Contemporary Religions In Japan

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Religious Violence in Contemporary Japan

Author : Ian Reader
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 113681941X
Total Pages : 323 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (368 download)

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Book Synopsis Religious Violence in Contemporary Japan by : Ian Reader

Download or read book Religious Violence in Contemporary Japan written by Ian Reader and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-10-11 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Tokyo subway attack in March 1995 was just one of a series of criminal activities including murder, kidnapping, extortion, and the illegal manufacture of arms and drugs carried out by the Japanese new religious movement Aum Shinrikyo, under the guidance of its leader Asahara Shoko. Reader looks at Aum's claims about itself and asks, why did a religious movement ostensibly focussed on yoga, meditation, asceticism and the pursuit of enlightenment become involved in violent activities? Reader discusses Aum's spiritual roots, placing it in the context of contemporary Japanese religious patterns. Asahara's teaching are examined from his earliest public pronouncements through to his sermons at the time of the attack, and statements he has made in court. In analysing how Aum not only manufactured nerve gases but constructed its own internal doctrinal justifications for using them Reader focuses on the formation of what made all this possible: Aum's internal thought-world, and on how this was developed. Reader argues that despite the horrors of this particular case, Aum should not be seen as unique, nor as solely a political or criminal terror group. Rather it can best be analysed within the context of religious violence, as an extreme example of a religious movement that has created friction with the wider world that escalated into violence.

Handbook of Contemporary Japanese Religions

Author : Inken Prohl
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004234357
Total Pages : 675 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (42 download)

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Book Synopsis Handbook of Contemporary Japanese Religions by : Inken Prohl

Download or read book Handbook of Contemporary Japanese Religions written by Inken Prohl and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2012-09-03 with total page 675 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Representing work by some of the leading scholars in the field, the chapters in this handbook survey the transformation and innovation of religious traditions and practices in contemporary Japan.

Religions of Japan in Practice

Author : George J. Tanabe Jr.
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691214743
Total Pages : 583 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (912 download)

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Book Synopsis Religions of Japan in Practice by : George J. Tanabe Jr.

Download or read book Religions of Japan in Practice written by George J. Tanabe Jr. and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-06-30 with total page 583 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This anthology reflects a range of Japanese religions in their complex, sometimes conflicting, diversity. In the tradition of the Princeton Readings in Religions series, the collection presents documents (legends and miracle tales, hagiographies, ritual prayers and ceremonies, sermons, reform treatises, doctrinal tracts, historical and ethnographic writings), most of which have been translated for the first time here, that serve to illuminate the mosaic of Japanese religions in practice. George Tanabe provides a lucid introduction to the "patterned confusion" of Japan's religious practices. He has ordered the anthology's forty-five readings under the categories of "Ethical Practices," "Ritual Practices," and "Institutional Practices," moving beyond the traditional classifications of chronology, religious traditions (Shinto, Confucianism, Buddhism, etc.), and sects, and illuminating the actual orientation of people who engage in religious practices. Within the anthology's three broad categories, subdivisions address the topics of social values, clerical and lay precepts, gods, spirits, rituals of realization, faith, court and emperor, sectarian founders, wizards, and heroes, orthopraxis and orthodoxy, and special places. Dating from the eighth through the twentieth centuries, the documents are revealed to be open to various and evolving interpretations, their meanings dependent not only on how they are placed in context but also on how individual researchers read them. Each text is preceded by an introductory explanation of the text's essence, written by its translator. Instructors and students will find these explications useful starting points for their encounters with the varied worlds of practice within which the texts interact with readers and changing contexts. Religions of Japan in Practice is a compendium of relationships between great minds and ordinary people, abstruse theories and mundane acts, natural and supernatural powers, altruism and self-interest, disappointment and hope, quiescence and war. It is an indispensable sourcebook for scholars, students, and general readers seeking engagement with the fertile "ordered disorder" of religious practice in Japan.

