Deep history, secular theory : historical and scientific studies of religion / by Luther H. Martin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Martin, Luther H., 1937- author.

Series:

Religion and reason ; 54.

Religion and reason, 0080-0848 ; Volume 54

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Religion.

Religions.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (376 pages).

Place of Publication:

Boston : De Gruyter, [2014]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Over the course of his career, Luther H. Martin has primarily produced articles rather than monographs. This approach to publication has given him the opportunity to experiment with different methodological approaches to an academic study of religion, with updates to and different interpretations of his field of historical specialization, namely Hellenistic religions, the subject of his only monograph (1987). The contents of this collected volume represent Martin's shift from comparative studies, to socio-political studies, to scientific studies of religion, and especially to the cognitive science of religion. He currently considers the latter to be the most viable approach for a scientific study of religion within the academic context of a modern research university. The twenty-five contributions collected in this volume are selected from over one hundred essays, articles, and book chapters published over a long and industrious career and are representative of Martin's work over the past two decades.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Table of Contents

Introduction: Auto-methodological Reflections

1. The Academic Study of Religion: A Theological or Theoretical Undertaking?

2. The Academic Study of Religions during the Cold War: A Western Perspective

3. Secular Theory and the Academic Study of Religion

4. Of Religious Syncretism, Comparative Religion and Spiritual Quests

5. To Use "Syncretism," or Not to Use "Syncretism": That is the Question

6. Comparison

7. Comparativism and Sociobiological Theory

8. Akin to the Gods or Simply One to Another? Comparison with Respect to Religions in Antiquity

9. Secrecy in Hellenistic Religious Communities

10. The Anti-Individualistic Ideology of Hellenistic Culture

11. Rationalism and Relativity in History of Religions Research

12. Evolution, Cognition, and History

13. Does Religion Really Evolve? (And What Is It Anyway?)

14. Religion and Cognition

15. The Promise of Cognitive Science for the Study of Early Christianity

16. Globalization, Syncretism, and Religion in Western Antiquity: Some Neurocognitive Considerations

17. What Do Rituals Do (and How Do They Do It)? Cognition and the Study of Ritual

18. The Deep History of Religious Ritual

19. Performativity, Narrative, and Cognition: "Demythologizing" the Roman Cult of Mithras

20. Cognitive Science, Ritual, and the Hellenistic Mystery Religions

21. Why Christianity Was Accepted by Romans but Not by Rome

22. Aspects of Religious Experience among the Hellenistic Mystery Religions

23. The Uses (and Abuse) of the Cognitive Sciences for the Study of Religion

24. The Future of the Past: The History of Religions and Cognitive Historiography

Author Index

Subject Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781306935494

1306935490

9781614518167

1614518165

9781614515005

161451500X

OCLC:

882769111