Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam

by Talal Asad

Overview

In Geneologies of Religion, Talal Asad explores how religion as a historical category emerged in the West and has come to be applied as a universal concept.

The idea that religion has undergone a radical change since the Christian Reformation--from totalitarian and socially repressive to private and relatively benign--is a familiar part of the story of secularization. It is often invokved to explain and justify the liberal politics and world view of modernity. And it leads to the view that "politicized religions" threaten both reason and liberty. Asad's essays explore and question all these assumptions. He argues that "religion" is a construction of European modernity, a construction that authorizes--for Westerners and non-Westerners alike--particular forms of "history making."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801846328
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	08/18/1993
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Talal Asad is a professor of anthropology at the Johns Hopkins University.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Part I: Genealogies
Chapter 1. The Construction of Religion As An Anthropological Category
Chapter 2. Toward a Genealogy of the Concept of Ritual
Part II: Archaisms
Chapter 3. Pain and Truth in Medieval Christian Ritual
Chapter 4. On Discipline and Humility in Medieval Christian Monasticism
Part III: Translations
Chapter 5. The Concept of Cultural Translation in British Social Anthropology
Chapter 6. The Limits of Religious Criticism in the Middle East: Notes on Islamic Public Argument
Part IV: Polemics
Chapter 7. Multiculturalism and British Identity in the Wake of the Rushdie Affair
Chapter 8. Ethnography, Literature, and Politics: Some Readings and Uses of Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses
References
Acknowledgements
Index

Editorial Reviews

All articles are extremely well written, exhibit impressive scholarship, and are thoughtful and are thoughtful and stimulating. Asad's criticisms are neither judgmental nor self-righteous but are generally driven by the will to understand.
--James R. Wood, Contemporary Sociology

This eloquent, lucid, and complex work is the product of remarkable intelligence and erudition; it is a profound contribution to the understanding of the cultural hegemony of the West.
--Ralph M. Coury, Religious Studies Review

From the Publisher

All articles are extremely well written, exhibit impressive scholarship, and are thoughtful and are thoughtful and stimulating. Asad's criticisms are neither judgmental nor self-righteous but are generally driven by the will to understand.

Contemporary Sociology - James R. Wood

All articles are extremely well written, exhibit impressive scholarship, and are thoughtful and are thoughtful and stimulating. Asad's criticisms are neither judgmental nor self-righteous but are generally driven by the will to understand.

— James R. Wood

Contemporary Sociology

This eloquent, lucid, and complex work is the product of remarkable intelligence and erudition; it is a profound contribution to the understanding of the cultural hegemony of the West.

— Ralph M. Coury

Religious Studies Review

In eight essays, all but one previously published, Asad (anthropology, New School for Social Research) argues that religion as a historical and political category was created in modern Europe, and challenges some deeply held assumptions about the evolution and character of Christianity and Islam. He also applies his ideas to the current wave of Islamic fundamentalism. Paper edition (unseen), $15.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

This eloquent, lucid, and complex work is the product of remarkable intelligence and erudition; it is a profound contribution to the understanding of the cultural hegemony of the West.

Religious Studies Review - Ralph M. Coury