Description
Instead of taking religious groups as their point of departure, the authors in Group Identity and Religious Individuality in Late Antiquity address the methodological challenges attached to a rescaling of the analysis at the level of the individual. In particular, they explore the tension between looking for evidence about individuals and taking individuals into account when looking at evidence. Too often, the lack of direct evidence on individuals is used as a justification for taking the group as the unit of analysis. However, evidence on group life can be read with individuals as the focal point. What it reveals is how complex is the interaction of group identity and religious individuality.
The questions examined by these authors include the complex relationships between institutional religions and religious individuals, the possibility of finding evidence on individual religiosity and exploring the multiplicity of roles and identities that characterizes every individual. Shifting the attention towards individuals also calls into question the assumption of groups and invites the study of group-making process. The result is a picture that makes room for dynamic tension between group identity and religious individuality.
About the Author
Eric Rebillard is a professor in the departments of classics and history, Cornell University, USA.
Joerg Rupke is professor at the Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, University of Erfurt, Germany.
Book Information
ISBN 9780813227436
Author Eric Rebillard
Format Hardback
Page Count 328
Imprint The Catholic University of America Press
Publisher The Catholic University of America Press
Weight(grams) 690g