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Theories of Religion: A Reader
The aim of this new book is to provide the student with an anthology of key texts on the broad range of social scientific theories of religion. The texts included come from a wide range of approaches to religion - unified both by the questions that they are addressing and the broadly social scientific perspective. The disciplines covered include: Anthropology, Phenomenology, Psychology and Sociology. We have also included some key texts relating to the Feminist approach to and critique of religion. The initial section of the book includes some of the foundational texts relating to the study of religion, for example material by Marx, Freud and Durkheim. The remaining sections look at more rec...
Understanding Religion
This volume consists of 12 essays published by the author between the years 1997-2007, a thirteenth paper read at a conference in 2006, and a long introduction prepared specifically for the collection. All of the essays deal with epistemological issues attendant on conceptualizing and defining religion, understanding what is likely to be involved in studying and discussing beliefs, and attempting to explain religion and religions by drawing on the contemporary cognitive and evolutionary sciences. The problem of how best to understand and represent the cultural sensitivities of others is addressed by considering the works of three predecessors, Edward Burnett Tylor, Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, and A. Irving Hallowell.
Conceptualizing Religion
How might we transform a folk category — in this case, religion — into an analytical category suitable for cross-cultural research? In addressing that question, this book critically explores various approaches to the problem of conceptualizing religion for scholarly purposes, particularly with respect to certain disciplinary interests of anthropologists. The author argues that the most plausible analytical strategy can be based on the idea of family resemblances, especially as that idea has been used and developed in contemporary prototype theory. In the solution proposed, religion is conceptualized as an affair of 'more or less' rather than a matter of 'yes or no,' and no sharp line is drawn between religion and non-religion.
Confucianism as Religion
On the Rhetoric of Defining Confucianism as a Religion tackles the perennially controversial question of whether Confucianism is a religion and proposes a holistic and contextual approach to the issue.
Perspectives on Method and Theory in the Study of Religion
This volume collects select papers on methodology in the study of religion that were originally presented at the XVIIth Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions, held in Mexico City in 1995. Granted the status of adjunct proceedings for the Congress, the collection opens with the editors’ detailed survey of the longstanding importance of discussions on methodology within the IAHR. The twenty-one essays which follow examine religion and the history of the study of religion within a variety of theoretical contexts. The essays are organized in terms of three general sub-divisions: general issues in methodology (from the impact of both postmodernism and reflexive ...
Flying Saucers Over America
On June 24th, 1947, a private pilot reported numerous dazzling objects rushing through the sky above Mount Rainier in Washington state. It was the start of the current UFO phenomena, one of the country's most perplexing and persistent mysteries. Within a few weeks, hundreds of sightings of flying saucers were reported to news media. Surprising reports of a UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico further added to the mystery that July. Since then, UFOs have sparked a slew of incredible claims and speculations. This is a sober and honest history of America's first major saucer craze, based on many sources including previously classified government records. The book cuts through decades of mystique and confusion, beginning with the 1947 UFO wave and ending with the launch of Project Blue Book in 1952. Balanced and comprehensive, this history provides background, social context and other tools for reframing perceptions of a controversial subject.
Frontiers Past and Future
"Abbott offers a fruitful new way to read science fiction, one that also greatly enriches our understanding of western history and its impact on our collective imagination. Detailing the overlap of science fiction and western fiction - especially relating to their mutual interest in and concerns about frontier expansionism - he reveals an unsuspected common ground that informs the writings of both camps." "Reviewing the work of many Hugo and Nebula Award winners, as well as drawing upon popular film and television series (like the Buck Rogers serials), Abbott's study journeys across the far reaches of science fiction's universe."
Hunger for the Wild
Americans have had an enduring yet ambivalent obsession with the West as both a place and a state of mind. Michael L. Johnson considers how that obsession originated, how it has determined attitudes toward and activities in the West, and how it has changed over the centuries.
The Paranormal
Surveys various supernatural phenomena, from ghosts and extra sensory perception (ESP), to UFOs and cryptozoology, examining whether they have any scientific validity and why people find them so fascinating. Chapter headings include "Why We Believe," "America's Haunted Army," "Is There Anybody Out There?," and "The Myth Hunters."
