The pragmatics of defining religion : : contexts, concepts, and contests / / Jan Platvoet and Arie L. Molendijk.

• Superior document: Studies in the history of religions, v. 84
• TeilnehmendeR: Platvoet, Jan,; Molendijk, Arie L.,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden, Netherlands : : E. J. Brill,, 1999.
• Year of Publication: 1999
• Language: English
• Series: Numen Book Series 84.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource.

This volume promotes a pragmatic, anti-essentialist and anti-hegemonic approach to the problem of the definition of religion. It argues that definitions of religion are context-bound strategies for pursuing a variety of purposes, extra-academic as well as academic. Religions being immensely varied, complex and multi-functional phenomena, they need to be studied by several academic disciplines from many different perspectives. It is, therefore, legitimate and useful that many definitions of religions are developed. The volume has contributions from scholars in Philosophy of Religion, the Comparative Study of Religions, Anthropology of Religion, Sociology of Religion and Psychology of Religion. It has chapters on the polemics of defining religion in modern contexts, the history of the concept of religion, and the methodology of its definition; it includes several definition proposals.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- Preface -- Notes on the Contributors -- Introduction -- In Defence of Pragmatism / Arie L. Molendijk -- Modern Contexts -- The Politics of Defining Religion in Secular Society / James A. Beckford -- Religion as Claim / Massimo Introvigne -- Religion as Memory / Danièle Hervieu-Léger -- Paradoxes / Jacob A. Belzen -- Conceptual Changes -- ‘Religio’ and ‘Religion’ in the 18th Century / Ernst Feil -- Shifting Cargoes / Arie L. Molendijk -- THE SACRED in the Social Sciences / Wouter W. Belier -- Psychologists Define Religion / David M. Wulff -- Methodological Issues -- On Defining Religion / Hendrik Johan Adriaanse -- To Define or not to Define / Jan G. Platvoet -- Intuiting Religion / James L. Cox -- The Third Bank of the River / André F. Droogers -- Defining ‘Religions’ as the Domain of Study of the Empirical Sciences of Religions / Jan A.M. Snoek -- Definition Proposals -- Defining Religion in Spite of History -- The Definition of Religion -- What is Religion? / ter Borg Meerten B. -- On a Semantic Definition of Religion / Jeppe Sinding Jensen -- Religion as the Realization of Faith / Zock Hetty -- Epilogue -- Contexts, Concepts and Contests / Platvoet Jan G. -- Index of Names -- Index of Subjects -- Studies in the History of Religions Numen Book Series.