(Pseudo)Science, Religious Beliefs, and Historiography: Assessing the Scientification of Religion's Method and Theory

In the recent past, attempts to revitalize historico-religious studies have challenged the charismatic appeal of some of the most celebrated scholars of the twentieth century. At the same time, the old and ideological frameworks that characterized the field have been critically analyzed and deconstr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Zygon
Subtitles:Review and response: Kocku von Stuckrad's study on the scientification of religion
Main Author: Ambasciano, Leonardo (Author)
Format: Electronic Review
Language:English
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Published: Wiley-Blackwell [2016]
In: Zygon
Review of:The scientification of religion (Berlin : DeGruyter, 2014) (Ambasciano, Leonardo)
Further subjects:B Postmodernism
B Book review
B Historiography
B Poststructuralism
B Religious Studies
B Science
B historical discourse analysis
B Pseudoscience
B history of religions
Online Access: Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:In the recent past, attempts to revitalize historico-religious studies have challenged the charismatic appeal of some of the most celebrated scholars of the twentieth century. At the same time, the old and ideological frameworks that characterized the field have been critically analyzed and deconstructed. The disciplinary status quo, taken for granted for quite a long time, has been shaken to its foundation, paving the way for new approaches. However, the postmodern tenet of problematizing any authority has also become a convenient shortcut to blur the distinction between scientific signal (i.e., knowledge systematically obtained via rational inquiry) and nonepistemic noise (i.e., pseudoscience). Despite this troublesome feature, some scholars have deployed postmodern and poststructuralist tools to study the genealogy, reception, implementation, and diffusion of cultural representations within the aforementioned academic discipline. The present article briefly reviews one of the most recent and remarkable examples of such scholarship, that is, The Scientification of Religion: An Historical Study of Discursive Change, 1800-2000 (von Stuckrad 2014).
ISSN:1467-9744
Reference:Kritik in "The Hybridity of Scientific Knowledge (2016)"
Contains:Enthalten in: Zygon
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1111/zygo.12303