Genealogy of Religion

Exploring the Origins, History and Future of Religion

Entries Tagged as 'History of Religions'

Myth as History — On Religious Texts

September 4th, 2010 · No Comments · History of Religions, Methodology of Religion

Among scholars and historians of religion, there has long been an unfortunate tendency to treat myth as mere text — disembodied, free-floating, timeless, and ahistorical.  In such non-contexts, myth is considered to be something universal or essential, that which captures and expresses archetypes, or even worse, an archaic and tentative approach to monotheism.
In the fifth [...]

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Dolphins, Chimps & Japanese Religions

September 3rd, 2010 · No Comments · Classifications of Religion, Cultural Evolution of Religion, Definitions of Religion, History of Religions, Magic and Religion

After recently watching “The Cove” and a Mad Men episode titled “The Chrysanthemum and the Sword” — a clever allusion to Ruth Benedict’s justly famous cultural study of Japan, I decided it was time to bone up on Japanese religions.  Japan is a multi-faceted nation and getting your head around its history, culture and people [...]

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Phylogeny of Religions

September 2nd, 2010 · No Comments · Classifications of Religion, Cultural Evolution of Religion, Definitions of Religion, History of Religions, Religion as Evolutionary Adaptation, Religion as Evolutionary Byproduct

Sooner or later any serious student or historian of religion will encounter Jonathan Z. Smith, he of the infamous quip — “there is no data for religion.  Religion is solely the creation of the scholar’s study.”  A curious statement indeed coming from one of the most prominent historians of religion, whose entire career and oeuvre [...]

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Hitchens on Anti-Semitism

September 2nd, 2010 · No Comments · Axial Age Religions, History of Religions

Provocative and thoughtful as he usually is, Hitchens opines on anti-semitism for The Atlantic:
There is, probably first and certainly foremost, religious anti-Semitism. Unlike other nations or peoples, Jews were among the witnesses to the alleged lives and preachings of Jesus and Muhammad, and turned away from men they deemed false Messiahs. It is inconceivable that [...]

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Viking Gate & Pagan Berserkers

August 28th, 2010 · No Comments · Archaeology and Religion, History of Religions, Pagans and Polytheism

Over at Spiegel, Matthias Schulz reports on a “sensational” archaeological find in Northern Germany.  In 808 CE, King Gottrik of Denmark ordered the construction of the longest earthwork in Europe.  It was approximately 19 miles long and had only a single gate (the “Danevirke”), which archaeologists are now excavating.
This was a turbulent time in Europe, [...]

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Iranian Jews, Zoroastrians & Bahai

August 28th, 2010 · No Comments · Axial Age Religions, History of Religions, Recent and New Religions

Over at The Atlantic, Elizabeth Weingarten reports on Iranian Jews in America.  I was surprised to learn there is still a community of Persian Jews in Iran and that so long as they are silent on the issue of Israel, they are free to do as they please.  Iran truly is a fascinating country with [...]

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Undergraduates and Religion

August 24th, 2010 · No Comments · Atheism and Religion, Cognition and Religion, History of Religions, Philosophy of Religion

Over at HuffPo Religion, Princeton’s dean of religious affairs explains how entering freshmen can “find their religion” during their four years at college by asking (and attempting to answer) three questions:
1. What do you believe?
2. What does your neighbor believe?
3. How do those beliefs affect the choices you and your neighbor are making about how [...]

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Bourdieu & Symbolic Power: The Archaeology of Proto-Religion

August 22nd, 2010 · No Comments · Archaeology and Religion, Cognition and Religion, History of Religions, Shamans and Shamanism

I just finished reading David Swartz’s superb article, “Bridging the Study of Culture and Religion: Pierre Bourdieu’s Political Economy of Symbolic Power” (open access), and must recommend it not only to cultural theorists but to archaeologists as well.  Several aspects of Bourdieu’s thought lend themselves readily to novel interpretations of what otherwise might appear to [...]

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Koran Burning & Christian History

August 21st, 2010 · 2 Comments · Axial Age Religions, History of Religions

The inaptly named Dove World Outreach Center (an evangelical church) in Gainesville, Florida wants to create a bonfire of Korans but has been denied a permit by the fire marshal.  Incredibly, Gainesville’s “burning ordinance” prohibits the open air torching of books — either some city councilman was worried about global warming or wanted to prevent [...]

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Literacy & Books: Shaping Religious Experience

August 21st, 2010 · No Comments · Axial Age Religions, Cultural Evolution of Religion, Definitions of Religion, History of Religions

Over at The Atlantic, Heather Horn interviews Andrew Pettegree, who has just written a history of the book titled The Book in the Renaissance.  After pondering the (bright) future of books, they discuss the profound ways in which vernacular books and a literate public forever changed religious experience:
But one mustn’t ignore that the mainstay of [...]

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