Secularism and Religion-Making (AAR Reflection and Theory in the Study of Religion)

Dressler, Markus

ISBN 10: 019978292X / ISBN 13: 9780199782925

Published by Oxford University Press, 2011

About this Item

This book investigates the universalization of religious and secular knowledges that emerged in their particular modern forms originally in the Christian West. It it an attempt to explore the epistemological grounds and political implications of the formation and codependency of 'secular' and 'religious' discourses and practices. Series: AAR Reflection and Theory in the Study of Religion Series. Num Pages: 288 pages, black & white illustrations. BIC Classification: HRAM2; HRAX; HRQA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 158 x 235 x 20. Weight in Grams: 440. . 2011. Paperback. . . . .

Seller Inventory # V9780199782925

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Secularism and Religion-Making (AAR Reflection and Theory in the Study of Religion)
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication Date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 019978292X
• ISBN 13: 9780199782925
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

This book conceives of "religion-making" broadly as the multiple ways in which social and cultural phenomena are configured and reconfigured within the matrix of a world-religion discourse that is historically and semantically rooted in particular Western and predominantly Christian experiences, knowledges, and institutions. It investigates how religion is universalized and certain ideas, social formations, and practices rendered "religious" are thus integrated in and subordinated to very particular - mostly liberal-secular - assumptions about the relationship between history, politics, and religion.

The individual contributions, written by a new generation of scholars with decisively interdisciplinary approaches, examine the processes of translation and globalization of historically specific concepts and practices of religion - and its dialectical counterpart, the secular - into new contexts. This volume contributes to the relatively new field of thought that aspires to unravel the thoroughly intertwined relationships between religion and secularism as modern concepts.

About the Author

Markus Dressler has published extensively on Turkish Alevism. His further interests include the sociology and politics of Islam in Turkey, nationalist Turkish historiography, and Sufism in the West. Theoretically, his research engages in the work of concepts in the study of religion and Islam, as well as the interaction between religion, secularism, and nationalism.

Arvind-Pal S. Mandair is S.B.S.C. Associate Professor of Sikh Studies at the University of Michigan. His recent books include Religion and the Specter of the West and Teachings of the Sikh Gurus. He is a founding editor of the journal Sikh Formations: Religion, Culture and Theory and Assistant editor of Culture and Religion.