Overview
While the academic study of religion in the former Soviet Union had to contend with an official ideology of scientific atheism, such study in the West - particularly in the United States - was being (re)invented in the 1960s, during the very midst of the Cold War. The twenty-one contributions to this volume - by scholars from North America, Europe, Russia, and eastern Europe - examine the ideological and theological influences on the academic study of religion during the period from 1945 to 1989 and thus raise the question of whether an academic study of religion (Religionswissenschaft) might be defined in ways that avoid the extremes of both ideology and theology.
Full Product Details
Author: Iva Dolezalova ,
Luther H. Martin ,
Dalibor Papousek
Publisher: Peter Lang Publishing Inc
Imprint: Peter Lang Publishing Inc
Volume: 27
Weight: 0.620kg
ISBN: 9780820451510
ISBN 10: 0820451517
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 13 July 2001
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Available To Order
We have confirmation that this item is in stock with the supplier. It will be ordered in for you and dispatched immediately.
Reviews
'The Academic Study of Religion during the Cold War: East and West' makes a most welcome contribution to the history of critical inquiries in religion. Contributors from behind the former Iron Curtain reveal significant details concerning their national approaches, some of which have been little known outside of their local contexts, and others of which are presented in important new perspectives. Equally valuable are the lively but rigorous essays concerning the academic study of religion in 'the West'. This anthology evenhandedly fills gaps in both sides of the intellectual history of the Cold War, and it should therefore be studied profitably by those interested in global contexts for the academic study of religion. (Steven M. Wasserstrom, The Moe and Izetta Tonkon Professor of Judaic Studies and the Humanities, Reed College, Portland Oregon) In both the Eastern Bloc and in the western (capitalistic) world, the scholarly study of religions was, and partly still is, situated between an official ideology of civic religion or atheism on the one hand, and theology or a kind of religious study of religion on the other. This antagonistic view of the principal prerequisite of our field can be seen as one of the continuities persisting in our time. Perhaps for the academic study of religions, the most significant effect of the Cold War and its rhetorical cliches should be a new reflection on its own fundamentals apart from ideology, religious aspirations, and theological demands. The present volume is, therefore, an essential contribution not only to the discipline's history of the last fifty years but also to its 'self-understanding' as an autonomous study. (Kurt Rudolph, Philipps-Universitaet, Marburg, Germany)
Author Information
The Editors: Iva Dolezalova is Assistant Professor of Religion at Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic. She deals with theory of myth and ritual and the history of religions, especially early Christianity. In addition to articles in professional journals, she has edited the volume Religions in Contact (1996) with B. Horyna and D. Papousek. Luther H. Martin is Professor of Religion and former Chair of the department at the University of Vermont. He is the author of Hellenistic Religions (1987) and of numerous articles on that subject. In addition, he writes on theory and method in the study of religion and has edited several volumes in this area. Dalibor Papousek is Assistant Professor of Religion and Head of the Institute for the Study of Religions at Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic. He focuses on the comparative study of ancient religions, especially during the Hellenistic period. In addition to articles in professional journals, he edited the volumes The Bible in Cultural Contact (1994) with H. Pavlincova and Religions in Contact (1996) with I. Dolezalova and B. Horyna.
