Critics Not Caretakers: Redescribing the Public Study of Religion

Critics Not Caretakers challenges the traditional study of religion by advocating for a sociorhetorical approach that makes the scholar of religion a critic of cultural and historical practices. The book includes essays outlining an alternative approach, theoretical discussions, and considerations of the socio-political role of critical scholarship in undergraduate classrooms. The new edition preserves the original essays while adding new material to demonstrate how little the field has changed since 2001.

Format: Unspecified
Length: 364 pages
Publication date: 30 November 2023
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Critics Not Caretakers is a collection of essays that challenges the traditional approach to studying religion, advocating for a reimagining of the field as an ordinary aspect of social, historical existence. This perspective positions the scholar of religion as a critic of cultural and historical practices rather than a caretaker of religious tradition or a source of timeless wisdom.

The book begins with several essays that establish the foundation of an alternative, sociorhetorical approach to studying religion. These essays highlight the need to move beyond traditional theological and philosophical frameworks and explore religion in its broader social and cultural context.

Following the introductory essays, the book presents a series of discrete dispatches from the ongoing theory wars. Each dispatch uses the work of renowned scholars such as Karen Armstrong, Walter Burkert, Benson Saler, and Jacob Neusner as a point of entry into wider theoretical issues of importance to the field's future. The author then examines the socio-political role of this brand of critical scholarship, which differs significantly from the type of sympathetic caretaking generally associated with scholars of religion who feel compelled to "go public."

Concluding the work is a consideration of how scholars as teachers can address issues of theory, method, and critical thinking in a variety of undergraduate classrooms, the location where they have always been publicly accountable intellectuals. The new edition of this still widely read and, for some, controversial book preserves the original essays but includes a new opening chapter and new introductory commentaries across all of the chapters to demonstrate how little the field has changed since the volume was first published in 2001. Accordingly, the book continues to provide a viable alternative for those wanting to take a more critical approach to the study of religion.

Weight: 610g
Dimension: 156 x 235 x 26 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032467924
Edition number: 2 ed