Theories of Religion (1966-2024) - Michael Stausberg

This volume does not focus on “theory” in a broad sense, but specifically on theories of religion. Theories of religion are texts that seek to interpret or explain “religion”, attempting to account for its meaning of “religion”, its specificity and its ontological status. They typically discuss the origins, structure, and functions (or products) of “religion”. Hence, theories of religion differ from “theoretical approaches”, “theoretical frameworks”, “theoretical models”, “definition of religion”, “ideas”, or similar concepts. The volume explores “theories of religion” as a fundamental concept in the study of religion/s in a specific, albeit interdisciplinary sense. Notably, many of the key theorists of religion are anthropologists, cognitive and evolutionary theorists, philosophers, and sociologists, in addition to scholars of religion in a more disciplinary sense. The book starts by giving a brief synopsis of theories of religions advanced since 1966. This starting point is chosen because of the appearance of two theoretical manifestos–contemporary classics–by Clifford Geertz, and Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann, which have set the stage for subsequent theories of religion as points of references. The main part of the volume surveys some 40 works by the following theorists in chronological order: Clifford Geertz, Thomas Luckmann, Peter B
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