The Invention of Religions; Daniel Dubuisson

Daniel Dubuisson [+–]

CNRS, Paris

Daniel Dubuisson is Research Director emeritus at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS, Paris). He studied and worked with Georges Dumézil until his death in 1986. He has published La Légende royale dans l’Inde ancienne, Râma et le Râmâyana (Economica, Paris, 1986); Mythologies du XXe siècle, Dumézil, Eliade, Lévi-Strauss, (Septentrion, Lille, 1993; translated into Italian, 1995; Romanian, 2003; and English: 20th Century Mythologies, Equinox Publishing, 2006); Anthropologie poétique, Esquisses pour une anthropologie du texte (Peeters, Louvain, 1996); L’Occident et la religion Mythes, science et idéologie (Complexe, Bruxelles, 1998; translated into English: The Western Construction of Religion: Myths, Knowledge, and Ideology, Johns Hopkins, 2003); Dictionnaire des grands thèmes de l’histoire des religions De Pythagore à Lévi-Strauss (Complexe, Bruxelles, 2004); Les Sagesses de l’homme Bouddhisme, paganisme, spiritualité chrétienne (Septentrion, Lille, 2004; translated into Italian, Dedalo, 2007; and English: Wisdoms of Humanity Buddhism, Paganism and Christianity, Brill, 2011); Impostures et pseudo-science L’œuvre de Mircea Eliade (Septentrion, Lille, 2005); Religion and Magic in Western Culture (Brill, 2016).

Translated by Martha Cunningham [+–]

Martha Cunningham, a Canadian-born resident of Germany, has been a translator, editor and teacher of English, French and German for several decades. She specializes in religion (history and philosophy of) and cultural anthropology. The Invention of Religions is her third Dubuisson book translation.

Co-winner of the 2020 AAR Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion: Analytical-Descriptive Studies

The first part of the volume considers anew the origins and Christian history of the notion of religion. This starting point then allows us to identify dead ends and contradictions within the traditional History of Religions approach. The second part is dedicated to the synthetic presentation of the concepts, methods, and controversies, which distinguish this current. Following this are two related contributions devoted to two major case studies: “Colonialism and Cultural Imperialism” and “The Invention of Hinduism and Shintoism”. Finally, in the third and last part of the book, this trend itself is critically examined. The author identifies some of the paradoxes, gaps, and aporias that this approach has already gathered during its short existence.

Introduction

Introduction [+–] 1-4

Daniel Dubuisson

CNRS, Paris

For less than thirty years, a scientific revolution has taken place in the religious studies departments of several North American and British universities—and the results are considerable, obliging us to envisage new ways of conceiving of this academic field. While the History of Religions tended to rest in the shade and guardianship of past authorities, this critical current has re-examined the discipline’s a priori positions, its favourite arguments, its long prehistory within Euro/Christian culture, but also its numerous ethnocentric prejudices. The first part of the volume considers anew the origins and Christian history of the notion of religion. This starting point then allows us to identify dead ends and contradictions within the traditional History of Religions approach. The second part is dedicated to the synthetic presentation of the concepts, methods, and controversies, which distinguish this current. Following this are two related contributions devoted to two major case studies: “Colonialism and Cultural Imperialism” and “The Invention of Hinduism and Shintoism”. Finally, in the third and last part of the book, is critically examined this trend itself, identifying some of the paradoxes, gaps, and aporias that this approach has already gathered during its short existence.

I. The History of Religions: A Western Science

1. Christian Culture and the History of Religions [+–] 7-22

Daniel Dubuisson

CNRS, Paris

Links, Numerous and Diffuse The Invention of “Religio“ The Intellectual Hegemony of Christianity Power, Church and Religion

2. Two Major Paradigms [+–] 23-28

Daniel Dubuisson

CNRS, Paris

Idealism versus Materialism Religious versus Profane

3. A Nineteenth-Century Science [+–] 29-43

Daniel Dubuisson

CNRS, Paris

The Discovery of the Indo-Europeans Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer The Founding Fathers The Classification of Religions Rupture or Merely Evolution?

