Genealogy of Religion

Exploring the Origins, History and Future of Religion

Entries Tagged as 'interpretive communities'

Texts & Interpretations

September 11th, 2010 · No Comments · Axial Age, Methodology

If you occasionally wander over to HuffPo Religion (I do not recommend doing it too often), you will notice all kinds of articles offering all sorts of authoritative or alternative interpretations of religious texts such as the Bible, Koran, Torah, Rig Veda, etc.
In not one of these articles will you ever be told there are [...]

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A Certain Kind of Islam and the Heinous Oppression of Women

July 31st, 2010 · 2 Comments · Classifications, Methodology, Morality, Power

Not long ago, I discussed an article on Islam by Cynthia Boaz.  In her article, Boaz attempted to correct several misconceptions regarding Islam and presented us with a progressive, liberal, and tolerant interpretation of Islam.  While there are Muslims outside of the US who interpret Islam in the way Boaz does, there are also Muslims [...]

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The Hydra Head of Islam

July 22nd, 2010 · 2 Comments · Axial Age, Globalization, History, Philosophy

Over at HuffPo Religion, Cynthia Boaz has written an earnest piece that implores Americans to think harder about Islam and not simply demonize it.  I agree with much of what she says but the unfortunate fact is that her plea will fall on few or deaf ears.  Not many religious or political extremists are reading [...]

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Does God Write Fiction?

July 15th, 2010 · No Comments · History, Magic, New Religions

Over at HuffPo Religion, Pete Enns wonders whether God speaks to him and others through fiction.  Although Enns is discussing “a non-literal interpretation of the bible,” which raises critical and unresolved issues of reader-responses and interpretive communities, my guess would be that if he did write, evidence for it can be found in J.R.R. Tolkien’s [...]

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