{"product_id":"theory-of-religion-9780942299090","title":"Theory of Religion","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eTheory of Religion\u003c\/i\u003e brings to philosophy what Georges Bataille's earlier book \u003ci\u003eThe Accursed Share\u003c\/i\u003e brought to anthropology and history, namely, an analysis based on notions of excess and expenditure. No other work of Bataille's, and perhaps no other work anywhere since Weber's \u003ci\u003eProtestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism\u003c\/i\u003e, has managed to draw so incisively the links between man's religious and economic activities. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Religion,\" according to Bataille, \"is the search for a lost intimacy.\" In a brilliant and tightly reasoned argument, he proceeds to develop a \"general economy\" of man's relation to this intimacy: from the seamless immanence of animality to the shattered world of objects and the partial, ritual recovery of the intimate order through the violence of the sacrifice. Bataille then reflects on the archaic festival, in which he sees not only the glorious affirmation of life through destructive consumption but also the seeds of another, more ominous order -- war. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBataille then traces the rise of the modern military order, in which production ceases to be oriented toward the destruction of a surplus and violence is no longer deployed inwardly but is turned to the outside. In these twin developments one can see the origins of modern capitalism.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBataille, Georges:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - Georges Bataille (1897-1962) was a French writer, essayist, and philosopher whose works include \u003ci\u003eThe Story of the Eye\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Blue of Noon\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Accursed Share\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eTheory of Religion\u003c\/i\u003e.","brand":"Zone Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50632132493586,"sku":"9780942299090","price":23.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_19d34746-7de7-42e7-9d15-9c7720ffebff.jpg?v=1732789918","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/theory-of-religion-9780942299090","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}