The Western Epistemic Tradition and the Scientific Study of Religion by Donald Wiebe

The Western Epistemic Tradition and the Scientific Study of Religion by Donald Wiebe

Regular price
Checking stock...
Regular price
Checking stock...
The feel-good place to buy books
  • Free UK delivery over £5
  • 20% off preloved books right now when you join +Plus
  • Buying preloved emits 46% less CO2 than new
  • Give your books a new home - sell them back to us!

The Western Epistemic Tradition and the Scientific Study of Religion by Donald Wiebe

This book provides an account of how a science of religion was able to emerge from the devotional, catechetical, theological, and philosophical forms of 'religious studies' that have generally characterized this field of scholarship. Although elements of the scientific study of religion can be found in the scholarly engagement with religion in the academy today, it is still primarily associated with religious and nonscientific humanistic quests for meaning, and the foundations for a flourishing existence. The idea of a scientific study of religion first emerged some 2500 years ago with the ancient Greeks but this history will show that the conditions for a strictly scientific study of religion didn't emerge until the end of the nineteenth century. The purpose of this new science, like that of the natural and social sciences, is to seek objective knowledge about religious thought and behaviour for its own sake. For that reason, it is argued, the scientific study of religion ought to be established in the curriculum of the modern research university. This book is intended for students who are enrolled in religious studies programs, their teachers, university administrators, and others who are simply curious about the character of the study of religion most appropriate in the context of the modern research university.
Donald Wiebe is Professor of Philosophy of Religion in Trinity College at the University of Toronto, Canada. He is the author of Religion and Truth: Towards and Alternative Paradigm for the Study of Religion (De Gruyter, 1981), The Irony of Theology and the Nature of Religious Thought (McGill-Queen University Press, 1991), Beyond Legitimation: Essays on the Problem of Religious Knowledge (Palgrave Macmillan, 1994), The Politics of Religious Studies: The Continuing Conflict with Theology in the Academy (Palgrave Macmillan, 1999) and The Learned Practice of Religion in the Modern University (Bloombury, 2019).
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9781800502734
ISBN 10 1800502737
Title The Western Epistemic Tradition and the Scientific Study of Religion
Author Donald Wiebe
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Paperback
Publisher Equinox Publishing Ltd
Year published 2023-05-15
Number of pages 226
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.