Discourse on Civility and Barbarity

Discourse on Civility and Barbarity PDF Author: Timothy Fitzgerald
Publisher: OUP USA
ISBN: 0199754608
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
This book analyses the development of different meanings of the term 'religion' in different contexts and in relation to other categories with shifting and unstable nuances such as the state, politics, economics, and the secular. It traces a major transformation of the category as a function of Euro-American colonialism and capitalism from its traditional meaning of Christian Truth to the modern generic and pluralised category of religions and world religions. Throughout the period under consideration discourses on religion have overlapped significantly with discourses on 'our' civility as opposed to 'their' barbarity, underpinning the superior rationality of the literate male elite of western societies.

Discourse on Civility and Barbarity

Discourse on Civility and Barbarity PDF Author: Timothy Fitzgerald
Publisher: OUP USA
ISBN: 0199754608
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 368

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book analyses the development of different meanings of the term 'religion' in different contexts and in relation to other categories with shifting and unstable nuances such as the state, politics, economics, and the secular. It traces a major transformation of the category as a function of Euro-American colonialism and capitalism from its traditional meaning of Christian Truth to the modern generic and pluralised category of religions and world religions. Throughout the period under consideration discourses on religion have overlapped significantly with discourses on 'our' civility as opposed to 'their' barbarity, underpinning the superior rationality of the literate male elite of western societies.

Religion and Politics in International Relations

Religion and Politics in International Relations PDF Author: Timothy Fitzgerald
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1441121595
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
Scholars in International Relations concerned with religion and its relations to world politics are rhetorically constructing a powerful modern myth. A component of this myth is that religion is inherently violent and irrational unless controlled by the secular state, which is inherently rational and only reluctantly violent. Timothy Fitzgerald discusses how, in this modern myth, "religion" appears as a force of nature which either assists or threatens the sacred secular order of things, and how religion is portrayed as a kind of universal essence which takes many forms, its recent most dangerous manifestation being "Islamic terrorism". This book illustrates that the essential distinction between irrational religion and rational secular politics appears as an unquestioned preconception on the basis of which policy is conducted, countries invaded and wars fought. Arguing that this rhetorical construction of religion provides the foundation for faith in the rationality of modern liberal capitalism, Fitzgerald demonstrates how a historically contingent discourse has been transformed into a powerful set of global assumptions.

The Ideology of Religious Studies

The Ideology of Religious Studies PDF Author: Timothy Fitzgerald
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195347153
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
In recent years there has been an intensifying debate within the religious studies community about the validity of religion as an analytical category. In this book Fitzgerald sides with those who argue that the concept of religion itself should be abandoned. On the basis of his own research in India and Japan, and through a detailed analysis of the use of religion in a wide range of scholarly texts, the author maintains that the comparative study of religion is really a form of liberal ecumenical theology. By pretending to be a science, religion significantly distorts socio-cultural analysis. He suggest, however, that religious studies can be re-represented in a way which opens up new and productive theoretical connections with anthropology and cultural and literary studies.

Before Religion

Before Religion PDF Author: Brent Nongbri
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300154178
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 315

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Book Description
Examining a wide array of ancient writings, Brent Nongbri dispels the commonly held idea that there is such a thing as ancient religion. Nongbri shows how misleading it is to speak as though religion was a concept native to pre-modern cultures.

The Critical Study of Non-Religion

The Critical Study of Non-Religion PDF Author: Christopher R. Cotter
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350095257
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
This book acts as a bridge between the critical study of 'religion' and empirical studies of 'religion in the real world'. Chris Cotter presents a concise and up-to-date critical survey of research on non-religion in the UK and beyond, before presenting the results of extensive research in Edinburgh's Southside which blurs the boundary between 'religion' and 'non-religion'. In doing so, Cotter demonstrates that these are dynamic subject positions, and phenomena can occupy both at the same time, or neither, depending on who is doing the positioning, and what issues are at stake. This book details an approach that avoids constructing 'religion' as in some way unique, whilst also fully incorporating 'non-religious' subject positions into religious studies. It provides a rich engagement with a wide variety of theoretical material, rooted in empirical data, which will be essential reading for those interested in critical, sociological and anthropological study of the contemporary non-/religious landscape.

Civility, Barbarism and the Evolution of International Humanitarian Law

Civility, Barbarism and the Evolution of International Humanitarian Law PDF Author: Matt Killingsworth
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108800726
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
Efforts to moderate conflict are as old as conflict itself. Throughout the ages, restraint in warfare has been informed by religious and ethical considerations, chivalry and class, and, increasingly since the mid-19th century, a body of customary and treaty law variously referred to as the laws of war, the law of armed conflict (LOAC) or international humanitarian law (IHL). As they evolved from the mid-19th century, these laws were increasingly underpinned by humanitarianism, then in the mid-20th century, were assumed to be universal. But violations of these restraints are also as old as conflict itself. The history of conflict is replete with examples of exclusions from protections designed to moderate warfare. This edited volume explores the degree to which protections in modern warfare might be informed by notions of 'civility' and 'barbarism', or, to put it another way, asks if only those deemed to be civilised are afforded protections prescribed by the laws of war?

