Overview

Explores how Christians created, used, and adapted religionized categories of non-Christians through the centuries Christian Imaginations of the Religious Other traces the genealogy of religionization, the various ways Christians throughout history have created a sense of religious normativity while simultaneously producing various categories of non-Christian ""otherness."" Covering a broad expanse of processes, practices, and socio-political contexts, this innovative volume analyzes the complex intersections of patterns of religionization in different eras while investigating their entanglements with racialization, sexualization, and ethnicization. With a readable and accessible style, Marianne Moyaert offers a nuanced and well-balanced critical analysis of how and why Christianity’s otherswere named, categorized, essentialized, and governed by those exemplifying Christian normativity in Western European society. The author takes a longue durée approach — a long-term perspective on history that extends past human memory and the archaeological record — that integrates different case studies and a variety of ecclesial, theological, and literary documents. Throughout the text, Moyaert demonstrates how religionization shaped the ways Christians classified people, organized Christian societies, interacted with different Christian and non-Christian groups, and more. Surveys the relationship between shifts in Christian normativity and the way non-Christians are imagined Helps readers connect the lasting effects of patterns of religionization with their everyday experiences Discusses the role of Christian expansion in the differential and unequal treatment of Christianity’s others Examines legal regulations and disciplinary practices that were established to define the boundaries between Christians and non-Christians Incorporates a wide range of scholarly resources, cutting-edge research, and the most recent insights and issues in the field Includes textboxes with helpful summaries, illustrations, and commentary in each chapter Christian Imaginations of the Religious Other: A History of Religionization is an excellent textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses ininterreligious studies, comparative theology, theological approaches to religious diversity, Christian-Jewish-Muslim relations, race and religion, and theorizing religion. ""Professor Moyaert is one of the world’s best scholars of comparative theology. In this magisterial new work, she helps scholars of religion to better learn how religious images, whether drawn with pictures or words, are crucial to how we understand ourselves and each other."" - Amir Hussain, President, American Academy of Religion ""Breathtaking in scope and detail, Moyaert offers an original history of the ways Christians have projected distorted images of their religious ‘others,’ with devastating material consequences.  Her illuminating story of the past is a searchlight for our present."" - Jeannine Hill Fletcher, Professor of Theology, Fordham University ""Christian Imaginations is a superb study of the role that Western political programs play in the historical construction of identity boundaries. Analytically erudite and socially committed, Moyaert’s book powerfully interrogates what counts as religion making this text a must-read for anyone interested in interreligious studies."" - Santiago Slabodsky, Florence and Robert Kaufman Professor in Jewish Studies, Hofstra University ""Raising the historical formation of religious identities to the level of contemporary treatments of gender and racialization, Christian Imaginations of the Religious Other is essential reading for students of religion."" - Michelle Voss, Professor of Theology and Past Principal, Emmanuel College of Victoria University in the University of Toronto ""Crafting a Western European mosaic of religionization's turbulent history, Moyaert unveils how religious identities are constructed, hierarchies function, and their relevance for engaging diverse societies today worldwide."" - Hans Gustafson, Adjunct Professor of Theology, University of St. Thomas

Full Product Details

Author:   Marianne Moyaert (KU Leuven, Belgium)
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Imprint:   Wiley-Blackwell
Dimensions:   Width: 21.30cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 27.20cm
Weight:   0.816kg
ISBN:  

9781119545507

ISBN 10:   1119545501
Pages:   368
Publication Date:   22 February 2024
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

