Warehouse Stock Clearance Sale

Grab a bargain today!


Irreverence and the Sacred
By

Rating

Product Description
Product Details

Table of Contents

Contributors

List of Images

Preface and Acknowledgements

INTRODUCTION

Destabilizing the Sacred: A Critical History of Religions
Hugh B. Urban and Greg Johnson

PART I. MYTH AND NARRATIVE

1. (Mythical) Battles in Medieval Scandinavia: Battle Narratives and the
Construction of Society
Nicolas Meylan

2. Myth, Third Rome, and the Uses of Ressentiment: An Essay in Myth Criticism
Ivan Strenski

3. How the Arthashastra and the Kamasutra Got Away With Their Critiques of
Dharma
Wendy Doniger

4. Authority Apart from Truth: Superhero Comic Book Stories as Myth
Kevin Wanner

5. Myths and Utopias, Critics and Caretakers: In Defense of Revisionist History
Stefan Arvidsson

PART II. RITUAL AND PRACTICE

6. Ritual, Advocacy, and Authority: The Challenge of Being an Irreverent Witness
Greg Johnson

7. Death, Nationalism, and Sacrifice: Ritual, Violence, Politics, and Tourism in
Northeast India
Hugh B. Urban

8. Becoming Zarathustra
Jean Kellens

PART III. GENDER AND SEXUALITY

9. Where Men are Knights and Women are Princesses: Gender Ideology in Brazil's Valley of the Dawn
Kelly E. Hayes

10. Straightening Out the Gods' Gender
Kathleen Self

11. Norn, Vampire, Female Christ: Myth and Myth-Making in Sweden's First
Feminist Novel
Stefanie von Schnurbein

PART IV. POWER, POLITICS, AND THE POLITICS OF SCHOLARSHIP

12. Historicizing the Elephant in the Room
Russell T. McCutcheon

13. What is Religion? Between Christocentric Paradigm and Anthropological Relativism
Claude Calame

14. Rereading Charlie Hebdo: Of Irreverence and Laïcité
S. Romi Mukherjee

Afterword: An Interview with Bruce Lincoln on Religion, Comparison, and the Politics of Scholarship

Index

About the Author

Hugh B. Urban is a professor of religious studies and South Asian studies in the Department of Comparative Studies at Ohio State University. He is the author of nine books, including The Church of Scientology: A History of a New Religion (2011) and Zorba the Buddha: Sex, Spirituality and Capitalism in the Global Osho Movement (2016).

Greg Johnson is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is the author of Sacred Claims: Repatriation and Living Tradition and co-editor of Handbook of Indigenous Religion(s) (2017).

Reviews

"... these provocative essays constitute a fine, thoughtful, and original treatment. Summing up: Recommended" -- CHOICE
"Irreverence and the Sacred offers fresh perspectives on one of the most influential theorists in religious studies. The book also contains deeply self-conscious explorations of how scholars of religion approach their work; the authors describe the processes they use in specific projects and the dilemmas they have faced while conducting their research. On occasion authors in this volume even express regret that perhaps they could have approached
particular projects differently. This process of self-description and reflection on the part of the authors unifies this book far more than any field of study or response to specific writings of Lincoln. It is the
insight into this grappling on how to best conduct scholarly work and the application of religious studies theory to such a wide variety of subjects that make this such an immensely valuable resource." -- Melody Everest, Reading Religion
"Using Bruce Lincoln's work as a compass, the contributors to this volume eschew a feel-good approach to religious studies. Rather than focus on meaningless categories such as 'the sacred,' they encourage us to reflect on the mundane nature of religion. The results are challenging, provocative, and often irreverent. The editors are to be congratulated for continuing to push the boundaries of the field in important and controversial directions."--Aaron W.
Hughes, Philip S. Bernstein Professor of Religion and Classics, University of Rochester
"While Bruce Lincoln's scholarship has established him as a leading figure in religious studies, the field remains in desperate need of scholars pressing and applying the kind of approach Lincoln advocates. His mode of and ideas on historiography provoke as much as they influence, and the field would be better if scholarsDLeven in their critiquesDLtook seriously the questions and issues thinkers like Lincoln continue to pose for our academic work. That is
exactly what this collection delivers."--K. Merinda Simmons, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Religious Studies, University of Alabama
"Bruce Lincoln's voice is one of the most important on the critical end of the academic study of religion; no one I know of has done more than he to theorize and adapt neo-Marxist or Marxian approaches to the subject matter of our field. The volume does an excellent job of surveying his major works, extending Lincoln's work to a new data set, demonstrating its usefulness, or offering criticisms of his work, demonstrating how his approach might be modified so as
to be more sophisticated than it already is."--Craig Martin, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, St. Thomas Aquinas College

Ask a Question About this Product More...
 
Look for similar items by category
People also searched for
This title is unavailable for purchase as none of our regular suppliers have stock available. If you are the publisher, author or distributor for this item, please visit this link.

Back to top