Building Blocks of Religion: Critical Applications and Future Prospects - Hardcover

Goeran Larsson

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1781798664 ISBN 13: 9781781798669

Publisher: Equinox Publishing Ltd, 2020

Synopsis

The contributions in this book all concern the Building Block Approach to the study of religions as proposed and explored by Professor Ann Taves (University of California, Santa Barbara) during the last 30 years. This approach suggests that analysis of and explanations for complex cultural phenomena such as religion should entail dividing these phenomena into the constituent parts that interact to produce them , in terms of basic cognitive, psychological and biological proc-esses. In this way, the approach opens up a path to achieving consil-ience between the humanistic, behavioural and natural sciences. The book provides a short and user-friendly introduction to the Building Block Approach suitable for use in the undergraduate classroom as well as by graduate and more advanced scholars. The book opens with a lengthy introduction by Ann Taves and Egil Asprem (Stockholm University, Sweden) outlining the Building Block Approach and its rele-vance for the study of religions. The introduction is followed by seven responses, comments and critiques that identify pros and cons of the approach from different perspectives and areas of study within the larger field of the study of religions. In the concluding chapter, Taves and Asprem provide their responses to the comments and critiques raised.

About this title

About the Author

Goeran Larsson is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Gothenburg. Jonas Svensson is a Professor in the Study of Religions at Linnaeus University. Andreas Nordin is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Gothenburg.

Edition details

• Publisher: Equinox Publishing Ltd
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1781798664
• ISBN 13: 9781781798669
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 136
• Editor: Goeran Larsson, Andreas Nordin, Jonas Svensson