Religion, material culture, and archaeology
By: Julian Droogan
Series: Bloomsbury advances in religious studies
Publisher: Continuum International Pub. Group
Published: 2012
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 196
ISBN-13: 9781441195777; 9781441184313
Subjects: Religion and culture; Material culture; Archaeology and religion; Religious aspects; Religious life
Description: "Religion, Material Culture and Archaeology offers a new understanding of the materiality of religion. By drawing on the field of archaeological theory and method, the relationship between religion and material culture is explored. It is argued that the material elements of religious life have been largely neglected by the discipline of religious studies, while at the same time religion has been traditionally seen as problematic for archaeologists. Why do we not talk of the discipline of the archaeology of religion, in the same way we do the anthropology of religion, or the sociology of religion? The volume considers the historical problems of approaching the material elements of religious life and bridges the methodological gap between religious studies and archaeology by proposing a new way of understanding the materiality of religion as active, engaged and projecting a level of autonomous social agency. Finally, the critical examination of archaeological approaches to the materiality of religion is furthered through the consideration of non-archaeological ways of examining the social roles that material culture plays in human life."--Bloomsbury Publishing.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index. ;
Table of contents: title: Spiritual versus the material?; title: Religion, material culture and archaeology ; the problematic nature of material culture in studies in religion ; the problematic nature of religion in archaeological studies of materiality; title: Archaeologies of religion ; the Marxist and functionalist context, archaeology as a social science ; interpretive archaeology; title: Sacred and profane landscapes ; landscape, phenomenology and religion ; the sacred and the profane ; reflexive religious landscapes; title: Archaeology and the materiality of religion.