ABSTRACT
This book analyses the power that religion wields upon the minds of individuals and communities and explores the predominance of language in the actual practice of religion. Through an investigation of the diverse forms of religious language available — oral traditions, sacred texts, evangelical prose, and national rhetoric used by ‘faith-insiders’ such as missionaries, priests, or religious leaders who play the communicator’s role between the sacred and the secular — the chapters in the volume reveal the dependence of religion upon language, demonstrating how religion draws strength from a past that is embedded in narratives, infusing the ‘sacred’ language with political power.
The book combines broad theoretical and normative reflections in contexts of original, detailed and closely examined empirical case studies. Drawing upon resources across disciplines, the book will be of interest to scholars of religion and religious studies, linguistics, politics, cultural studies, history, sociology, and social anthropology.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|85 pages
Inherited language traditions
chapter 1|18 pages
Cultures of sound
chapter 3|22 pages
Words taken for wonders
part II|74 pages
Inventing language traditions
chapter 5|19 pages
The translation of Buddhism from Asia to the West
chapter 6|18 pages
A language ‘clearly understanded of the people’
chapter 8|21 pages
The Būdshīshiyya’s tower of Babel
part III|70 pages
Political uses of religious languages