The allure of decadent thinking : religious studies and the challenge of postmodernism

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910965766203321
• Autore: Olson Carl
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: New York, : Oxford University Press, 2013
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource
• Disciplina: 200.72
• Soggetti: Religion - Methodology; Religion - Study and teaching; Postmodernism; Religion; Philosophy & Religion; Religion - General
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Introduction -- Eroticism, violence, and sacrifice -- Excess, time, and the pure gift -- Genealogy, power, and discourse -- Hermeneutics, comparison, and difference -- The problematic nature of representational thinking -- Responding to the postmodern challenge.
• Sommario/riassunto: The use of postmodern thought to approach the study of religion threatens to call into question the values and representational mode of thinking typical of the field. Religious studies with a radical scepticism grounded in an embrace of decadence by postmodern thinkers has the potential to undermine, subvert, and distort the study of religion, making it difficult to understand the subject if such an approach is uncritically adopted by scholars seeking new ways to study it.