Faithful narratives : historians, religion, and the challenge of objectivity / edited by Andrea Sterk and Nina Caputo.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Sterk, Andrea.

Caputo, Nina, 1966-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

History--Religious aspects.

History.

Religion--History.

Religion.

Religion--Historiography.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (289 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York, New York : Cornell University Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Historians of religion face complex interpretive issues when examining religious texts, practices, and experiences. Faithful Narratives presents the work of twelve eminent scholars whose research has exemplified compelling strategies for negotiating the difficulties inherent in this increasingly important area of historical inquiry. The chapters range chronologically from Late Antiquity to modern America and thematically from the spirituality of near eastern monks to women's agency in religion, considering familiar religious communities alongside those on the margins and bringing a range of spiritual and religious practices into historical focus.Focusing on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the essays address matters central to the study of religion in history, in particular texts and traditions of authority, interreligious discourse, and religious practice and experience. Some examine mainstream communities and traditions, others explore individuals who crossed religious or confessional boundaries, and still others study the peripheries of what is considered orthodox religious tradition. Encompassing a wide geographical as well as chronological scope, Faithful Narratives illustrates the persistence of central themes and common analytical challenges for historians working in all periods.Contributors: Peter Brown, Princeton University; Nina Caputo, University of Florida; Carlos Eire, Yale University; Susanna Elm, University of California, Berkeley; Anthony Grafton, Princeton University; Susannah Heschel, Dartmouth College; Phyllis Mack, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; Kenneth Mills, University of Toronto; David Nirenberg, University of Chicago; Mark A. Noll, University of Notre Dame; David B. Ruderman, University of Pennsylvania; Lamin Sanneh, Yale University; Andrea Sterk, University of Florida; John Van Engen, University of Notre Dame.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Challenge of Religion in History / Sterk, Andrea / Caputo, Nina

Part One. Late Antique and Medieval Religious Debates and Their Modern Implications

1. Pagan Challenge, Christian Response: Emperor Julian and Gregory of Nazianzus as Paradigms of Interreligious Discourse / Elm, Susanna

2. Between Syria and Egypt: Alms, Work, and the "Holy Poor" / Brown, Peter

3. Medieval Monks on Labor and Leisure / Van Engen, John

4. Sibling Rivalries, Scriptural Communities: What Medieval History Can and Cannot Teach Us about Relations between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam / Nirenberg, David

Part Two. Early Modern Perspectives on Spirituality, Culture, and Religious Boundaries

5. The People and the Book: Print and the Transformation of Jewish Culture in Early Modern Europe / Ruderman, David B.

6. The Jewish Book in Christian Europe: Material Texts and Religious Encounters / Grafton, Anthony

7. Mission and Narrative in the Early Modern Spanish World: Diego de Ocaña's Desert in Passing / Mills, Kenneth

8. Incombustible Weber: How the Protestant Reformation Really Disenchanted the World / Eire, Carlos

Part Three. From the Premodern to the Modern World: Sacred Texts, Individual Agency, and Religious Identity

9. Religion and Gender in Enlightenment England: The Problem of Agency / Mack, Phyllis

10. Constructions of Jewish Identity through Reflections on Islam / Heschel, Susannah

11. Bible, Translation, and Culture: From the KJV to the Christian Resurgence in Africa / Sanneh, Lamin

12. Reflections on the Bible and American Political Life / Noll, Mark A.

Notes

Contributors

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780801471049

0801471044

9781322522180

1322522189

9780801471056

0801471052

OCLC:

869282543