Radical Interpretation in Religion

This landmark interdisciplinary volume presents new methodological options for the study of religion in the twenty-first century. Ten distinguished scholars offer radical interpretations of religious belief and language from a variety of perspectives: anthropology of religion, ritual studies, cognitive psychology, semantics, post-analytic philosophy, history of religions, and philosophy of religion. For the first time, a collection of original essays explores the significance of Donald Davidson’s ‘radical interpretation’, Robert Brandom’s ‘inferentialism’, and Richard Rorty’s pragmatism for issues in the study of religion. Related topics include cultural variations in belief from Madagascar to China, experimental research from cognitive science, and the semantics of myth, metaphor, mana and manna. Radical Interpretation in Religion will be of interest to both general readers and specialists seeking a deeper understanding of new directions in the study of religion.

• Landmark collection of essays by ten of the most interesting writers on the subject today • Unique application of Donald Davidson’s ‘radical interpretation’, Robert Brandom’s ‘inferentialism’ and Richard Rorty’s pragmatism to the study of religious belief • Of interest and importance to general readers as well as specialists

Part I. Pragmatics: 1. Introduction to Part I; 2. Saving belief: on the new materialism in religious studies Terry F. Godlove Jr.; 3. Radical interpretation and pragmatism: Davidson, Rorty, and Brandom on truth Jeffrey Stout; 4. Cultural politics and the question of the existence of God Richard Rorty; 5. Religion and naturalism Wayne L. Proudfoot; Part II. Culture and Cognition: 6. Introduction to Part II; 7. ‘The Chinese believe in spirits’: belief and believing in the study of religion Catherine M. Bell; 8. On interpreting the world religiously E. Thomas Lawson; 9. Are religious beliefs counter-intuitive? Maurice Bloch; Part III. Semantics: 10. Introduction to Part III; 11. You don’t read a myth for information Hans H. Penner; 12. Religion as a mobile army of metaphors: a Davidsonian critique Nancy F. Frankenberry; 13. Manna, Mana everywhere and /_/_/_......Jonathan Z. Smith.