Overview

Full Product Details

9780195091069

Table of Contents

Reviews

A fascinating display of comparative analysis, Religion of the Gods combines mastery of scholarly sources, vigorous use of phenomenological method, and an interpretive theory that boldly challenges current projectionist approaches to ritual and religion. --William Paden, author of Religious Worlds: The Comparative Study of Religion<br> Religion of the Gods combines wide learning, serious reflection, and, by means of careful wending through generations of scholarly confusion, clear articulation of the central problem. Patton's insight, that ritual action is itself a divine attribute, at once cuts to the heart and explains what seemed inexplicable according to conventional wisdom. Not only do her conclusions mark a significant advance over prior scholarship; her disciplined use of the comparative method in conjunction with rigorous analysis of Greek ancient religion advances the field to a new level of understanding of the ancient religious experience. --Margaret C. Miller, Professor of Classical Archaeology, School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry, The University of Sydney<br> Kimberley Patton's book gives new life to theological studies and to the study of antiquity. Her work on ancient concepts of worship, richly textured in factual details, illuminates the efforts made by humanity to make contact with the idea of divinity. When the divine is pictured as actually recognizing these efforts, the contact becomes a reality. That is the essence of a gesture that the author defines as divine reflexivity. In this divine gesture, we see divinity pointing to itself as the absolute standard of reference for worship. By pointing to itself, divinity shows humans how to make contactwith the divine. This book is a treasure-house of insight for those who want to encounter head-on one of the deepest and most universal paradoxes in the history of world religions. --Gregory Nagy, Harvard University, author of Pindar's Homer: The Lyric Possession of an Epic Past<br>

<br> A fascinating display of comparative analysis, Religion of the Gods combines mastery of scholarly sources, vigorous use of phenomenological method, and an interpretive theory that boldly challenges current projectionist approaches to ritual and religion. --William Paden, author of Religious Worlds: The Comparative Study of Religion<p><br> Religion of the Gods combines wide learning, serious reflection, and, by means of careful wending through generations of scholarly confusion, clear articulation of the central problem. Patton's insight, that ritual action is itself a divine attribute, at once cuts to the heart and explains what seemed inexplicable according to conventional wisdom. Not only do her conclusions mark a significant advance over prior scholarship; her disciplined use of the comparative method in conjunction with rigorous analysis of Greek ancient religion advances the field to a new level of understanding of the ancient religious experience. --Margaret C. Miller, Profe

Author Information

Kimberley C. Patton is Professor of the Comparative and Historical Study of Religion at Harvard Divinity School. Her special fields are ancient Greek religion, archaeology, and iconography. She is the author of ""The Sea Can Wash Away All Evils"": Modern Marine Pollution and the Ancient Cathartic Ocean (forthcoming, 2006) and co-editor of and contributing author to A Magic Still Dwells: Comparative Religion in a Postmodern Age and Holy Tears: Weeping in the Religious Imagination.

Tab Content 6

Countries Available