Category Archives: Religion

Religion in Secular Society: Fifty Years On

Posted on September 19, 2021 by Luke Ford

Here are some excerpts from the updated 2016 edition: * Bryan Ronald Wilson came from unusually humble origins. He was born in 1926 in a working-class terrace in Leeds. The house had no running hot water, and the communal toilet, … Continue reading →

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The Late Religious Scholar Jonathan Z. Smith

Posted on July 28, 2021 by Luke Ford

From an interview June 2, 2008: * I despise the telephone. That’s probably why. I don’t like it. I’ll reveal my age, but I don’t like the notion [that] for a nickel…anyone could get a hold of me any time … Continue reading →

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From Seminary to University: An Institutional History of the Study of Religion in Canada

Posted on July 13, 2021 by Luke Ford

Aaron W. Hughes writes in this 2020 book: * The academic study of religion, for all intents and purposes, began in Germany in the nineteenth century. Its goal was, as indeed it still is, to understand the religions of the … Continue reading →

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Gods and Demons, Priests and Scholars: Critical Explorations in the History of Religions

Posted on July 12, 2021 by Luke Ford

Bruce Lincoln writes in this 2012 book: * This is not a religious book. Rather, it is a book about religion. Insofar as it aspires to truth, said truth is strictly provisional and mundane. * Like all proponents of the … Continue reading →

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Theses On Method

Posted on August 14, 2020 by Luke Ford

Professor Bruce Lincoln writes: 1. The conjunction “of” that joins the two nouns in the disciplinary ethnonym “History of Religions” is not neutral filler. Rather, it announces a proprietary claim and a relation of encompassment: History is the method and … Continue reading →

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