Drawing on Tradition

Author : Jolyon Baraka Thomas
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
ISBN 13 : 0824835891
Total Pages : 218 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (248 download)

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Book Synopsis Drawing on Tradition by : Jolyon Baraka Thomas

Download or read book Drawing on Tradition written by Jolyon Baraka Thomas and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2012-10-31 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Manga and anime (illustrated serial novels and animated films) are highly influential Japanese entertainment media that boast tremendous domestic consumption as well as worldwide distribution and an international audience. Drawing on Tradition examines religious aspects of the culture of manga and anime production and consumption through a methodological synthesis of narrative and visual analysis, history, and ethnography. Rather than merely describing the incidence of religions such as Buddhism or Shinto in these media, Jolyon Baraka Thomas shows that authors and audiences create and re-create “religious frames of mind” through their imaginative and ritualized interactions with illustrated worlds. Manga and anime therefore not only contribute to familiarity with traditional religious doctrines and imagery, but also allow authors, directors, and audiences to modify and elaborate upon such traditional tropes, sometimes creating hitherto unforeseen religious ideas and practices. The book takes play seriously by highlighting these recursive relationships between recreation and religion, emphasizing throughout the double sense of play as entertainment and play as adulteration (i.e., the whimsical or parodic representation of religious figures, doctrines, and imagery). Building on recent developments in academic studies of manga and anime—as well as on recent advances in the study of religion as related to art and film—Thomas demonstrates that the specific aesthetic qualities and industrial dispositions of manga and anime invite practices of rendition and reception that can and do influence the ways that religious institutions and lay authors have attempted to captivate new audiences. Drawing on Tradition will appeal to both the dilettante and the specialist: Fans and self-professed otaku will find an engaging academic perspective on often overlooked facets of the media and culture of manga and anime, while scholars and students of religion will discover a fresh approach to the complicated relationships between religion and visual media, religion and quotidian practice, and the putative differences between “traditional” and “new” religions.

Media and New Religions in Japan

Author : Erica Baffelli
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1135117845
Total Pages : 192 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (351 download)

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Book Synopsis Media and New Religions in Japan by : Erica Baffelli

Download or read book Media and New Religions in Japan written by Erica Baffelli and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-02-05 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781135117849, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivative 4.0 license. Japanese "new religions" (shinshūkyō) have used various media forms for training, communicating with members, presenting their messages, reinforcing or protecting the image of the leader, and, potentially, attracting converts. In this book the complex and dual relationship between media and new religions is investigated by looking at the tensions groups face between the need for visibility and the risks of facing attacks and criticism through media. Indeed media and new technologies have been extensively used by religious groups not only to spread their messages and to try to reach a wider audience, but also to promote themselves as a highly modern and up-to-date form of religion appropriate for a modern technological age. In 1980s and early 1990s some movements, such as Agonshū , Kōfuku no Kagaku, and Aum Shinrikyō came into prominence especially via the use of media (initially publications, but also ritual broadcasts, advertising campaigns, and public media events). This created new modes of ritual engagement and new ways of interactions between leaders and members. The aim of this book is to develop and illustrate particular key issues in the wider new religions and media nexus by using specific movements as examples. In particular, the analysis of the interaction between media and new religions will focus primarily on three case studies predominantly during the first period of development of the groups.

Religion and Politics in Comparative Perspective

Author : Ted Gerard Jelen
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1316582744
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (165 download)

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Book Synopsis Religion and Politics in Comparative Perspective by : Ted Gerard Jelen

Download or read book Religion and Politics in Comparative Perspective written by Ted Gerard Jelen and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2002-04-01 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religion is resurgent across the globe. In many countries religion is a powerful source of political mobilization, and in some a potent social cleavage. In some religion reinforces the state, in others it provides the space for resistance. This book contains a series of detailed studies examining religion and politics in specific countries or regions. The cases include countries with one dominant religious tradition, and others with two or more competing traditions. They include Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Hinduism, Shinto and Buddhism. They include states where religion and politics are closely linked, and others with at least a low wall of separation between church and state. The cases are organized by the type of religious marketplace, but allow many other comparisons as well. We develop some generalizations from the cases, and hope that they will be a fertile source of theorizing for others.

