Deep History, Secular Theory

Luther Martin

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781614518167
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: History of Religion

Over the course of his career, Luther H. Martin has primarily produced articles rather than monographs. This approach to publication has given him the opportunity to experiment with different methodological approaches to an academic study of religion, with updates to and different interpretations of his field of historical specialization, namely Hellenistic religions, the subject of his only monograph (1987). The contents of this collected volume represent Martin's shift from comparative studies, to socio-political studies, to scientific studies of religion, and especially to the cognitive science of religion. He currently considers the latter to be the most viable approach for a scientific study of religion within the academic context of a modern research university. The twenty-five contributions collected in this volume are selected from over one hundred essays, articles, and book chapters published over a long and industrious career and are representative of Martin's work over the past two decades.

Table of contents

• Deep History, Secular Theory
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Table of Contents
• Introduction: Auto-methodological Reflections
• 1. The Academic Study of Religion: A Theologicalor Theoretical Undertaking?
• 2. The Academic Study of Religions during the Cold War: A Western Perspective
• 3. Secular Theory and the Academic Study of Religion
• 4. Of Religious Syncretism, Comparative Religion and Spiritual Quests
• 5. To Use “Syncretism,” or Not to Use “Syncretism”: That is the Question
• 6. Comparison
• 7. Comparativism and Sociobiological Theory
• 8. Akin to the Gods or Simply One to Another? Comparison with Respect to Religions in Antiquity
• 9. Secrecy in Hellenistic Religious Communities
• 10. The Anti-Individualistic Ideology of Hellenistic Culture
• 11. Rationalism and Relativity in History of Religions Research
• 12. Evolution, Cognition, and History
• 13. Does Religion Really Evolve? (And What Is It Anyway?)
• 14. Religion and Cognition
• 15. The Promise of Cognitive Science for the Study of Early Christianity
• 16. Globalization, Syncretism, and Religion in Western Antiquity: Some Neurocognitive Considerations
• 17. What Do Rituals Do (and How Do They Do It)? Cognition and the Study of Ritual
• 18. The Deep History of Religious Ritual
• 19. Performativity, Narrative, and Cognition: “Demythologizing” the Roman Cult of Mithras
• 20. Cognitive Science, Ritual, and the HellenisticMystery Religions
• 21. Why Christianity Was Accepted by Romans but Not by Rome
• 22. Aspects of Religious Experience among the Hellenistic Mystery Religions
• 23. The Uses (and Abuse) of the Cognitive Sciences for the Study of Religion
• 24. The Future of the Past: The History of Religions and Cognitive Historiography
• Author Index
• Subject Index