Introduction

THE STUDY OF RELIGIONS IS A global enterprise. I do not mean what somemight mean by that phrase: that scholars of religions have been leaders in globalizing the university curriculum, studying and teaching about all, or at least many different, regions of the globe. In some parts of the world, that may be true. Especially in North America and Europe, scholars of religion, as distinct from theologians (see below), have generally studied the religions of other times and places, and in those contexts, the study of religion may make a real contribution to deparochialization.1 But what I have in mind is something rather different. Scholars of religions are found throughout the world, on every continent and in every religious tradition. It is not merely the object of study that is global. The scholars who are at work crafting knowledge about religions are spread throughout the globe, too.