Books in the The Future of the Religious Past series

What do we talk about when we talk about religion? Is it an array of empirical facts about historical human civilizations? Or is religion what is in essence unpredictable-perhaps the very emergence of the new? This book explores the difficulties and double binds that arise when we ask What is religion?

Addressing the relation between religion and things, which has long been conceived in antagonistic terms, the guiding idea of this volume is that religion necessarily requires some kind of incarnation. Exploring the role and place of sacred artifacts, images, bodily fluids, sites and technologies in different locations and religious traditions, this volume re-materializes the study of religion.

Dealing with the nexus of religion and power, this volume radically undermines the idea that the political relevance of religion is a thing of the past.

Dealing with the nexus of religion and power, this volume radically undermines the idea that the political relevance of religion is a thing of the past. It also includes essays that offer broad analyses of the nature of religion and power in their modes of emergence today and specific case studies from anthropology, sociology, and the arts.