Series:

Critical Categories in the Study of Religion

1 total work

Cover of Defining Religion

Defining Religion

Published 1 May 1998
This reader presents a broad historical range of views, from the Romans to the present. Gathering together both traditional positions and historical sources for the definition of religion, the volume then goes on to offer a critical perspective on religion as a category. These specially chosen essays consider whether a definition of religion is possible, or even intellectually desirable,; what are the political, economic, and /or ideological preconditions necessary to arrive at a definition of religion; and how such a category is constituted by specific historical discourses.