Ireland and Postcolonial Theory

Ireland and Postcolonial Theory PDF Author: Clare Carroll
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
This timely volume is a collection of essays by accomplished scholars who convincingly argue for the relevance of postcolonial theory in Ireland. Ireland and Postcolonial Theory fuses scholarship, politics, and culture, generating a forceful and radical critique of the legacy of colonialism in the history of Irish culture, while insisting that the consequences of colonialism continue to play themselves out in complex ways. The first two essays focus on debates over how theories developed to explain the emergence of cultures, how colonialism relates to Ireland, and how Irish Studies has influenced the development of postcolonial critique internationally. Subsequent essays apply postcolonial perspectives to Irish cultural history, exploring such topics as the effect of the famine on Irish politics, and interactions between Ireland and India. Contributors: Clare Carroll, Joe Cleary, David Lloyd, Luke Gibbons, Kevin Whelan, Seamus Deane, Amitav Ghosh, Joseph Lennon, Gauri Viswanathan, and Edward Said

The Limits of Orientalism

The Limits of Orientalism PDF Author: Rahul Sapra
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 1644531437
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
The Limits of Orientalism: Seventeenth-Century Representations of India challenges the recent postcolonial readings of European, predominantly English, representations of India in the seventeenth century. Following Edward Said’s discourse of “Orientalism,” most postcolonial analyses of the seventeenth-century representations of India argue that the natives are represented as barbaric or exotic “others,” imagining these representations as products of colonial ideology. Such approaches tend to offer a homogeneous idea of the “native” and usually equate it with the term “Indian.” Sapra, however, argues that instead of representing all natives as barbaric “others,” the English drew parallels, especially between themselves and the Mughal aristocracy, associating with them as partners in trade and potential allies in war. While the Muslims are from the outset largely portrayed as highly civilized and cultured, early European writers tended to be more conflicted with Hindus, their first highly negative views undergoing a transformation that brings into question any straightforward Orientalist reading of the texts and anticipates the complexity of later representations of the indigenous peoples of the sub-continent. Sapra’s theoretical and methodological approach is influenced by such writers as Aijaz Ahmad and Denis Porter, who have highlighted powerful alternatives to Said’s discourse of “Orientalism.” Sapra historicizes European representations of the indigenous to draw attention to the contrasting approaches of the Portuguese, the Dutch and the English in relation to seventeenth-century India, effectively undermining comfortable notions of a homogenous “West.” Unlike the Portuguese, for whom the idea of a dynasty and the conversion of heathens went hand in hand with the idea of trade, for the Dutch and the English the primary consideration was commercial. In keeping with the commercial approach of the English East India Company, most English travelers, instead of representing the Muslims as barbaric “others,” highlight the compatibility between the two cultures and consistently praise the Mughal empire for its religious tolerance. In the representations of the Hindus, Sapra demonstrates that most writers, even while denigrating the Hindu religion, appreciate the civilized society of the Hindus. Moreover, in the representations of sati or widow-burning, a distinction needs to be made between the patriarchal and the Orientalist points of views, which are at variance with each other. The tension between the patriarchal and the Orientalist positions challenges Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak’s analysis of sati in “Can the Subaltern Speak?” which has become the standard model for most postcolonial appraisals of European representations of sati. The book highlights the lacuna in postcolonial readings by providing access to selections of commonly unavailable early-modern writings by Thomas Roe, Edward Terry, Henry Lord, Thomas Coryate, Alexander Hamilton and other the records of the East India Company, which makes the book vital for students of theory, European and South-Asian history, and Renaissance literatures. Published by University of Delaware Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.

Discourse Research and Religion

Discourse Research and Religion PDF Author: Jay Johnston
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110472643
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
The discursive study of religion is a growing field that attracts increasing numbers of students and researchers from a wide variety of disciplinary backgrounds. This volume is the first systematic presentation of the research into religion and discourse. Written by experts from various disciplines, each chapter offers an integrative overview of theory, method, and contextual studies by focusing on a specific approach, interdisciplinary relationship, controversy, or theme in the field. Taking the discursive dimension in the production of knowledge seriously, the book also provides a critical analysis of academic practice and explores new forms of scholarly communication, including open peer-review. The collected volume will appeal to scholars and postgraduate students across a variety of disciplines, including religious studies, history of religion, sociology of religion, discourse studies, cultural studies, and area studies.

Mere Civility

Mere Civility PDF Author: Teresa M. Bejan
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674545494
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
In liberal democracies committed to tolerating diversity as well as disagreement, the loss of civility in the public sphere seems critical. But is civility really a virtue, or a demand for conformity that silences dissent? Teresa Bejan looks at early modern debates about religious toleration for answers about what a civil society should look like.