Historicizing "Tradition" in the Study of Religion

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Historicizing "Tradition" in the Study of Religion is written by Steven Engler and published by Walter de Gruyter. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 3110901404 (ISBN 10) and 9783110901405 (ISBN 13).

This collection of essays analyzes ‛tradition’ as a category in the historical and comparative study of religion. The book questions the common assumption that tradition is simply the “passing down” or imitation of prior practices and discourses. It begins from the premise that many traditions are, at least in part, social fabrications, often deliberately serving particular ideological ends. Individual chapters examine a wide variety of historical periods and religions (Congolese, Buddhist, Christian, Confucian, Cree, Esoteric, Hawaiian, Hindu, Islamic, Jewish, New Religious Movement, and Shinto). Different sections of the book consider tradition's relation to three sets of issues: legitimation and authority; agency and identity; modernity and the West.