Religion as we know it : an origin story / Jack Miles.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Miles, Jack, 1942- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Religion--Study and teaching.

History.

Religion.

Western countries--Religion.

Western countries.

Christianity--Influence.

Christianity.

Religion--Study and teaching--Western countries--History.

Religion and civilization.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xl, 152 pages ; 19 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, N.Y. : W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., [2020]

Summary:

"A short, provocative book on religion from a Pulitzer Prize-winning author. In his new book, acclaimed scholar Jack Miles poses a question: How did our forebears begin to think about religion as a distinct domain, separate from other activities that were once inseparable from it? Starting at the birth of Christianity-a religion inextricably bound to Western thought-Miles reveals how we in the West have come to isolate religion as an object of study, and how drastically our perception has changed over time and across societies. Through the break between the Christian and Jewish communities, the fall of the Roman Empire, the rise of Islam, and the growth of Western empires, Miles reveals how Western religious thought has always been based on comparison of the known with the emergent unknown. Religion as We Know It challenges readers to unmoor themselves from traditional thinking and observe how the events of the still-unfolding past continue to shape how we think of religion today"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Preamble: On starting from where we are

Can religion be defined?

How Christian Europe learned to compare religions

Broadening the foundation, raising the roof

Why religion?

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [141]-145) and index.

ISBN:

9781324002789

1324002786

OCLC:

1108814968