Cultural Approaches to Studying Religion: An Introduction to Theories and Methods

Cover
Half Title
Series
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Acknowledgments
Contributors
Introduction
	Why study religion?
	Where did the study of religion come from?
	Where is the study of religion going?
	The relevance of theory
	Why these theorists?
		Reflecting power dynamics
		Challenging the field of religious studies
	Structure of the volume
		Comparative approaches
		Examining particularities
		Expanding boundaries
Part I Comparative Approaches
	1 The Bounds of Hierarchy:  Mary Douglas
		Biography and historical context
		Key writings and signature approaches
			Purity and danger
			Grid/group typology
			Ritual and meaning
			Risk and organizations
			Anthropology of the Bible
		Analysis of Douglas’s work
		Critique of Douglas’s work
		Suggested further reading
	2 Feminist Textual Critique: Phyllis Trible
		Biography and historical context
		Key writings and signature approaches
			Rhetorical criticism
			Feminist criticism
			Christian theology
		Analysis of Trible’s work
			Rhetorical criticism
			Feminist criticism
			Theology
		Critique of Trible’s work
		Suggested further reading
	3 Myth and the Religious Imaginary: Wendy Doniger
		Biography and historical context
		Key writings and signature approaches
			Doniger’s early phase: The foundations of her comparative approach
			Doniger’s toolbox for studying religion
			Doniger on gender and identity
			Doniger as translator
			Doniger as editor
		Critical reception of Doniger’s work
		Concluding thoughts
		Suggested further reading
	4 Ritual and Belief: Catherine Bell
		Biography and historical context
		Key writings and signature approaches: Thought and action
			Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice
				Ritual as discourse
				Ritual as strategic practice
			Belief and believing
		Critical reception of Bell’s work
		Suggested further reading
Part II Examining Particularities
	5 Womanist Religious Interpretation: Alice Walker
		Biography and historical context
		Key writings and signature approaches
			Womanist and womanism
			Motherhood and the Grandmother spirit
			Activism: From womanist writer to Grand Mother
			The Grand Mother and Buddhism
		Critical reception of Walker’s work
			Womanist thought: Womanist and feminist responses
			Reception of Walker’s activism
			Reception of Walker’s Buddhism
		Conclusion
		Suggested further reading
	6 Signifying Religion in the Modern World: Charles H. Long
		Biography and historical context
		Key writings and signature approaches
			Combining theology, the academic study of religion, and semiotics
			The Black religious experience
			Significations
			An epistemology of cultural contact and conquest
			A theology of freedom
		Analysis of Long’s work
			Race and religion
			Challenging academic compartmentalization
		Critique of Long’s work
		Suggested further reading
	7 Gender and Materiality: Caroline Walker Bynum
		Biography and historical context
		Key writings and signature approaches
			The study of gender in the Middle Ages: Jesus as Mother
			Historicizing women’s religious experience: Holy Feast and Holy Fast
			Bodies that matter as change, fragmentation, paradox: Christian Materiality
		Analysis of Bynum’s work
		Critique of Bynum’s work
		Suggested further reading
Part III Expanding Boundaries
	8 Mestiza Language of Religion: Gloria Anzaldúa
		Biography and historical context
		Key writings and signature approaches
			Mestiza|nepantla
			Trauma|wound
			Spirituality|shaman
		Critical reception of Anzaldúa’s work
		Suggested further reading
	9 Performative, Queer Theories for Religion: Judith Butler
		Biography and historical context
		Key writings and signature approaches
			Gender is as gender does: Butler’s performative turn
			The normative as performative
			Changing the system: Performativity and anti-normativity
		Critical reception of Butler’s work
			Butler’s impact on religious studies
		Suggested further reading
	10 Disrupting Secular Power and the Study of Religion: Saba Mahmood
		Biography and historical context
		Key writings and signature approaches
			Ethics, politics, and agency
			What is political?
			Logics of piety
			Imagining offense beyond the law: The limits of secular semiotic ideology
			The paradoxes of political secularism
			Secularity, history, and hermeneutics
		Critical reception of Mahmood’s work
		Suggested further reading
Notes
	Introduction
	3 Myth and the Religious Imaginary: Wendy Doniger
	6 Signifying Religion in the Modern World: Charles H. Long
	7 Gender and Materiality: Caroline Walker Bynum
	8 Mestiza Language of Religion: Gloria Anzaldúa
	9 Performative, Queer Theories for Religion: Judith Butler
Bibliography
	Introduction
	Chapter 1
	Chapter 2
	Chapter 3
		Additional works by Wendy Doniger
	Chapter 4
	Chapter 5
	Chapter 6
	Chapter 7
	Chapter 8
	Chapter 9
	Chapter 10
Index