Excellent4.8 out of 5On Trustpilot
  1. Theology Books/
  2. World Religions

Bookmark this item

Invention Of World Religions

Or, How European Universalism Was Preserved in the Language of Pluralism

  • Paperback
  • 384 pages
  • Publisher: The University Of Chicago Press
  • 18.3 x 21.5 x 2 cm

£25.64

Free UK Delivery

Available - Usually dispatched within 3 days

Buying for a school or church? Upgrade to a FREE Eden Advance Account

Bookmark this item

For those curious about world religions' origins.

"Invention Of World Religions" clarifies complex ideas.

You’ll gain insight into faith and cultural understanding.

Discover how the concept of "world religions" has shaped our understanding of faith and culture in this insightful exploration by Tomoko Masuzawa.

The idea of "world religions" expresses a vague commitment to multiculture alism. Not merely a descriptive concept, "world religions" is also a particular ethos, a pluralist ideology, a logic of classification, and a form of knowledge that has shaped the study of religion and infiltrated ordinary language. In this ambitious study, Tomoko Masuzawa examines the emergence of "world religions" in modern European thought through a close reading of a variety of sources as early as the seventeenth century. Devoting particular attention to the relation between the comparative study of language and the nascent science of religion, she demonstrates how new classifications of language and race caused Buddhism and Islam to gain special significance as these religions came to be seen in opposing terms - Aryan on one hand and Semitic on the other.Masuzawa also explores the complex relation of "world religions" to Protestant theology, from the hierarchical ordering of religions typical of the Christian supremacists of the nineteenth century, to the aspirations of early twentieth-century theologian Ernst Troeltsch, who embraced the pluralist logic of "world religions" and by so doing sought to reclaim the universalist destiny of European modernity.

  • Title

    Invention Of World Religions

  • Author

    Tomoko Masuzawa

  • Book Format

    Paperback

  • Publisher

    The University Of Chicago Press

  • Published

    May 2005

  • Weight

    518g

  • Page Count

    384

  • Dimensions

    18.3 x 21.5 x 2 cm

  • ISBN

    9780226509891

  • ISBN-10

    0226509893

  • Eden Code

    1225621

Real Easter Eggs