Varieties of Religious Invention

Founders and Their Functions in History

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Reference, Comparative Religion, History
Cover of the book Varieties of Religious Invention by , Oxford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: ISBN: 9780199359745
Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication: September 1, 2015
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author:
ISBN: 9780199359745
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: September 1, 2015
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

At the origins of the major religious traditions one typically finds a seminal figure. Names such as Jesus, Muhammad, Confucius, and Moses are well known, yet their status as "founders" has not gone uncontested. Does Paul deserve the credit for founding Christianity? Is Laozi the father of Daoism, or should that title belong to Zhuangzi? What is at stake, if anything, in debates about the historical Buddha? What assumptions are implicit in the claim that Hinduism is a religion without a founder? The essays in Varieties of Religious Invention do not attempt to settle these perennial arguments. Rather, they consider the subtexts of such debates as an exercise in comparative religion: Who engages in them? To whom do they matter, and when? To what extent are origins thought to define the essence of a religion? When is development in a religious tradition perceived as deviation from its roots? In what ways do arguments about founders serve as proxies for broader cultural, theological, political, or ideological questions? What do they reveal about the ways in which the past is remembered and authority negotiated? Surveying the landscape shaped by these questions within each tradition, the authors provide insights and novel perspectives about the individual religions, and about the study of world religions more generally.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

At the origins of the major religious traditions one typically finds a seminal figure. Names such as Jesus, Muhammad, Confucius, and Moses are well known, yet their status as "founders" has not gone uncontested. Does Paul deserve the credit for founding Christianity? Is Laozi the father of Daoism, or should that title belong to Zhuangzi? What is at stake, if anything, in debates about the historical Buddha? What assumptions are implicit in the claim that Hinduism is a religion without a founder? The essays in Varieties of Religious Invention do not attempt to settle these perennial arguments. Rather, they consider the subtexts of such debates as an exercise in comparative religion: Who engages in them? To whom do they matter, and when? To what extent are origins thought to define the essence of a religion? When is development in a religious tradition perceived as deviation from its roots? In what ways do arguments about founders serve as proxies for broader cultural, theological, political, or ideological questions? What do they reveal about the ways in which the past is remembered and authority negotiated? Surveying the landscape shaped by these questions within each tradition, the authors provide insights and novel perspectives about the individual religions, and about the study of world religions more generally.

More books from Oxford University Press

Cover of the book Five Children and It - With Audio Level 2 Oxford Bookworms Library by
Cover of the book The Paradise of God: Renewing Religion in an Ecological Age by
Cover of the book The Obama Doctrine by
Cover of the book Prison Break by
Cover of the book A Genius for Deception:How Cunning Helped the British Win Two World Wars by
Cover of the book A Century of Sonnets by
Cover of the book Opera in the Jazz Age by
Cover of the book An Introduction to Contemporary International Law by
Cover of the book The GI Bill by
Cover of the book The Globotics Upheaval by
Cover of the book Oxford American Handbook of Hospice and Palliative Medicine by
Cover of the book Jane Eyre - With Audio Level 6 Oxford Bookworms Library by
Cover of the book Nonviolent Revolutions by
Cover of the book The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction by
Cover of the book Postcolonial Ecologies by
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy