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The Oxford Handbook of the Study of Religion

Edited by Michael Stausberg and Steven Engler

The Oxford Handbook of the Study of Religions provides a comprehensive overview of the academic study of religions. Written by an international team of leading scholars, its fifty-one chapters are divided thematically into seven sections. The first section addresses five major conceptual aspects of research on religion. Part two surveys eleven main frameworks of analysis, interpretation, and explanation of religion. Reflecting recent turns in the humanities and social sciences, part three considers eight forms of the expression of religion. Part four provides a discussion of the ways societies and religions, or religious organizations, are shaped by different forms of allocation of resources (i.e., economy). Other chapters in this section consider law, the media, nature, medicine, politics, science, sports, and tourism. Part five reviews important developments, distinctions, and arguments for each of the selected topics.

The study of religion addresses religion as a historical phenomenon and part six looks at seven historical processes. Religion is studied in various ways by many disciplines, and this Handbook shows that the study of religion is an academic discipline in its own right. The disciplinary profile of this volume is reflected in part seven, which considers the history of the discipline and its relevance. Each chapter in the Handbook references at least two different religions to provide fresh and innovative perspectives on key issues in the field. This authoritative collection will advance the state of the discipline and is an invaluable reference for students and scholars.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables
List of Contributors
Introduction: Aims, Scope, and Organization, Michael Stausberg and Steven Engler
Part I. Religion
1: Definition, Michael Stausberg & Mark Q. Gardiner
2: Historicizing and Translating Religion, Giovanni Casadio
3: Theories of Religion, Michael Stausberg & Steven Engler
4: Religion and Spirituality, Heinz Streib and Constantin Klein
5: Non-religion, Lois Lee
Part II. Theoretical Approaches
6: Cognitive Science, Armin W. Geertz
7: Economics, Peter Seele & Lucas Zapf
8: Evolutionary Theory, John H. Shaver, Benjamin Grant Purzycki, and Richard Sosis
9: Feminism and Gender Theory, Darlene Juschka
10: Hermeneutics, Gavin Flood
11: Marxism, Matthew Day
12: Postcolonialism, Arvind Mandair
13: Semantics, Mark Q. Gardiner and Steven Engler
14: Semiotics, Robert A. Yelle
15: (Post)-structuralism, Paul-François Tremlett
16: Social Theory, Philip A. Mellor and Chris Shilling
Part III. Modes
17: Communication, Volkhard Krech
18: Materiality, David Morgan
19: Narrative, Jeppe Sinding Jensen
20: Performance, Axel Michaels and William S. Sax
21: Sound, Rosalind I. J. Hackett
22: Space, David Chidester
23: Time, David Chidester
Part IV. Environments
24: Economy, Anne Koch
25: Law, Benjamin Schonthal
26: Media, Oliver Krüger
27: Nature, Adrian Ivakhiv
28: Medicine, Pamela Klassen
29: Politics, Hubert Seiwert
30: Science, Laura J. Vollmer and Kocku von Stuckrad
Sports, Carole M. Cusack
Tourism, Alex Norman
Part V. Topics
33: Belief, Jason C. Bivins
34: Emotion, John Corrigan
35: Experience, Craig Martin
36: Gift and Sacrifice, Christoph Auffarth
37: Gods, Gustavo Benavides
38: Initiation and Transitions, Henrik Bogdan
39: Priests, Prophets, Sorcerers, Manfred Hutter
40: Purity, Hugh B. Urban
41: Salvation, Gavin Flood
Part VI. Processes
42: Differentiation, Steve Bruce
43: The Disintegration and Death of Religions, Albert de Jong
44: Expansion, Asonzeh Ukah
45: Globalization, Manuel A. Vásquez and David Garbin
46: Individualization and Privatization, Jörg Rüpke
47: Tradition and Innovation, Olav Hammer
48: Objectification and Commodification, Jeremy Carrette
49: Syncretism and Hybridization, Paul Christopher Johnson
Part VII. The Discipline
50: History, Michael Stausberg
51: Relevance, Thomas A. Tweed