The Category of ‘Religion’ in Contemporary Japan

Author : Mitsutoshi Horii
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319735705
Total Pages : 291 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (197 download)

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Book Synopsis The Category of ‘Religion’ in Contemporary Japan by : Mitsutoshi Horii

Download or read book The Category of ‘Religion’ in Contemporary Japan written by Mitsutoshi Horii and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-04-17 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book critically examines the term ‘religion’ (shūkyō) as a social category within the sociological context of contemporary Japan. Whereas the nineteenth-century construction of shūkyō has been critically studied by many, the same critical approach has not been extended to the contemporary context of the Japanese-language discourse on shūkyō and Temple Buddhism. This work aims to unveil the norms and imperatives which govern the utilization of the term shūkyō in the specific context of modern day Japan, with a particular focus upon Temple Buddhism. The author draws on a number of popular publications in Japanese, many of which have been written by Buddhist priests. In addition, the book offers rich interview material from conversations with Buddhist priests. Readers will gain insights into the critical deconstruction, the historicization, and the study of social classification system of ‘religion’, in terms of its cross-cultural application to the contemporary Japanese context. The book will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines including Japanese Studies, Buddhology, Religious Studies, Social Anthropology, and Sociology.

Religion and Society in Modern Japan

Author : Mark Mullins
Publisher : Jain Publishing Company
ISBN 13 : 0895819368
Total Pages : 322 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (958 download)

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Book Synopsis Religion and Society in Modern Japan by : Mark Mullins

Download or read book Religion and Society in Modern Japan written by Mark Mullins and published by Jain Publishing Company. This book was released on 1993 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Designed for classroom study, this anthology provides the students with interpretations and perspectives on the significance of religion in modern Japan. Emphasis is placed on the sociocultural expressions of religion in everyday life, rather than on religious texts or traditions. A particular strength of this collection is the combination of current Japanese and Western scholarship.

Anime, Religion and Spirituality

Author : Katharine Buljan
Publisher : Equinox Publishing (UK)
ISBN 13 : 9781781791097
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Anime, Religion and Spirituality by : Katharine Buljan

Download or read book Anime, Religion and Spirituality written by Katharine Buljan and published by Equinox Publishing (UK). This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Barely a century has passed since anime (Japanese animation) was first screened to a Western audience. Over time the number of anime genres and generic hybrids have significantly grown. These have been influenced and inspired by various historical and cultural phenomena, one of which - Japanese native religion and spirituality - this book argues is important and dominant. There have always been anime lovers in the West, but today that number is growing exponentially. This is intriguing as many Japanese anime directors and studios initially created works that were not aimed at a Western audience at all. The mutual imbrication of the profane and sacred worlds in anime, along with the profound reciprocal relationship between 'Eastern' (Japanese) and 'Western' (chiefly American) culture in the development of the anime artistic form, form the twin narrative arcs of the book. One of the most significant contributions of this book is the analysis of the employment of spiritual and religious motifs by directors. The reception of this content by fans is also examined. The appeal of anime to aficionados is, broadly speaking, the appeal of the spiritual in a post-religious world, in which personal identity and meaning in life may be crafted from popular cultural texts which offer an immersive and enchanting experience that, for many in the modern world, is more thrilling and authentic than 'real life'. In the past, religions posited that after human existence on earth had ceased, the individual soul would be reincarnated again, or perhaps reside in heaven. In the early twenty-first century, spiritual seekers still desire a life beyond that of everyday reality, and just as passionately believe in the existence of other worlds and the afterlife. However, the other worlds are the fantasy landscapes and outer space settings of anime (and other popular cultural forms), and the afterlife the digital circuitry and electronic impulses of the Internet. These important new understandings of religion and the spiritual underpin anime's status as a major site of new religious and spiritual inspiration in the West, and indeed, the world.

