Thirty classic and contemporary readings - from such writers as Kant, Hume, Schleiermacher, and Otto, to Ninian Smart, Mircea Eliade, Karen McCarthy-Brown, and Wendy Doniger.

Thirty classic and contemporary readings - from such writers as Kant, Hume, Schleiermacher, and Otto, to Ninian Smart, Mircea Eliade, Karen McCarthy-Brown, and Wendy Doniger.

Russell McCutcheon's The Insider-Outsider Problem, written in 1999, tends to be regarded as the definitive work on the topic, and relatively little has been written since then. It has become apparent, however, that the distinction between "insiders" and "outsiders" is unduly simplistic, and that there exists a range of stakeholders in religious and spiritual movements with different positionings and testimonies requiring evaluation. This volume furthers the discussion of insider/outsider issues by commissioning a variety of new essays from an international group of scholars, discussing a number of points that stem from the different positionings of religious adherents as well as scholars. The questioning of these boundaries has many implications for numerous methodological issues in the study of religion, such as the emic/etic distinction, the distinction between religion and spirituality, the notions of "believing without belonging", the claim to be "spiritual but not religious" and the existence of multiple, complicated, contesting religious identities. A particular focus of the volume will be in providing critiques of these methodological issues within the most recent academic approaches to religion - particularly models of lived and vernacular religion. Unlike McCutcheon's volume, which is a collection of previously published essays, this proposed volume consists entirely of new material, drawn from an international range of scholars, spanning a variety of disciplines and approaches to the study, including ethnography, anthropology, theology and education. The book is accessible and readable, while remaining scholarly.

Widely used as a primer, a text and a provocation to critical thinking, 'Studying Religion' aims to develop students' skills. The book clearly explains the methods and theories employed in the study of religion. Essays are offered on a range of topics: from the history and functions of religion to public discourse on religion and the classification of religions. The works of key scholars - from Karl Marx, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Rudolf Otto to Mircea Eliade, James G. Frazer, and Sigmund Freud - are analysed and explored. 'Studying Religion' represents a shift away from the traditional focus of describing the exotic or curious religious 'Other' to an examination of how religious behaviours and institutions are studied. The book will be invaluable to students of religious studies.

Russell McCutcheon's The Insider-Outsider Problem, written in 1999, tends to be regarded as the definitive work on the topic, and relatively little has been written since then. It has become apparent, however, that the distinction between "insiders" and "outsiders" is unduly simplistic, and that there exists a range of stakeholders in religious and spiritual movements with different positionings and testimonies requiring evaluation. This volume furthers the discussion of insider/outsider issues by commissioning a variety of new essays from an international group of scholars, discussing a number of points that stem from the different positionings of religious adherents as well as scholars. The questioning of these boundaries has many implications for numerous methodological issues in the study of religion, such as the emic/etic distinction, the distinction between religion and spirituality, the notions of "believing without belonging", the claim to be "spiritual but not religious" and the existence of multiple, complicated, contesting religious identities. A particular focus of the volume will be in providing critiques of these methodological issues within the most recent academic approaches to religion - particularly models of lived and vernacular religion. Unlike McCutcheon's volume, which is a collection of previously published essays, this proposed volume consists entirely of new material, drawn from an international range of scholars, spanning a variety of disciplines and approaches to the study, including ethnography, anthropology, theology and education. The book is accessible and readable, while remaining scholarly.

This updated textbook unravels the complex issues related to methodology and theory in the study of religion. It equips students with the knowledge needed for the academic study of religion, explaining the history of the methodology, including ideas of key theorists, and discusses key issues in the field, such as gender, phenomenology, and the insider/outsider discourse. Updated throughout, additional material includes: -New chapter on colonialism and post-colonialism -New chapter on insider/outsider discourse -Coverage of 'cyber-religion' and the internet as a research tool in religious studies Study and classroom features in each chapter include: -Chapter outlines -Case studies -Boxed key concepts -Discussion questions -Chapter bibliographies The text is illustrated throughout with 35 images, and extra resources can be found online, including additional coverage of 'levels of religion'.