The Utility of Asceticism

This article explores asceticism as a comparative category in the study of religion and culture. It argues that in order to study the broad range of ascetic beliefs and practices across cultures effectively, scholars must reflect conscientiously on how they use the term asceticism. After making some genealogical observations, the article discusses three different types of definitions (substantive, functional, and discursive) and then shows, by analyzing one exemplary early Buddhist text on the satisfactions of asceticism, how different definitions of the term, when used heuristically, can open multiple new avenues of inquiry

Asceticism · Economics · Theology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions

• Theorizing myth

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• Asceticism and its Critics

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• Cynics and Pāśupatas

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• The Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics

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• Considering Comparison

  Oliver Freiberger•Considering Comparison•2019

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• The Ascetic Imperative in Culture and Criticism

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• Disappearing Categories

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• Asceticism, Religion, and Biological Evolution

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• A New Take on Asceticism

  Anders Klostergaard Petersen•Numen•2019

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• The Lean Closet

  Dana W Logan•Journal of the American Academy…•2017

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• Constructions of Power in Asceticism

  Richard Valantasis•Journal of the American Academy…•1995

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• Locating the Ascetic's Habitat

  Oliver Freiberger•History of Religions•2010

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• The Ascetic Self

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