Fieldnotes in the Critical Study of Religion - (Critiquing Religion: Discourse, Culture, Power) by Richard Newton & Craig Martin & Vaia Touna

About the Book

"This book introduces students to the so-called classics of the field from the 19th and 20th centuries, whilst challenging readers to apply a critical lens. Instead of representing scholars and their works as virtually timeless, each contributor provides sufficient background on the classic work in question so that readers not only understand its novelty and place in its own time but are able to arrive at a critical understanding of whether its approach to studying religion continues to be useful to them today. Scholars discussed include Muller, Durkheim, Freud and Eliade. Field Notes in Religious Studies: A Critical Reading of Classics therefore offers a novel way into writing both a history and ethnography of the discipline, helping readers to see how it has changed and inviting them to consider what-if anything-endures and thereby unites these diverse authors into a common field"--

Book Synopsis

This book introduces students to the so-called classics of the field from the 19th and 20th centuries, whilst challenging readers to apply a critical lens.

Instead of representing scholars and their works as virtually timeless, each contributor provides sufficient background on the classic work in question so that readers not only understand its novelty and place in its own time, but are able to arrive at a critical understanding of whether its approach to studying religion continues to be useful to them today. Scholars discussed include Muller, Durkheim, Freud and Eliade.

Fieldnotes in the Critical Study of Religion: Revisiting Classical Theorists therefore offers a novel way into writing both a history and ethnography of the discipline, helping readers to see how it has changed and inviting them to consider what-if anything-endures and thereby unites these diverse authors into a common field.

Review Quotes

"This book represents the field's historical richness and curiosities like no other. 13 modern scholars of religion are in conversation with a partner from the field's past; the engagements are sometimes contrary, often celebratory, and always insightful. The volume is a model of how to read the founders and ancestors of the critical study of religion." --Willi Braun, Professor Emeritus of Religion, University of Alberta, Canada

"This is a much-needed book. Those of us who teach theory and method courses face an annual dilemma: should we teach the classics in the field, and, if so, how best to do so? This book steers us ably through the shoals by offering approaches to these earlier works that both acknowledge their contribution but also dismantle their problematic, often colonialist, assumptions and approaches." --Adele Reinhartz, Professor of Religious Studies, University of Ottawa, Canada

"We stand not on the shoulders of giants, but of people who asked many of the same questions that we do today. Fieldnotes in the Critical Study of Religion is a constructive reassessment of our scholarly forebears that shows us that even if their answers no longer satisfy, the issues they addressed are still topical." --David G. Robertson, Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies, The Open University, UK

"Fieldnotes is a book that can serve as a jumping off point or conversation starter for advanced undergraduate or graduate classrooms, as it is at its best when it provokes open-ended questions about the perennial issues in religious studies." --Religious Studies Review

About the Author

Richard Newton is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama, USA.

Vaia Touna is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama, USA.