Religion, Ire, and Dangerous Things
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 18994147 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Russell T Mccutcheon (0009-0008-7590-9370, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2004 |
| Volume | 72 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 173-193 |
| Publication date | 2004-03-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the American Academy of Religion (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-7189 • E-ISSN: 1477-4585 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/jaarel/lfh008 |
| OpenAlex | W2075644635 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 3 |
In response to Ivan Strenski’s criticism of those who study the history and politics of the category “religion,” this essay introduces some nuance into this debate by distinguishing between the two traditions contributing to this exercise: the normative (associated with the work of Wilfred Cantwell Smith) and the socio-rhetorical (associated with the work of Jonathan Z. Smith). Whereas the former position concludes that the category “religion” is incapable of capturing all that is entailed in the experience of faith, the latter is more properly historical in its presumptions because it examines only the contexts in which classification systems are developed and the practical uses to which they are put. After arguing that only the latter holds promise for the future of the academic study of religion, the essay returns to Strenski’s own influential work on the category “myth,” questioning why he seems to argue that the category “religion” ought to be immune from the very critique he has so persuasively leveled at “myth.” The essay concludes that, as with scholarship on “history” and “culture,” scholarship on “religion” may indicate that our field has finally come of age, insofar as scholars are able to historicize both themselves and their own taxonomies
Political science · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices · Study and Philosophy of Religion
| Citations per year | 0.3 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2003 - 2020 (18) |
| Highly cited | No |