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  1. Theology Books/
  2. World Religions

Before Religion

A History of a Modern Concept

by Brent Nongbri

  • Paperback
  • 288 pages
  • Publisher: Yale University Press
  • 13.3 x 20.4 x 1.8 cm

£13.64

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For much of the past two centuries, religion has been understood as a universal phenomenon, a part of the "natural" human experience that is essentially the same across cultures and throughout history. Individual religions may vary through time and geographically, but there is an element, religion, that is to be found in all cultures during all time periods. Taking apart this assumption, Brent Nongbri shows that the idea of religion as a sphere of life distinct from politics, economics, or science is a recent development in European history-a development that has been projected outward in space and backward in time with the result that religion now appears to be a natural and necessary part of our world. Examining a wide array of ancient writings, Nongbri demonstrates that in antiquity, there was no conceptual arena that could be designated as "religious" as opposed to "secular." Surveying representative episodes from a two-thousand-year period, while constantly attending to the concrete social, political, and colonial contexts that shaped relevant works of philosophers, legal theorists, missionaries, and others, Nongbri offers a concise and readable account of the emergence of the concept of religion.
Before Religion and God's Library
God's LibraryBefore Religion

  • Author

    Brent Nongbri

  • Book Format

    Paperback

  • Publisher

    Yale University Press

  • Published

    July 2015

  • Weight

    318g

  • Page Count

    288

  • Dimensions

    13.3 x 20.4 x 1.8 cm

  • ISBN

    9780300216783

  • ISBN-10

    0300216785

  • Eden Code

    4327030

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