All Religion Is Inter-Religion: Engaging the Work of Steven M. Wasserstrom

Description

All Religion Is Inter-Religion analyses the ways inter-religious relations have contributed both historically and philosophically to the constructions of the category of "religion" as a distinct subject of study. Regarded as contemporary classics, Steven M. Wasserstrom's Religion after Religion (1999) and Between Muslim and Jew (1995) provided a theoretical reorientation for the study of religion away from hierophanies and ultimacy, and toward lived history and deep pluralism. This book distills and systematizes this reorientation into nine theses on the study of religion. Drawing on these theses--and Wasserstrom's opus more generally--a distinguished group of his colleagues and former students demonstrate that religions can, and must, be understood through encounters in real time and space, through the complex relations they create and maintain between people, and between people and their pasts. The book also features an afterword by Wasserstrom himself, which poses nine riddles to students of religion based on his personal experiences working on religion at the turn of the twenty-first century.

Kambiz GhaneaBassiri is Professor of Religion and Humanities at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, USA. Paul Robertson is Lecturer in Classics, Humanities, and Italian Studies at the University of New Hampshire, USA.

Whether you are a sceptic or a believer, or both, you will find new trajectories of religion charted in this capacious book. A major, unparalleled achievement. * Bruce B. Lawrence, Professor of Islamic Studies Emeritus, Duke University, USA * This remarkable collection serves as a fitting and inspiring tribute to the lifelong work of Steven M. Wasserstrom as scholar and a teacher. * R. Michael Feener, Sultan of Oman Fellow, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, University of Oxford, UK * Steven M. Wasserstrom's masterful interventions in numerous subfields within the academic study of religion are well known. The essays collected in this volume show clearly just what an important thinker he is and, just as importantly, the influence he has had on students and colleagues. * Aaron W. Hughes, Philip S. Bernstein Professor of Jewish Studies, University of Rochester, USA * An intergenerational seminar that demonstrates the cogency and relevance of its provocative conceptualization of religious studies as an academic discipline while testifying to the value of the liberal arts college model of undergraduate education. * Arthur McCalla, Professor of Religious Studies and History, Mount Saint Vincent University, Canada * Steven M. Wasserstrom sets the standard for a humane and humanistic study of religion. In his teaching, his scholarship, and his person, he describes a brilliant and perceptive practice of religious studies that is not yet fully realized, but could be. * Kathryn Lofton, Professor of Religious Studies, American Studies, History, and Divinity, Yale University, USA *