Writing Religion
The Case for the Critical Study of Religions

Steven W. Ramey (Edited by), Theodore Louis Trost (Foreword by), Steven Leonard Jacobs (Foreword by), Russell T. McCutcheon (Afterword by)

9780817318727, The University of Alabama Press

Hardback, published 30 July 2015

288 pages
22.8 x 15.4 x 2.7 cm, 0.537 kg

Writing Religion: The Case for the Critical Study of Religions is a collection of outstanding essays on wide-ranging aspects of religious studies by well-known scholars, delivered as part of the University of Alabama’s annual Aronov Lectures.

In 2002, the University of Alabama’s Department of Religious Studies established the annual Aronov Lecture Series to showcase the works of nationally recognized scholars of religion capable of reflecting on issues of wide relevance to scholars from across the humanities and social sciences. Writing Religion: The Case for the Critical Study of Religions is an edited collection of essays that highlights critical contributions from the first ten Aronov lecturers.

Section one of the volume, “Writing Discourses,” features essays by Jonathan Z. Smith, Bruce Lincoln, and Ann Pellegrini that illustrate how critical study enables the analysis of discourses in society and history. Section two, “Riting Social Formations,” includes pieces by Arjun Appad­urai, Judith Plaskow, and Nathan Katz that reference both the power of rites to construct society and the act of riting as a form of disciplining that both prescribes and proscribes. The writings of Tomoko Masu­zawa, Amy-Jill Levine, Aaron W. Hughes, and Martin S. Jaffee appear in section three, “Righting the Discipline.” They emphasize the correction of movements within the academic study of religion.

Steven W. Ramey frames the collection with a thoughtful introduc­tion that explores the genesis, development, and diversity of critical analysis in the study of religion. An afterword by Russell McCutcheon reflects on the critical study of religion at the University of Alabama and rounds out this superb collection.

The mission of the Department of Religious Studies is to “avoid every ten­dency toward confusing the study of religion with the practice of religion.” Instruction about—rather than in—religion is foundational to the depart­ment’s larger goal of producing knowledge of the world and its many practices and systems of beliefs. Infused with this spirit, these fascinating essays, which read like good conversations with learned friends, offer sig­nificant examples of each scholar’s work. Writing Religion will be of value to graduate students, advanced undergraduates, and scholars interested in the study of religion from a critical perspective.