1st Edition

Religious Studies A Global View

Edited By Gregory D. Alles Copyright 2008
    368 Pages
    by Routledge

    368 Pages
    by Routledge

    Drawing on recent developments in the comparative study of religion, this book explores the trends of the past sixty years from a global perspective. Each of the ten chapters covers the study of religion in a different region of the world, from Europe and the Americas to Asia and the Far East. Topics covered include:

    • local background to the study of religions
    • formation of religious studies in the region
    • important thinkers and writings
    • institutions
    • interregional diversity and interregional connections
    • emerging issues.

    This book is a major contribution to the field of religious studies and a valuable reference for scholars, researchers and graduate students.

    Introduction  1. Western Europe  2. Eastern Europe  3. North Africa and West Asia  4. Sub-Saharan Africa  5. South and Southeast Asia  6. Continental East Asia  7. Japan  8. Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacfic Islands  9. North America  10. Latin America  Afterword: Toward a Global Vision of Religious Studies

    Biography

    Gregory D. Alles

    'Accessible and essential reading for all students of religion: an important collection on the modern formation of Religious Studies as an academic field' – Steven Sutcliffe, University of Edinburgh, UK

    'Editor, G. Alles, rightly I think, considers the IAHR, the International Association for the History of Religions, with its 42 national and regional associations from all over the world, as a sign of an emergent global community of scholars of religion. This book is a gift to the IAHR and to this community of scholars. It offers a wealth of useful information, thus serving its major purpose: to give scholars around the world more knowledge about what ‘their counterparts elsewhere have been and are doing’ (p. 3). In this, it also serves the purpose of the IAHR.' – Tim Jensen, Secretary General of the IAHR