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One of the most influential theorists of religion, Jonathan Z. Smith is best known for his analyses of religious studies as a discipline and for his advocacy and refinement of comparison as the basis for the history of religions. Relating Religion gathers seventeen essays-four of them never before published-that together provide the first broad overview of Smith's thinking since his seminal 1982 book, Imagining Religion.Smith first explains how he was drawn to the study of religion, outlines his own theoretical commitments, and draws the connections between his thinking and his concerns for general education. He then engages several figures and traditions that serve to define his interests within the larger setting of the discipline. The essays that follow consider the role of taxonomy and classification in the study of religion, the construction of difference, and the procedures of generalization and redescription that Smith takes to be key to the comparative enterprise. The final essays deploy features of Smith's most recent work, especially the notion of translation.Heady, original, and provocative, Relating Religion is certain to be hailed as a landmark in the academic study and critical theory of religion.

Religious studies --- Religion --- Study and teaching. --- Etude et enseignement --- Religion. --- Religions. --- Religion and sociology. --- Religion and culture. --- Smith, Jonathan Z. --- 291 --- Godsdienstwetenschap: vergelijkend --- Study and teaching --- Religions --- Religion and sociology --- Religion and culture --- Sociologie religieuse. --- Religion et culture. --- Étude et enseignement --- Etude et enseignement. --- Étude et enseignement --- Étude et enseignement.

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In this broad-ranging inquiry into ritual and its relation to place, Jonathan Z. Smith prepares the way for a new approach to the comparative study of religion. Smith stresses the importance of place--in particular, constructed ritual environments--to a proper understanding of the ways in which empty actions become rituals. He structures his argument around the territories of the Tjilpa aborigines in Australia and two sites in Jerusalem--the temple envisioned by Ezekiel and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The first of these locales--the focus of one of the more important contemporary theories of religious ritual--allows Smith to raise questions concerning the enterprise of comparison. His close examination of Eliade's influential interpretation of the Tjilpa tradition leads to a powerful critique of the approach to religion, myth, and ritual that begins with cosmology and the category of The Sacred. In substance and in method, To Take Place represents a significant advance toward a theory of ritual. It is of great value not only to historians of religion and students of ritual, but to all, whether social scientists or humanists, who are concerned with the nature of place. This book is extraordinarily stimulating in prompting one to think about the ways in which space, or place, is perceived, marked, and utilized religiously. . . . A provocative example of the application of humanistic geography to our understanding of what takes place in religion.--Dale Goldsmith, Interpretation

Ritual. --- Shrines --- Tjilpa (Australian people) --- Location. --- Temple of Ezekiel (Jerusalem) --- Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Jerusalem) --- 291.3 --- Ritual --- -Tjilpa (Australian people) --- Achilpa (Australian people) --- Aranda (Australian people) --- Ethnology --- Sacred space --- Pilgrims and pilgrimages --- Cult --- Cultus --- Liturgies --- Public worship --- Symbolism --- Worship --- Rites and ceremonies --- Ritualism --- Godsdienstwetenschap: cultus; liturgie --- Location --- Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Jerusalem) --- Khram Voskresenii︠a︡ Gospodni︠a︡ v Ierusalime --- Heilige Grabeskirche zu Jerusalem --- Iglesia del Gloriosísimo Sepulcro del Señor (Jerusalem) --- Iglesia de la Resurrección del Señor (Jerusalem) --- Santo Sepolcro (Church : Jerusalem) --- Church of the Resurrection (Jerusalem) --- Jerusalem. --- Basilica del Santo Sepolcro (Jerusalem) --- Basilique du Saint-Sépulcre (Jerusalem) --- P. Taphos (Jerusalem) --- Panagios Taphos (Jerusalem) --- Hieron Koinon tou P. Taphou (Jerusalem) --- Hieron Koinon tou Panagiou Taphou (Jerusalem) --- Hieros Koinos tou Panagiou Taphou (Jerusalem) --- Naos tēs Anastaseōs (Jerusalem) --- Grabeskirche in Jerusalem --- 291.3 Godsdienstwetenschap: cultus; liturgie --- Tjilpa (Australian people). --- Temple of Ezekiel (Jerusalem). --- Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Jerusalem). --- Sanctuaires --- Aranda (peuple d'Australie) --- Localisation. --- Jérusalem --- Église du Saint-Sépulcre. --- Jérusalem --- Église du Saint-Sépulcre.

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In this major theoretical and methodological statement on the history of religions, Jonathan Z. Smith shows how convert apologetic agendas can dictate the course of comparative religious studies. As his example, Smith reviews four centuries of scholarship comparing early Christianities with religions of late Antiquity (especially the so-called mystery cults) and shows how this scholarship has been based upon an underlying Protestant-Catholic polemic. The result is a devastating critique of traditional New Testament scholarship, a redescription of early Christianities as religious traditions amenable to comparison, and a milestone in Smith's controversial approach to comparative religious studies. "An important book, and certainly one of the most significant in the career of Jonathan Z. Smith, whom one may venture to call the greatest pathologist in the history of religions. As in many precedent cases, Smith follows a standard procedure: he carefully selects his victim, and then dissects with artistic finesse and unequaled acumen. The operation is always necessary, and a deconstructor of Smith's caliber is hard to find."--Ioan P. Coulianu, 'Journal of Religion '

Christianity and other religions --- Judaism --- Christianity --- Apologetics --- Christianisme --- Judaïsme --- Apologétique --- Roman --- Study and teaching --- History --- Relations --- Origin --- History. --- Religion romaine --- Etude et enseignement --- Histoire --- Origines --- Rome --- Religion --- Roman religion. --- Jews --- Religions --- Semites --- Church history --- Syncretism (Christianity) --- Judaism&delete& --- Study and teaching&delete& --- Roman religion --- Origin&delete& --- Relations&delete& --- Christianity&delete& --- Rim --- Roman Empire --- Roman Republic (510-30 B.C.) --- Romi (Empire) --- Byzantine Empire --- Rome (Italy)

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