Varieties of Religious Invention: Founders and Their Functions in History - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199359725 ISBN 13: 9780199359721

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2015

Synopsis

At the origins of the major religious traditions one typically finds a seminal figure. Names such as Jesus, Muhammad, Confucius, and Moses are well known, yet their status as "founders" has not gone uncontested. Does Paul deserve the credit for founding Christianity? Is Laozi the father of Daoism, or should that title belong to Zhuangzi? What is at stake, if anything, in debates about the historical Buddha? What assumptions are implicit in the claim that Hinduism is a religion without a founder? The essays in Varieties of Religious Invention do not attempt to settle these perennial arguments. Rather, they consider the subtexts of such debates as an exercise in comparative religion: Who engages in them? To whom do they matter, and when? To what extent are origins thought to define the essence of a religion? When is development in a religious tradition perceived as deviation from its roots? In what ways do arguments about founders serve as proxies for broader cultural, theological, political, or ideological questions? What do they reveal about the ways in which the past is remembered and authority negotiated?

Surveying the landscape shaped by these questions within each tradition, the authors provide insights and novel perspectives about the individual religions, and about the study of world religions more generally.

About this title

About the Author:

Patrick Gray is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. He has published five books on the Bible, the history of biblical interpretation, and Hellenistic philosophy, including Opening Paul's Letters: A Reader's Guide to Genre and Interpretation.

Review:

"By examining the 'founders' of various religious traditions, this book helps us to better understand both those individual traditions and the connections between them. It is an especially useful resource for those who are interested in comparative theology." --Amir Hussain, Professor of Theological Studies, Loyola Marymount University

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0199359725
• ISBN 13: 9780199359721
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224
• Editor: Gray Patrick