List of Text Boxes xiv Introduction 1 1 On the Notion of Religionization 2 2 Mechanisms of Religionization 4 Naming/Renaming 4 Categorization and Classification 5 Essentialization 5 Governance 6 3 The Particular Contribution of This Book 6 4 The Risk of Systematization and How I Seek to Avoid It 7 5 The Use of the Text Boxes 9 6 A Word of Gratitude 10 Notes 11 References 11 Part 1 Religionization in Early Christianity: Christians, Heretics, Jews, and Pagans 13 1 The Creation of Key Religionized Categories in Early Christianity 15 1 Religio and Its Counterpart Superstitio 16 Religio in Antique Times 17 Antiquity and Ethnicity of Religio 17 Pax Romana, Pax Deorum 18 Superstitio and Religio 19 2 Christians as Targets of Religionization 21 Christian Apologists and Ethnoreligious Reasoning 23 Crafting a Sense of Christian Ethnicity 23 Crafting Christian Religio as the Most Ancient 26 3 Christians against the Nations: The Distinction between Religio Vera and Falsa 27 Religio as True Worship of the True God 27 4 Crafting the Jew as Un- Christian 30 Jews, Christ- following Jews, and Christians from Gentiles 31 Adversus Iudaeos 32Anti- Jewish Typologies 33 The Supersessionist Logic 35 The Deicide Charge 36 5 Making the Figure of the Heretic 38 The Notion of Heresy 39 Adversus Haereses 40 6 Conclusion 43 Note 43 References 43 2 The Coercive Turn: Institutionalizing Religionized Categories 46 1 On Heresiology: Epiphanius’ Panarion 48 The Microscopical ‘Ethnographic’ Work of Epiphanius 48 Epiphanius’ Universal Account of History 50 2 When Heresiology Intersects with Imperial Law 51 3 The Codex Theodosianus and the Criminalization of Heresy 52 The Codex Theodosianus: De Haereticis 54 Augustine and the Persecution of Heretics 56 4 The Constantinian Turn and the Destruction of Paganism? 56 The Pagan as a Hermeneutical Figure 57 The Codex Theodosianus: De Paganis 59 5 Anti- Jewish Rhetoric and the Establishment of Jewish Tradition as Religio Licita 61 Anti- Jewish Rhetorics: Chrysostom as a Case in Point 62 Augustine’s Doctrine of Jewish Witness: A Different Sound 64 The Codex Theodosianus and the Jews 66 6 Islam Enters the Scene 67 Early Christian Interpretations of Islam 67 Jews and Ishmaelites and Their Place in Christian Imagination 70 Christian Saracen Law 71 7 Conclusion 72 Notes 73 References 73 Part 2 Body Politics in the Aftermath of the Gregorian Reform 77 An Ongoing Spiritual Drama 78 References 79 3 Unification, Purification, and Dehumanization 81 1 The Time of the Crusades and Dehumanizing Saracens 82 The Emergence of Crusading Ideology 82 The Saracen as Pagan 84 Defiled, Monstrous Black Bodies 86 The Danger of Blurring Religious Boundaries 87 The Conflation of Jew and Muslim 89 2 The Deteriorating Fate of the Jews 91 Flashback: The Jews and the Legacy of Antiquity 92 The Jews under the Frankish Merovingians and the Carolingians 92 The Jew: From Unwilling Witness to Enemy, Child Murderer, and Usurer 93 Crusading Ideology and the Jew as Christianity’s Internal Enemy 94 Jews and Usury 94 Blood Libels 95 Blackness, Disfiguration, and Bodily Afflictions 96 3 The Return of the Problem of Heresy 98 Flashback on Heresiology 98 The Disappearance and Return of the Problem of Heresy 98 The Cathars and Waldensians 99 Polemical Depictions of Heresy 100 Heretics as Foxes 100 Heretics as Morally and Sexually Perverse Creatures in the Service of Satan 102 The War on Heresy 104 Preaching 104 Crusading 104 The Inquisition 105 4 The Fourth Lateran Council 106 5 Conclusion 109 Notes 109 References 109 4 The Spanish Catholic Monarchy and Religio- racialization 113 1 The Reconquista and the Re- Christianization of the Iberian Peninsula 114 Reclaiming Space: Converting and Cleansing Mosques 116 Law Making 117 On the Jews (De