Historicizing ”Tradition” in the Study of Religion

This collection of essays analyzes ‛tradition’ as a category in the historical and comparative study of religion. The book questions the common assumption that tradition is simply the ＂passing down＂ or imitation of prior practices and discourses. It begins from the premise that many traditions are, at least in part, social fabrications, often deliberately serving particular ideological ends. Individual chapters examine a wide variety of historical periods and religions (Congolese, Buddhist, Christian, Confucian, Cree, Esoteric, Hawaiian, Hindu, Islamic, Jewish, New Religious Movement, and Shinto). Different sections of the book consider tradition’s relation to three sets of issues: legitimation and authority; agency and identity; modernity and the West.

Steven Engler is an Instructor in the Humanities Department at Mount Royal College, Calgary, Canada and a Visiting Professor (2005-2006) in the Programa de Estudos Pós-Graduados em Ciências da Religião, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, Brazil.

Gregory Price Grieve is an assistant professor in the Religious Studies Department of the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, U.S.A., where he is a specialist in South Asian and Himalayan religions.