The Scientification of Religion: An Historical Study of Discursive Change, 1800–2000

Kocku von Stuckrad

Published by De Gruyter 2014

The Scientification of Religion

An Historical Study of Discursive Change, 1800–2000

Kocku von Stuckrad

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781614513490

Overview
Contents

About this book

The enigmatic relation between religion and science still presents a challenge to European societies and to ideas about what it means to be ‘modern.’ This book argues that European secularism, rather than pushing back religious truth claims, in fact has been religiously productive itself. The institutional establishment of new disciplines in the nineteenth century, such as religious studies, anthropology, psychology, classical studies, and the study of various religious traditions, led to a professionalization of knowledge about religion that in turn attributed new meanings to religion. This attribution of meaning resulted in the emergence of new religious identities and practices. In a dynamic that is closely linked to this discursive change, the natural sciences adopted religious and metaphysical claims and integrated them in their framework of meaning, resulting in a special form of scientific religiosity that has gained much influence in the twentieth century. Applying methods that come from historical discourse analysis, the book demonstrates that religious semantics have been reconfigured in the secular sciences. Ultimately, the scientification of religion perpetuated religious truth claims under conditions of secularism.

Author information

Kocku von Stuckrad, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.

Supplementary Materials

Contents

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
1. Religion and Science in Discursive Perspective Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part One: Discarded Knowledge and Its New Legitimacy in Secular Discourse
2. From Polemical Disjunction to New Integration: The Science of the Stars Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	25
3. Alchemical Quests in Modern Garb Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	56
4. Darwinism Turned into Religion: Monism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	76
5. Merging Occultism, Philosophy, Science, and the Academic Study of Religion: The Theosophical Society Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	94
Part Two: Academics as Religious Pioneers
6. The Trouble with Europe: Academic Orientalism and New Mystical Religions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
7. In Search of the Great Goddess: How Academic Theories Generated Paganism and Witchcraft Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
8. Normatizing Shamanism: Academic Teachers as Religious Experts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	159
Conclusion: The Scientification of Religion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	178
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	211

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Historians and sociologists of religion and those interested in Western processes of modernization and secularization.
Pages
- Front matter: 14
- Main content: 225
Keywords: religion and science; secularism; historical discourse analysis; Western esotericism

eBook

Published: May 8, 2014
ISBN: 9781614513490

Hardcover

Published: April 28, 2014
ISBN: 9781614516262

Paperback

Published: October 16, 2015
ISBN: 9781614516781