los judíos) 118 On the Moors (De los moros) 119 2 The Long Road towards Blood Purity Laws 120 Crusading Ideology and the Ideal of Christian Visigothic Descent 120 Increasing Anti- Judaism 122 The Conversionist Programme of the Mendicant Orders 122 Conspiracy Theories: Treason, Ritual Murder, and Poisoning 123 Economic Motives 123 Political Instability 124 3 Forced Mass Conversions 125 Questions about Authenticity 125 Conversos Destabilize Boundaries 126 4 Law Making: Limpieza de Sangre 128 5 The Catholic Monarchs and the Purgation of the Spanish Monarchy 130 6 The Religio- racial Project of the Spanish Catholic Monarchy: An Exceptional Case? 133 7 Columbus, New Worlds, and the Question of Religion 134 First Encounters 135 No Religion 136 8 Conclusion: Blurring Boundaries between Racialization and Religionization 139 Notes 141 References 142 Part 3 The Long Reformation 145 5 The Turn Inwards 149 1 Mediation, Fear of Death, Excess, and Corruption 151 The Church and the Mediation of Salvation 151 Death, Purgatory, and Intercession 153 Corruption, Abuse, and the Practice of Indulgences 153 Catholic Piety under Critique 154 2 The Modern Devotion 155 Geert Grote: The Fountain of Modern Devotion 156 The Brethren of the Common Life and the Reinterpretation of Religio 157 3 Christian Humanism 159 In Praise of Folly 159 Scripture as the Cornerstone of Christian Life 161 Erasmus on Judaism 162 4 Martin Luther 164 A Reformed and Purified Christian Norm 165 5 Erasmus and Luther: Profound Disagreements 166 Reforming Christian Faith and Projecting False Religion onto the Enemies of God 168 6 The Colonial Project and the Question of True Religion 171 Context 171 Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda 172 Bartolomé de las Casas 173 José de Acosta 174 7 Protestantism and the Rejection of the Principle of Mediation 175 8 Conclusion 177 Notes 178 References 178 6 The Fragmentation of Religion and the Re- creation of Society 181 1 Polemics and the Dehumanization of Religious Others 182 Sexual Slander 183 Corrupted Souls and Diseased Bodies 184 2 Protecting the Socio- political Order: Expulsion, Confiscation, Torture 187 Rituals of Purgation 189 Iconoclasm 189 Humiliating, Killing, and Exhuming Heretical Bodies 190 3 The Legal Establishment of the Fragmentation of Religion 190 Peace Treaties and the Redefinition of the Binary of Orthodoxy/Heresy 191 The Peace of Augsburg 192 4 Religionization as Confessionalization 195 Confessionalization and the Making of Bounded Communities 197 The Propagation of True Christianness 197 Ritual 199 Space 201 Education 202 Censorship 203 Discipline 204 5 The Parting of the Ways and Confessional Identity Markers 204 6 Conclusion 205 Notes 206 References 207 7 Reconfiguring True Religion in Terms of Toleration 211 1 Sebastian Castellio: Beyond Coercion 213 Context 214 Preface Dedicated to Count William of Hesse 215 Dedication to Duke Christoph of Württemberg 218 2 John Locke on Toleration 220 Toleration as a Characteristic of Being a True Christian 221 True and False Religion 222 The Magistrate 223 What Is a Church? 224 The Scope of Tolerance: Jews, Muslims, and Pagans 226 Extending Toleration to the Pagans 227 The Limits of Toleration 227 Crafting Judaism, Islam, and Paganism as ‘Religions’: Legal and Political Consequences in Europe and Beyond 228 3 Voltaire and the Problem of Fanaticism 229 Context 230 The Case of Jean Calas 230 The Fanatic as a Rhetorical Figure 231 Refuting Theological Religion 233 Christianity 234 Judaism 235 Islam 237 Deism/Theism 238 Deism, Orientalism, and the Construction of the Religion of India 240 Comparing Religions in Voltaire’s Work: Decentring and Recentring Christianness 242 4 Conclusion 243 Notes 244 References 245 Part 4 The World Religions Paradigm and the Turn to Dialogue 249 1 What Is the World Religions Paradigm? 