Religion in Relation Method, Application and Moral Location [Paperback]

In this collection of 11 essays the author outlines a programme of integrative, contextualized studies of religion. A number of different themes are included in these modern studies of religion.Part 1 From analysis to history: Mircea Eliade - some theoretical problems; reductionism and structural anthropology; falsifying deep structures; Hubert, Mauss and the comparative social history of religions. Part 2 From enlightenment to exchange: gradual enlightenment, sudden enlightenment and empiricism; Levi-Strauss and the Buddhists; on generalized exchange and the domestication of the Sangha. Part 3 The moral location of theories: Heidegger is no hero; love and anarchy in Romania - a critical review of Mircea Eliade's autobiography volume 1 1907-37; Henri Hubert, racial science and political myth; at home with Rene Girard - eucharistic sacrifice, the French school and Joseph De Maistre.