Understanding World Religions

READING LIST
HT 2024 RT2212
Understanding World Religions (7.5 hec)

Books
Horii, Mitsutoshi (2018). The Category of ‘Religion’ in Contemporary Japan: Shūkyō and Temple Buddhism [Elektronisk resurs]. Institute for Urban Design (US)

Cotter, Christopher R. & Robertson, David G. (ed. 2016). After World Religions: Reconstructing Religious Studies, Routledge, Abingdon (203 pp).

Hughes, Aaron W. (2015). Islam and the Tyranny of Authenticity: An Inquiry into Disciplinary Apologetics and Self-deception. Bristol, CT: Equinox Pub. Ltd (143 pp).

Taves, Ann (2017). Revelatory Events: Three Case Studies of the Emergence of New Spiritual Paths.

Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press (357pp). Articles and Excerpts

Asad, Talal (1993). Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam. Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore (ca 25pp) [E-resource].

Boyer, Pascal (2003). Religious Thought and Behavior as By-Products of Brain Functions”, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, vol 7, pp. 119-124. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661303000317

McCutcheon, Russell T. (2006). “It’s a Lie. There’s no Truth in it! It’s a Sin!’: On the Limits of the Humanistic Study of Religion and the Costs of Saving Others from Themselves”. Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 74(3), pp. 720–750. https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/10918

McCutcheon, Russell T. (1997). Manufacturing Religion: The Discourse on Sui Generis Religion and the Politics of Nostalgia. New York: Oxford University Press (Introduction, and chapter 5, 50 pp) [E- resource].

Orsi, Robert (2004). “Fair Game”. Council of Societies for the Study of Religion Bulletin, 33(3-4), pp. 87- 89 [accessible via GU library].

Rydving, Håkan (2011). “A Western Folk Category in Mind?” Temenos: Nordic Journal of Comparative
Religion, 44(1), pp. 73-99. https://journal.fi/temenos/article/view/4599/6790

Smith, Jonathan Z. (1998). “Religion, Religions, Religious’. In Taylor, Mark C. (ed.) Critical Terms for Religious Studies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press pp. 269-284.
http://www.iupui.edu/\~womrel/Rel433%20Readings/SearchableTextFiles/Smith_ReligionRelig ionsReligious.pdf.

Woodhead, Linda (2011). Five Concepts of Religion, International Review of Sociology, 21(1): pp.121-
143. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254296026_Five_concepts_of_religion

Additional material will be provided during the course through Canvas.