249 2 Old Patterns of Religionization Function as Building Blocks 250 Interiorization 251 Confessionalization 251 Religio- secularization 252 3 Gathering Data in a Context of Colonization 253 4 The World Religions Paradigm: Another Emancipatory Myth? 255 Notes 256 References 256 8 Religio- racialized Taxonomies Based on Comparative Philology 257 1 The Fixation on Creating ‘Scientific’ Taxonomies of Race 259 Biblical Taxonomies 259 Ethnographic Explorations 260 Comparative Philology 261 2 Romantic Musings about Language as the Gateway to the Spirit of People 262 Comparative Philology, Grammar, and Race 263 3 The Discovery of the Indo- European Language Family 265 Oriental Jones and the Indo- European Hypothesis 265 The Indo- European Myth as Colonial Ideology 266 4 Friedrich Schlegel’s Comparative Philology and German Romanticism 267 About the Language and Wisdom of the Indians 267 Inflection and Agglutination 267 5 Ernest Renan and the Invention of the Semite 270 Semitic and Aryan People 270 Semitic Monotheism and a Religious People 273 Comparing Religions 274 On Judaism 274 On Christianity 275 On Islam 277 6 Friedrich Max Müller: ‘He Who Knows One Religion, Knows None’ 279 Religion as One and Plural 280 7 The Task of Classification 282 The Religions of the Book and the Rest 284 8 Conclusion 286 Note 287 References 287 9 The Dialogical Turn beyond Religionization? 291 1 The World Parliament of Religions in Chicago 292 World Fairs 292 The Columbian World Fair and National Pride 293 The Tripartite Structure of the World Fair 294 The Parliament of Religions as Performance of the World Religions Paradigm 296 Religion Is One and Many 297 Interreligious Brotherhood and Religio- secularization 298 The Religions of the World and the Rest: Religio- racialization Exhibited 300 Talking Back 302 Interreligious Brotherhood as a Depoliticized Discourse 303 2 The Second Vatican Council as a Watershed 304 Opening the Windows 304 Larger Context 305 Dialogue as a Key Aspect of Christian Self- understanding 305 Nostra Aetate 307 The Institutionalization of Dialogue 312 The Ritualization of Dialogue 313 Changes in the Good Friday Liturgy 313 Interfaith Blessings 315 John Paul II Visits the Synagogue of Rome 315 The Day of Prayer in Assisi 316 The Dialogical Turn and the Renegotiation of the Religio- secular Divide 316 The Dialogical Turn and the Erasure of the Religio- racial Constellation 318 The Dismantling of the Religio- racial Constellation 319 The Masking of the Religio- racial Constellation 320 The Dialogical Turn and the (Non-)Shared Fate of Jews and Muslims in the Christian Imagination 321 3 Dialogue in Post- secular Society 322 The Return of Religion 322 The Two Faces of Religion 323 Interfaith Dialogue and the Performance of Good Religion 325 Education, Citizenship, and the Promotion of Interfaith Competences 326 Islam as Europe’s Other 328 4 Conclusion 329 Notes 331 References 332 Conclusion 337 Index 339

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MARIANNE MOYAERT is Professor of Comparative Theology and the Study of Interreligious Relations at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven, Belgium. She specializes in the comparative theology of religions, interreligious hermeneutics, and research into the religio-racialization. She has authored and edited several books including Fragile Identities: Towards a Theology of Interreligious Hospitality (2011), In Response to the Religious Other: Ricoeur and the Fragility of Interreligious Encounters (2014), and Interreligious Relations and the Negotiation of Ritual Boundaries: Explorations in Interrituality (2019).

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