Intelligibility and Normativity in the Study of Religion

Bibliographic Data

ID3284786
AuthorsBharat Ranganathan (0000-0002-3979-6005, University of Notre Dame, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume8
Issue11
Pages234
Publication date2017-10-25
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel8110234
OpenAlexW2766241493
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited13

In his essay "The Devil in Mr. Jones," J. Z. Smith issues a call. If religionists do not, he writes, "persist in the quest for intelligibility, there can be no human sciences, let alone, any place for the study of religion within them." How should Smith's call be construed? In other words, what constitutes the "quest for intelligibility"? And what (if anything) differentiates the religionist's quest for intelligibility from that of other humanistic scholars? Taking as my starting point Smith's call, I will mount a constructive proposal. On my proposal, religionists should conceive their task as twofold. First, religionists should comparatively describe religious phenomena. Second, they should evaluate these phenomena. Only if the practices of description and prescription are tethered will religious studies succeed in its quest for intelligibility

Constructive · Epistemology · Humanism · Mount · Sociology · Theology · Computer Science · Philosophy · Psychology · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious Education and Schools · Study and Philosophy of Religion

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