TY - BOOK ID - 31197919 TI - Aesthetics of Religion AU - Grieser, Alexandra K AU - Johnston, Jay PY - 2017 VL - 58 SN - 3110458756 9783110458756 9783110461015 9783110460452 9783110461022 3110461021 3110461013 3110460459 PB - Berlin/Boston De Gruyter DB - UniCat KW - 291.1 KW - 291.1 Godsdienstfilosofie KW - Godsdienstfilosofie KW - Religion and civil society. KW - Civil society and religion KW - Civil society KW - Aesthetics. KW - Perception. KW - Senses. KW - Theory of Religion. UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:31197919 AB - This volume is the first English language presentation of the innovative approaches developed in the aesthetics of religion. The chapters present diverse material and detailed analysis on descriptive, methodological and theoretical concepts that together explore the potential of an aesthetic approach for investigating religion as a sensory and mediated practice. In dialogue with, yet different from, other major movements in the field (material culture, anthropology of the senses, for instance), it is the specific intent of this approach to create a framework for understanding the interplay between sensory, cognitive and socio-cultural aspects of world-construction. The volume demonstrates that aesthetics, as a theory of sensory knowledge, offers an elaborate repertoire of concepts that can help to understand religious traditions. These approaches take into account contemporary developments in scientific theories of perception, neuro-aesthetics and cultural studies, highlighting the socio-cultural and political context informing how humans perceive themselves and the world around them. Developing since the 1990s, the aesthetic approach has responded to debates in the study of religion, in particular striving to overcome biased categories that confined religion either to texts and abstract beliefs, or to an indisputable sui generis mode of experience. This volume documents what has been achieved to date, its significance for the study of religion and for interdisciplinary scholarship. ER -