Contemporary Theories of Religion: A Critical Companion

by Michael Stausberg (Editor)

Interest in theories of religion has never been greater. Scholars debate single theoretical approaches in different scholarly journals, while the ‘new atheists’ such as Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett criticize the whole idea of religion. For everyone eager to understand the current state of the field, Contemporary Theories of Religion surveys the neglected landscape in its totality. Michael Stausberg brings together leading scholars of the field to review and discuss seventeen contemporary theories of religion. As well as scholars of religion, it features anthropologists, archaeologists, classicists, evolutionary biologists, philosophers and sociologists. Each chapter provides students with background information on the theoretician, a presentation of the theory’s basic principles, an analysis of basic assumptions, and a review of previous critiques. Concluding with a section entitled 'Back and Forth', Stausberg compares the different theories and points to further avenues of discussion for the future.

Genres: Religion

320 pages, Paperback

First published June 19, 2009

Reviews

[Charlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remarkably for an edited collection essays, this volume has a unified theme, clear purpose, and clean execution. The premise is simple: an introduction and conclusion by the editor frame 16 chapters, each of which deals with a recent (1990-2007) monograph that offers a theory of religion. The chapters offer some background to the monograph's author(s) and scholarly project(s), a summary of the monograph's key points, and some commentary on the monograph's position in and reception by the scholarly field since its publication.

Many of the theories draw on cognitive science and/or evolutionary biology. This is not editorial bias but an accurate reflection of scholarly activity in the time period covered by the book. All of the theories operate from the human side, which does not (usually) mean excluding religion's truth value or the reality of the supernatural, but also does not require the supernatural to exist.

This volume is extremely useful for several goals: familiarizing oneself with the recent topography of theories of religion (many of which are offered by scholars outside religious studies departments), help in constructing a bibliography of essential works, or simply reference.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really fine collection of essays that introduce and offer helpful evaluative discussion of 16+ theories of religion (or at least aspects of religion) published since 1990. There are stronger and weaker essays, but overall the standard is very high, and inspires one to read the theoretical works themselves.