Understanding Religion - by Paul Michael Hedges (Paperback)

About the Book

"Understanding Religion is a cutting-edge and innovative book that introduces students to interdisciplinary theoretical tools for understanding contemporary religiously diverse societies. Using critical approaches to religion and the politics of scholarship, the book includes coverage of decolonial, feminist, hermeneutical, poststructuralist, phenomenological, and other approaches. It examines many real-life case studies, a method much used in business schools and elsewhere, but rarely found in the study of religion. This approach helps readers understand the practical application of theories"--

Book Synopsis

A cutting-edge introduction to contemporary religious studies theory, connecting theory to data.

This innovative coursebook introduces students to interdisciplinary theoretical tools for understanding contemporary religiously diverse societies--both Western and non-Western. Using a case-study model, the text considers:

• A wide and diverse array of contemporary issues, questions, and critical approaches to the study of religion relevant to students and scholars
• A variety of theoretical approaches, including decolonial, feminist, hermeneutical, poststructuralist, and phenomenological analyses
• Current debates on whether the term "religion" is meaningful
• Many key issues about the study of religion, including the insider-outsider debate, material religion, and lived religion
• Plural and religiously diverse societies, including the theological ideas of traditions and the political and social questions that arise for those living alongside adherents of other religions

Understanding Religion is designed to provide a strong foundation for instructors to explore the ideas presented in each chapter in multiple ways, engage students in meaningful activities in the classroom, and integrate additional material into their lectures. Students will gain the tools to apply specific methods from a variety of disciplines to analyze the social, political, spiritual, and cultural aspects of religions. Its unique pedagogical design means it can be used from undergraduate- to postgraduate-level courses.

From the Back Cover

"One could not hope for a more insightful, comprehensive, and educationally instructive guide to the study of our religiously diverse societies. This indispensable book is appropriate not only for the novice in the study of religion, but also for the established scholar. A landmark achievement!"--Julius Lipner, Professor Emeritus, University of Cambridge and Fellow of the British Academy

"Paul Hedges presents to us a very serious contribution to the study of religion, both substantially and theoretically. Notably, it covers an impressive range of empirical material. More important than that, however, is that the work tells us how we may approach the study of religion from a more universal and, therefore, non-Eurocentric, non-androcentric, and non-classist perspective."--Syed Farid Alatas, author of Applying Ibn Khaldūn: The Recovery of a Lost Tradition in Sociology

"A much-needed contribution to the study and practice of religious and interreligious studies. Each chapter provides students with a host of insightful and thought-provoking observations that open the floor to engaging discussions inside class and out. The book's historic observations provide new pathways for future corrections, for example, showing how to challenge the field's exclusion of non-Christian and non-Western traditions."--Nelly van Doorn-Harder, author of Women Shaping Islam

"Paul Hedges offers a cutting-edge survey of every major method of studying religions. If you want a comprehensive overview of theoretical questions in religious studies that also includes political, postcolonial, global, and interreligious perspectives, it is hard to imagine a stronger book."--Kevin Schilbrack, author of Philosophy and the Study of Religions

"Wide-ranging in ambition and scope, this superb textbook explores a range of critical perspectives on religion and serves as an indispensable guide to contemporary theoretical debates. The inclusion of a variety of voices beyond the white, western male as well as short text boxes explaining key terms and examples makes this book both cutting-edge and student-friendly. Highly recommended for students and instructors alike."--Richard King, author of Orientalism and Religion and coauthor of Selling Spirituality

"Combining cutting-edge perspectives on critical religion with decolonial and intersectional perspectives, Hedges's book is a masterly pedagogical tool. His scope is global with meticulous attention to the local, both in addressing theory and in the case studies. This learner-friendly resource is accessible, challenging, and formative. A refreshing departure in the field of studying religion, this book is almost insanely good, a must-read for students and scholars."--Anderson Jeremiah, author of Community and Worldview among Paraiyars of South India: 'Lived' Religion

"To appreciate the place of religion in our increasingly diverse world, one needs to be open-minded, critical, and well informed: that is the invitation of Understanding Religion. From its interdisciplinary approach to its thought-provoking case studies, this book will engage readers to challenge their own biases about religion. The material is comprehensive, accessible, and global, recognizing especially the emerging scholarship around the world, which makes the book indispensable for anyone who wishes to understand the dynamic facets of contemporary religious and nonreligious life."--Jayeel Cornelio, author of Being Catholic in the Contemporary Philippines: Young People Reinterpreting Religion

"An accessible and engaging student-centered overview of theories and methods applied in the global and multidisciplinary study of religiously diverse societies. Paul Hedges's comprehensive and timely volume employs a critical approach, with particular emphases on justice, decolonisation, materiality, and intertextuality. Thought-provoking case studies, which are helpful and appealing to student and educator co-learners, are included in all chapters to illuminate the book's main themes."--Anna Halafoff, author of The Multifaith Movement: Global Risks and Cosmopolitan Solutions

"This book offers exciting ways of studying religion, breaking open the boxes into which it has sometimes been forced. It refuses to separate religion from politics, colonialism, secularism, or other ways of engaging the world. It also refuses to separate religions from each other, recognizing that real life is too messy for strict adherence to dogmas and fundamentalisms. But Understanding Religion does not trash those boxes, it uses them--and much else--to enable readers to study better."--Graham Harvey, author of Food, Sex and Strangers: Understanding Religion as Everyday Life

Review Quotes

"Explores themes one might expect in a textbook as well as ones welcomely added, emphasizing a 'deeply political' approach that continually draws the reader's attention back to whose voice gets expressed in scholarship, and whose does not."-- "Religious Studies Review"

"Understanding Religion is a lucid, creatively structured, and nearly jargon-free introduction to theories and methods for studying religious communities and traditions in diverse societies, bold in scope, and presented in a manner that is undergraduate-friendly, yet sophisticated enough for use in a graduate-level course."-- "Journal of Interreligious Studies"

About the Author

Paul Hedges is Associate Professor in the Studies in Interreligious Relations in Plural Societies Programme, RSIS, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He has authored or edited more than a dozen books and over seventy academic papers. His most recent book is Religious Hatred: Prejudice, Islamophobia, and Antisemitism in Global Context.