The Awkwardness of American Exceptionalism
American exceptionalism poses particular methodological challenges for the historian of religion. This essay acknowledges the importance of privileging historical specificity, as modeled by Dana Logan’s study of America’s formative forms of governance in her recent book, Awkward Rituals, but then ar...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2024
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| In: |
Method & theory in the study of religion
Year: 2024, Volume: 36, Issue: 1, Pages: 79-86 |
| Further subjects: | B
John Winthrop
B Sovereignty B American Exceptionalism B Ritual Theory B Universality B Marriage |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | American exceptionalism poses particular methodological challenges for the historian of religion. This essay acknowledges the importance of privileging historical specificity, as modeled by Dana Logan’s study of America’s formative forms of governance in her recent book, Awkward Rituals, but then argues history should be put in service to theory. It does so by arguing that Logan’s own ritual theory undermines rather than reinforces American exceptionalism – an argument reinforced with comparative examples from other eras of Christian history. |
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| ISSN: | 1570-0682 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Method & theory in the study of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15700682-bja10114 |