"Dialogues on Religion presents the reader with a selection of key, field-wide and, importantly, ongoing debates coupled with some of the most important up-and-coming voices now on the scene. It is designed to orient readers in an engaging and readable format, to the debates that have long defined-and some would say, plagued-the academic study of religion. Such topics include those issues/debates that have animated the field place since its exception, such as the tension between religious studies and theology. The volume will also include more recent issues now under debate, such as the place of scholarly activism as well as efforts to decolonize the field. Taken as a collection, the volume lays out the basis of each issue, the various voices that debateit, and the specific, even wider, issues that are at stake. Each chapter fairly represents the competing views and does so in a way accessible even to the relative newcomer. It is a must-read for all students of religion, as well as all those seeking to understand more about contemporary religious debates"--
Dialogues on Religion—and its Study creatively revives a time-honored genre by offering a series of new speeches on religion (its definition, description, comparison, and explanation) between two old friends who periodically meet throughout the year. Eventually working their way to examining why we tend to call part of our world and our experiences religious, nonspecialist readers can eavesdrop on their conversations, gaining entry to a series of timely, interesting, and sometimes surprisingly complex topics—which all begins with one of them coming across a curious news story on their phone.
Treating these dialogues as if they were found objects, the book then also joins in a long tradition of critical editions by offering a scholarly introduction to the speeches along with a detailed commentary on both the technical items mentioned as well as the various cultural references that our speakers find to be familiar and then use to think through material that’s rather new—at the same time providing clues as to their identities and location. Written in the vernacular, with a helpful postface that some may wish to read first, Dialogues on Religion—and its Study is original, engaging, and at times funny while always meeting readers where they sometimes are: just a little intrigued by something they’ve discovered and wishing that they could discuss it with a good friend, maybe meeting for coffee or over breakfast at a diner.
This volume presents readers with a selection of key, field-wide and, importantly, ongoing debates coupled with some of the most important up-and-coming voices on the scene. It is designed to orient readers in an engaging and readable format, to the debates that have long defined—and some would say, plagued—the academic study of religion.
