Dislodging "Embedded" Religion: A Brief Note on a Scholarly Trope

Nongbri, Brent

doi:10.1163/156852708x310527

Cited by 91 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 30 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…46). 47 The 45 Methodologically, I agree with Brent Nongbri (2008) that 'religion' is not something that exists apart from society. I have used the word here only to indicate a modern field of study.…”

Section: Statues and Late Roman Religion: Between Antiquarianism And mentioning

confidence: 93%

A late antique statuary collection at Ostia's sanctuary of Magna Mater: a case-study in late Roman religion and tradition

Boin¹

2013

Pap. Br. Sch. Rome

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Throughout the Mediterranean the study of the destruction, reuse, moving and preservation of statues has provided a window onto the transformation of Rome during a time of ascendant Christianity. The preservation of statuary collections is increasingly important in this regard. Archival research has revealed the discovery of one such collection at Ostia's Sanctuary of Magna Mater, a treasure trove of sculptures, reliefs and at least one bronze statue. All were well preserved, and several were found in the open spaces of the sanctuary. Together they span 500 years of history, stretching into the late fourth century. Unfortunately, the late antique significance of this group has never been acknowledged. This paper situates that collection within the social world of late antique Ostia, where many statues of both sacred and non-sacred subjects remained on display. The late fourth-century dedication, in particular, set alongside the earlier pieces, demonstrates that the ‘mood and motivations’ of traditional Roman religion, in Clifford Geertz's terms, also remained quite visible. The presence of this accumulated tradition, a hallmark of Rome's ‘civil religion’ for centuries, testifies to the high social status afforded one of Ostia's most historic sites, even during an increasingly Christian age.

show abstract

Section: Statues and Late Roman Religion: Between Antiquarianism And mentioning

confidence: 93%

A late antique statuary collection at Ostia's sanctuary of Magna Mater: a case-study in late Roman religion and tradition

Boin¹

2013

Pap. Br. Sch. Rome

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Concepts like "religions of antiquity," "ancient religions" etc. have been radically ques tioned, for some time, within the discipline (Riipke 2001: 9-45;Nongbri 2008). The genealogical approach offers, then, a solution for an existing controversy and does not create a new one.…”

Section: 125mentioning

confidence: 99%

What is Religion?

Bergunder

2014

Method Theory Study Religion

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Religious studies cannot agree on a common definition of its subject matter. To break the impasse, important insights from recent discussions about post-foundational political theory might be of some help. However, they can only be of benefit in con versations about "religion" when the previous debate on the subject matter of religious studies is framed slightly differently. This is done in the first part of the article. It is, then, shown on closer inspection of past discussions on "religion" that a consensuscapable, contemporary, everyday understanding of "religion," here called Religion 2, is assumed, though it remains unexplained and unreflected upon. The second part of the article shows how Religion 2 can be newly conceptualized through the lens of Ernesto Laclau's political theory, combined with concepts from Judith Butler and Michel Foucault, and how Religion 2 can be established as the historical subject mat ter of religious studies. Though concrete historical reconstructions of Religion 2 always remain contested, I argue that this does not prevent it from being generally accepted as the subject matter of religious studies. The third part discusses the previous findings in the light of postcolonial concerns about potential Eurocentrism in the concept of "religion." It is argued that Religion 2 has to be understood in a fully global perspective, and, as a consequence, more research on the global religious history of the 19th and 20th centuries is urgently needed.

show abstract

“…Diachronically, this conflation is the backbone to observations that even if there is an abundance of evidence of religious in given cultures, not all of these cultures appear to have religions. It is only when identifying-and conflating-the concepts of religious and religions that one is forced to construct systemic entities of the religion-type around religious affairs (see also Stausberg 2001); the resulting situation is then often reflected by scholars speaking of religion being "embedded" in social structures (see Nongbri 2008).…”

Section: Distinctionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distinctions, Differentiations, Ontology, and Non-humans in Theories of Religion

Stausberg

2010

Method Theory Study Religion

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This essay has four main parts. (1) Reviewing previous theories of religion, it suggests that it may be helpful not to conflate, a priori, the notions of (the) religious on the one hand and religion\s on the other, and that it may be useful to explore concepts such as (the) sacred and transcendence as independent yet related to the business of theorizing religion. (2) Distinguishing social/cultural from biological/genetic evolution, it outlines the occurrence of three processes/stages of the evolution of religious affairs and religions(s), here called attributive, structural, and functional differentiation respectively. While the first two processes/stages occurred in the remote and ancient past respectively, the third process/stage is typical of modernities and has by now globalized. (3) The article argues that recent criticisms of the validity of the category of religion are informed by a reverse sui generis approach characterized by a tacit claim that religion is an anomaly, by virtue of its supposedly being inherently different from similar concepts. The article suggests that John Searle's philosophy may throw light on the mode of existence (ontology) of religion as an example of social and institutional reality, as an intentionality-and observerrelative yet real and empowering structure. (4) In the final section, the article engages some lines of thinking of Bruno Latour's interpretation of Actor-Network-Theory, in particular the category of non-humans and the importance of things (objects) for social reality, including religion.

show abstract

Dislodging "Embedded" Religion: A Brief Note on a Scholarly Trope

Cited by 91 publications

References 30 publications

A late antique statuary collection at Ostia's sanctuary of Magna Mater: a case-study in late Roman religion and tradition

A late antique statuary collection at Ostia's sanctuary of Magna Mater: a case-study in late Roman religion and tradition

What is Religion?

Distinctions, Differentiations, Ontology, and Non-humans in Theories of Religion

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About