Title: The invention of religions /
Authors: Dubuisson, Daniel, 1950-; Cunningham, Martha,
Year: 2019
Subjects: Religion Methodology; Religion History; Religions; Religion; Religion Methodology; Religions
Abstract: For nearly thirty years, a scientific revolution has taken place in the religious studies departments of several North American and British universities--and the results are considerable, obliging us to envisage new ways of conceiving of this academic field. While the History of Religions tended to rest in the shade and guardianship of past authorities, this critical current has re-examined the discipline's a priori positions, its favorite arguments, its long prehistory within Euro/Christian culture, but also its numerous ethnocentric prejudices.
Contents: Introduction -- Part 1. The history of religions: a western science : Christian culture and the history of religions : Links: numerous and diffuse ; The invention of "Religio" ; The intellectual hegemony of Christianity ; Power, Church, and religion -- Two major paradigms : Idealism versus materialism ; Religious versus profane -- A Nineteenth-Century science : The discovery of the Indo-Europeans ; Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer ; The Founding Fathers ; The classification of religions ; Break? Or merely evolution? -- Part 2. Autopsy of a critical paradigm : Religious studies in the United States : Notable statistics ; The American Academy of Religion and the North American Association for the Study of Religion ; The influence of French theory -- The targets : The phenomenology of religion ; "The Holy" according to Rudolf Otto ; The great Eliadean themes -- Major criticisms : The end of the essences ; Readers and textbooks -- Major contributions : Colonialism and cultural imperialism : "The civilizing work of the West" ; "Cognitive Imperialism" and "Epistemic violence" ; The invention of religions : The invention of Oriental religions: Hinduism and Shinto  ; World religions and universal religions. Part 3. What to do with 'religions'? : What future for critical studies? : A question and some options ; Comparativism -- Conclusion.