Witchcraft's Trace: Comparative Religious Studies in the Postmodern Era

Author: [USA] Patton
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2005-07-01
Features: Where is the comparative religious study of the postmodern era heading? This collection of essays attempts to bridge the seemingly irreconcilable divide between postmodern scholars who oppose and support comparative research. It brings together a group of religious historians who not only take the postmodern critique seriously and explain its impact on their work but also propose new comparative approaches. -- The editors of this volume, Professor Jin BaiLi Patton and Benjamin Ray Fraser, incisively point out: magic is the confusion between subjective and objective connections. When this confusion does not arise, associationism brings science; when misused, it produces magic. With just a small leap, it can be linked to the comparative study of the humanities. Because, as academic practice shows, comparative research has always been a matter of collecting similarities, and the issue of difference has been completely forgotten. -- Professor Jonathan Smith, Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at the University of Chicago, finds Jonathan Smith's insights profound and inspiring; he motivates us to adopt a new, more self-critical comparative approach. Thus, I began to feel that a serious examination of legitimate historical comparison would open up broad possibilities for multi-layered comparisons. -- Lawrence #8226; Sullivan, Director of the Harvard University Center for the Study of World Religions, this volume originated from the special symposium "Comparative Religious Study: Contemporary Challenges and Responses" held by the American Academy of Religion in Philadelphia in 1995 and in New Orleans in 1996. The religious historians in attendance attempted to bridge the seemingly irreconcilable divide between postmodern scholars who oppose and support comparative research. They not only took the postmodern critique seriously and explained its impact on their work but also proposed new comparative approaches. This collection of essays provides an important window into the research achievements of American religious studies over the past two or three decades.