II. Autopsy of a Critical Paradigm

4. Religious Studies in the United States [+–] 47-73

Daniel Dubuisson

CNRS, Paris

Notable Statistics The American Academy of Religion and the North American Association for the Study of Religion The Influence of French Theory

5. The Targets [+–] 74-100

Daniel Dubuisson

CNRS, Paris

The Phenomenology of Religion The Sacred according to Rudolf Otto The Great Eliadean Themes

6. Major Criticisms [+–] 101-113

Daniel Dubuisson

CNRS, Paris

The End of the Essences Readers and Textbooks

7. Major Contributions [+–] 114-138

Daniel Dubuisson

CNRS, Paris

Colonialism and Cultural Imperialism « The Civilizing Work of the West » « Cognitive Imperialism” and “Epistemic Violence” The Invention of Religions The Invention of Oriental Religions: Hinduism and Shintoism World Religions and Universal Religions

III. What to do with ‘Religions’?

8. What Future for Critical Studies? [+–] 141-150

Daniel Dubuisson

CNRS, Paris

One Question and a Few Options Comparativism

Conclusion

9 Conclusion [+–] 151-153

Daniel Dubuisson

CNRS, Paris

End Matter

Notes [+–] 154-181

Daniel Dubuisson

CNRS, Paris

For nearly thirty years, a scientific revolution has taken place in the religious studies departments of several North American and British universities—and the results are considerable, obliging us to envisage new ways of conceiving of this academic field. While the History of Religions tended to rest in the shade and guardianship of past authorities, this critical current has re-examined the discipline’s a priori positions, its favourite arguments, its long prehistory within Euro/Christian culture, but also its numerous ethnocentric prejudices. The first part of the volume considers anew the origins and Christian history of the notion of religion. This starting point then allows us to identify dead ends and contradictions within the traditional History of Religions approach. The second part is dedicated to the synthetic presentation of the concepts, methods, and controversies, which distinguish this current. Following this are two related contributions devoted to two major case studies: “Colonialism and Cultural Imperialism” and “The Invention of Hinduism and Shintoism”. Finally, in the third and last part of the book, this trend itself is critically examined. The author identifies some of the paradoxes, gaps, and aporias that this approach has already gathered during its short existence.

Bibliography [+–] 182-194

Daniel Dubuisson

CNRS, Paris

Person and Author Index [+–] 195-197

Daniel Dubuisson

CNRS, Paris

Subject Index [+–] 198-200

Daniel Dubuisson

CNRS, Paris

Reviews

Dubuisson provides a smart overview of this important critique of the central concept in our field, and this slim book would be useful for the classroom.
Reading Religion

From the AAR awards jury:
Daniel Dubuisson’s The Invention of Religions is an exhaustive look at the evolution over time of the non-confessional study of religion, known both as the history of religions and religious studies. Dubuisson charts the major issues and assumptions … that have animated these fields. … What he offers is a snapshot in time of how these disciplines and their purported subject—“religion”—shift in line with a number of other social forces.

For interested readers who are unfamiliar with current theoretical debates in the academic study of religions, this book will provide an eye-opening introduction to theory, much of which Dubuisson has contributed to developing over the course of his career. For serious students and scholars of religion who may never have taken or taught courses on theory and method in the study of religions, this is the type of book they should want to read. The chapters will prove to be short enough to assign in courses, without intimidating students, yet dense enough to be expanded with commentaries from more traditional lectures that provide ample room for intellectual engagement through meaningful classroom discussions.
Journal of the American Academy of Religion

.

Books and Journals in Humanities, Social Science and Performing Arts

The Invention of Religions

Daniel Dubuisson [+–]

CNRS, Paris

Translated by Martha Cunningham [+–]

Table of Contents

Reviews

Related Journal

Related Interest

Search Equinox

Subjects