Politics and Religion in Modern Japan

Author : R. Starrs
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 023033668X
Total Pages : 348 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (33 download)

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Book Synopsis Politics and Religion in Modern Japan by : R. Starrs

Download or read book Politics and Religion in Modern Japan written by R. Starrs and published by Springer. This book was released on 2011-08-09 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by leading scholars in the field, this book provides new insights, based on original research, into the full spectrum of modern Japanese political-religious activity: from the prewar uses of Shinto in shaping the modern imperial nation-state to the postwar 'new religions' that have challenged the power of the political establishment.

Yasukuni Fundamentalism

Author : Mark R. Mullins
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
ISBN 13 : 0824890167
Total Pages : 271 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (248 download)

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Book Synopsis Yasukuni Fundamentalism by : Mark R. Mullins

Download or read book Yasukuni Fundamentalism written by Mark R. Mullins and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2021-07-31 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although religious fundamentalism is often thought to be confined to monotheistic “religions of the book,” this study examines the emergence of a fundamentalism rooted in the Shinto tradition and considers its role in shaping postwar Japanese nationalism and politics. Over the past half-century, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the National Association of Shrines (NAS) have been engaged in collaborative efforts to “recover” or “restore” what was destroyed by the process of imperialist secularization during the Allied Occupation of Japan. Since the disaster years of 1995 and 2011, LDP Diet members and prime ministers have increased their support for a political agenda that aims to revive patriotic education, renationalize Yasukuni Shrine, and revise the constitution. The contested nature of this agenda is evident in the critical responses of religious leaders and public intellectuals, and in their efforts to preserve the postwar gains in democratic institutions and prevent the erosion of individual rights. This timely treatment critically engages the contemporary debates surrounding secularization in light of postwar developments in Japanese religions and sheds new light on the role religion continues to play in the public sphere.

Practically Religious

Author : Ian Reader
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
ISBN 13 : 9780824820909
Total Pages : 318 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (29 download)

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Book Synopsis Practically Religious by : Ian Reader

Download or read book Practically Religious written by Ian Reader and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 1998-10-01 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Praying for practical benefits (genze riyaku) is a common religious activity in Japan. Despite its widespread nature and the vast numbers of people who pray and purchase amulets and talismans for everything from traffic safety and education success to business prosperity and protection from disease, the practice has been virtually ignored in academic studies or relegated to the margins as a uh_product of superstition or an aberration from the true dynamics of religion. Basing their work on a fusion of textual, ethnographic, historical, and contemporary studies, the authors of this volume demonstrate the fallacy of such views, showing that, far from being marginal, the concepts and practices surrounding genze riyaku lie at the very heart of the Japanese religious world. They thrive not only as popular religious expression but are supported by the doctrinal structures of most Buddhist sects, are ordained in religious scriptures, and are promoted by monastic training centers, shrines, and temples. Benefits are both sought and bought, and the authors discuss the economic and commercial aspects of how and why institutions promote practical benefits. They draw attention to the dynamism and flexibility in the religious marketplace, where new products are offered in response to changing needs. Intertwined in these economic activities and motivations are the truth claims that underpin and justify the promotion and practice of benefits. The authors also examine the business of guidebooks, which combine travel information with religious advice, including humorous and distinctive forms of prayer for the protection against embarrassing physical problems and sexual diseases. Written in a direct and engaging style, Practically Religious will appeal to a wide range of readers and will be especially valuable to those interested in religion, anthropology, Buddhist studies, sociology, and Japanese studies.

Soka Gakkai’s Human Revolution

Author : Levi McLaughlin
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
ISBN 13 : 0824877896
Total Pages : 241 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (248 download)

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Book Synopsis Soka Gakkai’s Human Revolution by : Levi McLaughlin

