{"product_id":"what-is-religion-debating-the-academic-study-of-religion-9780190064983","title":"What Is Religion?: Debating the Academic Study of Religion","description":"Controversies over how to define the word \"religion\" have persisted for decades. It is a term of art and of academic study, but also one of governance, technologies, and of networks; it is a concept whose diversity is often its own worst enemy. \"Religion\" is as much a fuzzy set of conceptualizations and generalizations about a range of human activities as it is an authorizing system of persons, ideas, and practices. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhat is Religion?: Debating the Academic Study of Religion\u003c\/em\u003e invites readers to eavesdrop on scholarly debates over the limits of, and uses for, a word commonly used but infrequently defined in a precise manner. This volume takes the temperature of the modern field of Religious Studies by inviting a diverse group of scholars to offer their own substantive contribution that builds on the shared opening prompt, \"Religion is...\". Their essays document the current state of the field and its various sub-fields, assess the progress that has been made over the past generation, and propose new directions for future work. Seventeen of the international field's leading scholars show how they work with each other's definition, or, sometimes, the lack of a definition. Of interest to students, scholars, and general readers alike, \u003cem\u003eWhat is Religion? \u003c\/em\u003ewill provoke debate and provide insights into the state of the field.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAaron W. Hughes\u003c\/strong\u003e is the Philip S. Bernstein Professor in the Department of Religion and Classics at the University of Rochester. He is the author of sixteen books, twelve edited volumes, and over eighty articles and book chapters. Book titles include \u003cem\u003eAbrahamic Religions: On the Uses and Abuses of History\u003c\/em\u003e; \u003cem\u003eShared Identities: Medieval and Modern Imaginings of Judeo-Islam\u003c\/em\u003e; and \u003cem\u003eFrom Seminary to University: An Institutional History of the Study of Religion in Canada\u003c\/em\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRussell T. McCutcheon\u003c\/strong\u003e is University Research Professor and long-time Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama. He writes widely on the history of the field and the practical implications of classification systems. He is the author of such books as \u003cem\u003eManufacturing Religion\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eStudying Religion: An Introduction\u003c\/em\u003e, and\u003cem\u003e On Making a Shift in the Study of Religion and Other Essays\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50452548354322,"sku":"9780190064983","price":44.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_63e3032d-f2c2-4b70-91ce-ce2900c2f7a6.jpg?v=1729814892","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/what-is-religion-debating-the-academic-study-of-religion-9780190064983","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}