy F itzgerald's deconstruction of religion occurs at the nexus of Critical Studies and the history of ideas. Set within the context of scholars like T omoko M asuzawa and R ussell M c C utcheon, it is suggested that his work provides an important aid to reflexivity in Religious Studies scholarship, but that like other deconstructive work in this area it is beset by a number of flaws. In particular, the historical evidence is open to altern…
Post‐Colonialism, Orientalism, and Understanding: Religious Studies and the Christian Missionary Imperative
Open AccessPaul HedgesARTICLEJournal of Religious History2008Cited by: 3References: 3
This article explores issues related to the worldviews of Friedrich Max Müller and Monier Monier‐Williams, and contemporary critique of their work. Their indebtedness to their own age is explored, especially fulfilment theology and the missionary imperative, noting similarities and differences in their agendas. The conclusion considers how post‐colonial critique can be applied. While accepting the validity of such critique, it is suggested that i…
Deconstructing Religion: Some Thoughts on Where We Go From Here — A Hermeneutical Proposal
Paul HedgesARTICLEExchange2018Cited by: 2
This paper overviews contemporary debates on the deconstruction / historization of the category ‘religion’. It argues that a hard deconstruction which seeks to suggest the term is an empty signifier and analytically useless is unfounded philosophically and empirically. However, a soft deconstruction which accepts the problems of employing the term, especially as found in the World Religions Paradigm, but suggests that ‘religion’ remains a useful …
MáireByrne: The Names of God in Judaism, Christianity and Islam: A Basis for Interfaith Dialogue. London: Continuum, 2011; pp. xi + 171
Open AccessPaul HedgesARTICLEJournal of Religious History2012Cited by: 1