Cultural Approaches to Studying Religion

A new edition of a respected textbook, providing an introduction to contemporary cultural approaches to the study of religion. This book examines the analytic tools of scholars in religious studies, as well as in related disciplines that have shaped the field including anthropology, history, literature, and critical studies in race, sexuality, and gender.

Each chapter is written by a leading scholar and includes:

- the biographical and historical context of each theorist
- their approaches and key writings
- analysis and evaluation of each theory
- a list of key terms
- suggested further reading

Part One: Comparative Approaches considers how major features such as taboo, texts, myths and ritual work across religious traditions by exploring the work of Mary Douglas, Phyllis Trible, Wendy Doniger, Catherine Bell and Tomoko Masuzawa.

Part Two: Examining Particularities analyzes the comparative approach through the work of Alice Walker, Charles Long and Caroline Walker Bynum, who all suggest that the specifics of race, body, place and time must be considered.

Part Three: Expanding Boundaries examines Gloria Anzaldúa's language of religion, as well as the work of Judith Butler on performative, queer theories of religion, Saba Mahmood, whose work considers postcolonial religious encounters, secularism, and the relationship between "East" and "West" and Jasbir Puar.

New to this edition is a focus on the contributions of Tomoko Masuzawa, revealing the colonialist assumptions of the comparative, world religions model and Jasbir Puar's work on affect, gender, sexuality, and disability.

Each section now begins with an introduction which highlights the contributions of each thinker and how they relate to previous theories that dominated the field, making connections between the chapters and pointing toward what students might look for when they read these chapters. Each introduction concludes with a list of key terms.