Beyond Phenomenology: Rethinking the Study of Religion (Cassell Religious Studies) - Softcover

Flood, Gavin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0304705705 ISBN 13: 9780304705702

Publisher: Continuum, 1999

Synopsis

This book argues that the understanding and explanation of religion is always historically contingent. Grounded in the work of Bakhtin and Ricoeur, Flood positions the academic study of religion within contemporary debates in the social sciences and humanities concerning modernity and postmodernity, particularly contested issues regarding truth and knowledge. It challenges the view that religions are privileged, epistemic objects, argues for the importance of metatheory, and presents an argument for the dialogical nature of inquiry. The study of religion should begin with language and culture, and this shift in emphasis to the philosophy of the sign in hermeneutics and away from the philosophy of consciousness in phenomenology has far-reaching implications. It means a new ethic of practice which is sensitive to the power relationship in any epistemology; it opens the door to feminist and postcolonial critique, and it provides a methodology which allows for the interface between religious studies, theology, and the social sciences.

About this title

About the Author

Gavin Flood is Professor of Hindu Studies and Comparative Religion at Oxford University, UK. He is also the Piramal Dean of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, and a Senior Research Fellow in Campion Hall, Oxford University, UK.

Edition details

• Publisher: Continuum
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0304705705
• ISBN 13: 9780304705702
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320