Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Sacred Is the Profane: The Political Nature of Religion

The Sacred Is the Profane: The Political Nature of Religion

Arnal, William
McCutcheon, Russell T.

Paperback

Religion General

ISBN10: 0199757127
ISBN13: 9780199757121
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: Nov 29 2012
Pages: 264
Weight: 0.85
Height: 1.00 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.20
Language: English
The Sacred Is the Profane collects nine essays written over several years by William Arnal and Russell T. McCutcheon that share a convergent perspective: not simply that both the category and concept religion is a construct, something that we cannot assume to be natural or universal, but also that the ability to think and act religiously is, quite specifically, a modern, political category in its origins and effects, the mere by-product of the modern state.

These collected essays, substantially rewritten for this volume, advance current scholarly debates on secularism-debates which, the authors argue, insufficiently theorize the sacred/secular, church/state, and private/public binaries by presupposing religion (often under the guise of such terms as religiosity, faith, or spirituality) to historically precede the nation-state. The essays return, again and again, to the question of what religion--word and concept--accomplishes, now, for those who employ it, whether at the popular, political, or scholarly level. The focus here for two writers from seemingly different fields is on the efficacy, costs, and the tactical work carried out by dividing the world between religious and political, church and state, sacred and profane.

Also in

Religion General

View All