A Magic Still Dwells: Comparative Religion in the Postmodern AgeKimberley C. Patton, Benjamin C. Ray The first thorough assessment of the field of comparative religion in forty years, this groundbreaking volume surmounts the seemingly intractable division between postmodern scholars who reject the comparative endeavor and those who affirm it. The contributors demonstrate that a broader vision of religion, involving different scales of comparison for different purposes, is both justifiable and necessary. A Magic Still Dwells brings together leading historians of religions from a wide range of backgrounds and vantage points, and draws from traditions as diverse as Indo-European mythology, ancient Greek religion, Judaism, Buddhism, Ndembu ritual, and the spectrum of religions practiced in America. The contributors take seriously the postmodern critique, explain its impact on their work, uphold or reject various premises, and in several cases demonstrate new comparative approaches. Together, the essays represent a state-of-the-art assessment of current issues in the comparative study of religion. |
Contents
| 1 | |
In Comparison a Magic Dwells | 23 |
The State of the Field | 45 |
Critical Issues in the History of Religions ... | 75 |
New Justifications for Comparative Study ... | 153 |
The End of Comparison Redescription and Rectification ... | 237 |
Contributors | 243 |
Other editions - View all
A Magic Still Dwells: Comparative Religion in the Postmodern Age Kimberley Christine Patton,Benjamin C. Ray No preview available - 2000 |
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academic American religion anthropologists argues brain Buber's Buddhist Chicago Press Christian Chuang Tzu comparative enterprise comparative method comparative religion comparative study comparativism comparativist Comparison a Magic complex concept construction context critical critique cross-cultural cultural Derrida dialogue discourse essay ethnographic etymology example experience Hindu Hinduism historians history of religions human Huston Smith ihamba intellectual interpretation Jewish Jonathan Jonathan Z Judaism language linguistic Lyotard Magic Dwells meaning metanarratives methodology Mircea Eliade modernist Muslim mysticism myth mythology Ndembu negative theology Neusner notion Pan-Babylonian parison particular patterns Patton perspective phenomena philosophical political postcolonial postmodern postmodernist Protestant question reality religious studies religious traditions ritual scholarly scholars of religion sense similarity Smith social Stoller structures study of religion symbol Taylor texts textual theology theory things tion truth Turner understanding University of Chicago University Press Veda and Torah voice Wilfred Cantwell Smith words writing York