The Ascetic Self: Subjectivity, Memory and Tradition
Asceticism, the idea of giving up sense pleasures for a spiritual goal, is practised in many religions. This book focuses on Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism, and argues that asceticism must be understood within the boundaries of tradition. The book exemplifies a completely new paradigm for comparative religion which seeks to avoid a problematic universalism on the one hand and an area-specific relativism on the other. This ground-breaking contribution to methodology will be influential in the future development of the entire field of comparative religious studies.