Download or read book Soka Gakkai’s Human Revolution written by Levi McLaughlin and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2018-12-31 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Soka Gakkai is Japan’s largest and most influential new religious organization: It claims more than 8 million Japanese households and close to 2 million members in 192 countries and territories. The religion is best known for its affiliated political party, Komeito (the Clean Government Party), which comprises part of the ruling coalition in Japan’s National Diet, and it exerts considerable influence in education, media, finance, and other key areas. Levi McLaughlin’s comprehensive account of Soka Gakkai draws on nearly two decades of archival research and non-member fieldwork to account for its institutional development beyond Buddhism and suggest how we should understand the activities and dispositions of its adherents. McLaughlin explores the group’s Nichiren Buddhist origins and turns to insights from religion, political science, anthropology, and cultural studies to characterize Soka Gakkai as mimetic of the nation-state. Ethnographic vignettes combine with historical evidence to demonstrate ways Soka Gakkai’s twin Buddhist and modern humanist legacies inform the organization’s mimesis of the modern Japan in which the group took shape. To make this argument, McLaughlin analyzes Gakkai sources heretofore untreated in English-language scholarship; provides a close reading of the serial novel The Human Revolution, which serves the Gakkai as both history and de facto scripture; identifies ways episodes from members’ lives form new chapters in its growing canon; and contributes to discussions of religion and gender as he chronicles the lives of members who simultaneously reaffirm generational transmission of Gakkai devotion as they pose challenges for the organization’s future. Readers looking for analyses of the nation-state and strategies for understanding New Religions and modern Buddhism will find Soka Gakkai’s Human Revolution to be an especially thought-provoking study that offers widely applicable theoretical models.

Shinto

Author : Helen Hardacre
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190621710
Total Pages : 721 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (96 download)

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Book Synopsis Shinto by : Helen Hardacre

Download or read book Shinto written by Helen Hardacre and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 721 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Helen Hardacre offers for the first time in any language a sweeping, comprehensive history of Shinto, the tradition that is practiced by some 80% of the Japanese people and underlies the institution of the Emperor.

Lay Buddhism in Contemporary Japan

Author : Helen Hardacre
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 1400855373
Total Pages : 293 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (8 download)

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Book Synopsis Lay Buddhism in Contemporary Japan by : Helen Hardacre

Download or read book Lay Buddhism in Contemporary Japan written by Helen Hardacre and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2014-07-14 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Basing her book on four years of field work (including interviews, a survey of 2,000 Reiyukai members, and eight months of residence with believers), she analyzes Reiyukai ancestor worship and veneration of the Lotus Sutra. She explains the enduring appeal of a religion, founded in 1919, that dedicates itself to the spread of true Buddhism" and that retains its core intact, in spite of a number of schisms. Originally published in 1984. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Gedatsu-Kai and Religion in Contemporary Japan

Author : H. Byron Earhart
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 314 pages
Book Rating : 4.X/5 (3 download)

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Book Synopsis Gedatsu-Kai and Religion in Contemporary Japan by : H. Byron Earhart

Download or read book Gedatsu-Kai and Religion in Contemporary Japan written by H. Byron Earhart and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Religion, Theory, Critique

Author : Richard King
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231518242
Total Pages : 558 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (315 download)

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Book Synopsis Religion, Theory, Critique by : Richard King

Download or read book Religion, Theory, Critique written by Richard King and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2017-07-18 with total page 558 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religion, Theory, Critique is an essential tool for learning about theory and method in the study of religion. Leading experts engage with contemporary and classical theories as well as non-Western cultural contexts. Unlike other collections, this anthology emphasizes the dynamic relationship between "religion" as an object of study and different methodological approaches and openly addresses the question of the manifold ways in which "religion," "secular," and "culture" are imagined within different disciplinary horizons. This volume is the first textbook which seeks to engage discussion of classical approaches with contemporary cultural and critical theories. Contributors write on the influence of the natural sciences in the study of religion; the role of European Christianity in modeling theories of religion; religious experience and the interface with cognitive science; the structure and function of religious language; the social-scientific study of religion; ritual in religion; the phenomenology of religion; critical theory and religion; embodiment and religion; the impact of colonialism and modernity; theorizing religion in terms of race and ethnicity; links among religion, nationalism, and globalization; the interplay of gender, sex, and religion; and religion and the environment. Each chapter introduces the topic, identifies key theorists and issues, and respects the pluralistic nature of the scholarship in the field. Altogether, this collection scrutinizes the explicit and implicit assumptions theorists make about religion as an object of analysis.