How Should We Talk About Religion?: Perspectives, Contexts, Particularities

by James Boyd White (Editor)

Overview

In this wide-ranging and timely volume, fourteen scholars address the important question, How should we talk about religion, whether our own or the religion of others? They confront such fundamental topics as the sufficiency of "reason" for a full life; the adequacy of our methods of describing and analyzing religion; the degree to which any serious confrontation with the religious experiences of others will challenge our own; and whether there can be a pluralism that does not dissolve into universal relativism.

Writing from a diversity of perspectives and academic disciplines—philosophy, classics, medieval studies, history, anthropology, economics, political science, and art history, among others—the contributors illuminate issues at the heart of the most significant cultural, social, and political debates of our day.

What emerges is not a univocal answer to the question posed in the title. Instead, by demonstrating how religion is talked about in the languages of very different academic disciplines, the essayists creatively address issues that no one should ignore: fundamentalism; the role of religion in American democracy; the tension between secular liberalism and religious rhetoric; monotheism versus pluralism; and the relationship between poverty and liberation theology. Collectively, their various approaches to talking about religion—differences due to background, age, nationality, religious outlook, and intellectual commitment, yet all valid—provide a general response to the question in the book's title: in intellectual and personal community.

Contributorss: Luis E. Bacigalupo, Clifford Ando, Sabine MacCormack, R. Scott Appleby, Bilinda Straight, Patrick J. Deneen, Wayne C. Booth (1921–2005), Eugene Garver, Javier Iguíñiz Echeverría, Ruth Abbey, Sol Serrano, Carol Bier, Jeffrey Kripal, Ebrahim Moosa.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780268044077
Publisher:	University of Notre Dame Press
Publication date:	05/15/2006
Series:	Erasmus Institute Books
Edition description:	1
Pages:	334
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

James Boyd White is Hart Wright Professor of Law, professor of English, and adjunct professor of classical studies at the University of Michigan.

Editorial Reviews

A diverse group of faculty from various universities and academic specialties—philosophy, history, English, anthropology, art history and Islamic studies—explores how scholars address religion in their fields and how they can share their perspectives across disciplinary boundaries . . . There is something here for everyone . . . Recommended for academic and larger public libraries.” —Library Journal

"This wide ranging volume addresses important questions that point the way to talking about religion across disciplinary and religious boundaries. . . Both scholars and laypeople will likely profit from this volume." —Choice

“Readers will be stimulated by the range of issues discussed and how religious experience is shaped by pre-existing conceptions and experiences. The interplay of scholarly, political, sociocultural, psychological, and experiential perspectives which these essays highlight is a valuable contribution in itself.” —Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith

“Avoiding the recriminatory rhetoric that all too often pervades cultural, political, and scholarly debates, the authors of these first-rate essays reveal the many ways in which sensitivity to religious belief, thought, and discourse enhances and, in many respects, is absolutely necessary to serious inquiry in their diverse areas of expertise.” —Joseph A. Buttigieg, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of English, University of Notre Dame

From the Publisher

This excellent collection of 14 essays does not answer the title question: there are no "shoulds" proposed for achieving a truce in the religious culture wars. Instead, a diverse group of faculty from various universities and academic specialties-philosophy, history, English, anthropology, art history, and Islamic studies-explores how scholars address religion in their fields and how they can share their perspectives across disciplinary boundaries. Topics include the catholicization of Latin America, the problematic nature of the term fundamentalism, listening to religious voices in public discourse, skepticism's role in medieval philosophical theology, teaching religion in colleges and universities, Platonic cosmology in Islamic art, and the relationship between language and meaning in Islam. Law and literature scholar White's excellent introduction and chapter abstracts suggest the broader implications of these engaging essays and give the book needed coherence. Most readers will find only some of the essays of interest. Nevertheless, there is something here for everyone, and the offerings are of uniformly high quality. Recommended for academic and larger public libraries.-Steve Young, McHenry Cty. Coll., Crystal Lake, IL Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal