Contemporary Theories of Religion: A Critical Companion

by Stausberg; Michael

• ISBN13: 9780415463478
• ISBN10: 0415463475
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2009-08-07
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Interest in theories of religion has never been greater. While anthropologists, archaeologists, classicists, evolutionary biologists, philosophers, psychiatrists, and scholars of religion have presented new theories in academic publications, 'New Atheists' such as Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett have brought the debate to wider audiences. For everyone eager to understand the current state of the field, Contemporary Theories of Religion surveys the neglected landscape in its totality.

Author Biography

Michael Stausberg is Professor of Religion at the University of Bergen (Norway). Recent publications include Zarathustra and Zoroastrianism (2008) and Theorizing Rituals (co-editor, 2 vols. 2006-2007). He is the European editor of the journal Religion.

Table of Contents

List of figures	p. vii
List of contributors	p. viii
There is life in the old dog yet: an introduction to contemporary theories of religion	p. 1
Religion as superhuman agency: on E. Thomas Lawson and Robert N. McCauley, Rethinking religion (1990)	p. 22
Anthropomorphism and animism: on Stewart E. Guthrie, Faces in the clouds (1993)	p. 39
From need to violence: on Walter Burkert, Creation of the sacred (1996)	p. 53
Religion as ritual: Roy Rappaport's changing views from Pigs for the ancestors (1968) to Ritual and religion in the making of humanity (1999)	p. 66
Religious economies and rational choice: on Rodney Stark and Roger Finke, Acts of faith (2000)	p. 83
Religion as communication: on Niklas Luhmann, The religion of society (2000)	p. 99
Exotic experience and ordinary life: On Andrew Newberg, Eugene D'Aquili and Vince Rause, Why God Won't go away(2001)	p. 115
Religion as the unintended product of brain functions in the 'standard cognitive science of religion model': on Pascal Boyer, Religion explained (2001) and Ilkka Pyysiäinen, How religion works (2003)	p. 129
Religion as evolutionary cascade: on Scott Atran, In gods we trust (2002)	p. 156
Religion as superorganism: on David Sloan Wilson, Darwin's cathedral (2002)	p. 173
Roots in the brain: on David Lewis-Williams and David Pearce, Inside the Neolithic mind (2005)	p. 195
Boundary maintenance: religions as organic-cultural flows: on Thomas Tweed, Crossing and dwelling (2006)	p. 209
Theory of religion as myth: on Loyal Rue, Religion is not about God (2005)	p. 224
New Atheistic approaches in the cognitive science of religion: on Daniel Dennett, Breaking the spell (2006) and Richard Dawkins, The God delusion (2006)	p. 242
Interventionist practices and the promises of religion: on Martin Riesebrodt, Cultus und Heilsversprechen (2007)	p. 264
Back and forth	p. 283
Index	p. 296
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