Over the past several decades, postmodernist and postcolonial challenges to traditional theories and methods have revolutionized the social sciences. The discipline of religious studies, however, has been relatively slow to confront these developments, continuing to rely heavily on textual methods and a framework that privileges belief over practice, doctrine over performance, text over context, and inner emotion over public ritual. Recently, however, developments in social theory have begun to transform the study of religion. In this book, Manuel Vasquez maps out the dynamics of this paradigm shift, exploring systematically the epistemological and methodological challenges contemporary social theory poses for traditional approaches to religious studies. Offering a panoramic view of key debates on identity, culture, and society across the social sciences, he assesses the impact of these debates on the study of religion, offering specific examples of how they are shaping the study of particular religious traditions. He concludes by proposing a robust yet flexible materialist approach to the study of religion that will be capable of addressing the increasing complexity of religious life.

About the Author
Associate Professor of Religion, University of Florida

Reviews
Surveying a vast expanse of interdisciplinary terrain, More than Belief should find a wide-ranging audience. Vasquez provides accessible and astute summaries of theoretical approaches, while articulating a rigorous theory of material religion and offering a coherent methodology for the academic study of its practice. It is well suited for the graduate school classroom and should prove an invaluable resource for sociologists of religion. * Sociology of Religion *
More than Belief should find a wide-ranging audience. Vasquez provides accessible and astute summaries of theoretical approaches, while articulating a rigorous theory of material religion and offering a coherent methodology for the academic study of its practice. It is well suited for the graduate school classroom and should prove an invaluable resource for sociologists of religion. * Sociology of Religion *
Manuel Vasquez's provocative book is must reading for everyone who wants to understand contemporary theories of religion. It not only offers a new framework for 'rematerializing' the study of popular piety but also provides nothing less than a strategic reinterpretation of the history of Western theories about what religion is and how it functions. * Thomas A. Tweed, author of Crossing and Dwelling: A Theory of Religion *
Vasquez provides accessible and astute summaries of theoretical approaches, while articulating a rigorous theory of meterial religion and offering a coherent methodology for the academic study of its practice. * Chad E. Seales, University of Texas Austin *
Vasquz provides accessible and astute summaries of theoretical approaches, while articulating a rigorous theory of material religion and offering a coherent methodology for the academic study of its practice. * Sociology of Religion *



Book Information
ISBN 9780195188547
Author Manuel A. Vasquez
Format Paperback
Page Count 392
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 558g
Dimensions(mm) 155mm * 234mm * 25mm