RT Review
T1 Comparing ‘Religion’ and ‘Nonreligion’: towards a Critique of Modernity
JF Method & theory in the study of religion
VO 32
IS 4/5
SP 455
OP 463
A1 Horii, Mitsutoshi 1977-
A2 Lincoln, Bruce 1948-
A2 Freiberger, Oliver 1967-
LA English
YR 2020
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1737570041
AB This essay starts with reference to “grapefruits” in Oliver Freiberger’s (2019) Considering Comparison and to “apples” and “oranges” in Bruce Lincoln’s (2018) Apples and Oranges: Explorations In, On and With Comparison. It disagrees with Freiberger when he compares “grapefruits” with some generic categories in Religious Studies including “shrine.” The category of “shrine” resembles more “fruits,” for example, because two shrines could have completely different genealogies, just like apples and oranges, but still belong to the same generic category. Then, the essay compares the categories of “religion” and “tree.” The boundary between “religion” and “nonreligion” is as arbitrary as that of “tree” and “non-tree.” At the same time, “religion” and “nonreligion” share common characteristics just like “tree” and “non-tree” do. Given this, it concludes with the suggestion that, when the “religiousness” of ostensibly “nonreligious” modernity is articulated, the category “religion” functions as a useful rhetorical tool to subvert modernity’s claim of universality and factual reality.
K1 Bruce Lincoln
K1 Oliver Freiberger
K1 Categories
K1 Comparison
K1 Nonreligion
K1 Religion
K1 Shrine
K1 Rezension
DO 10.1163/15700682-12341487