Description: One of the most influential theorists of religion, Jonathan Z. Smith is best known for his analyses of religious studies as a discipline and for his advocacy and refinement of comparison as the basis for the history of religions. Relating Religion gathers seventeen essays-four of them never before published-that together provide the first broad overview of Smith's thinking since his seminal 1982 book, Imagining Religion.
Smith first explains how he was drawn to the study of religion, outlines his own theoretical commitments, and draws the connections between his thinking and his concerns for general education. He then engages several figures and traditions that serve to define his interests within the larger setting of the discipline. The essays that follow consider the role of taxonomy and classification in the study of religion, the construction of difference, and the procedures of generalization and redescription that Smith takes to be key to the comparative enterprise. The final essays deploy features of Smith's most recent work, especially the notion of translation. Heady, original, and provocative, Relating Religion is certain to be hailed as a landmark in the academic study and critical theory of religion.Brief description:
Jonathan Z. Smith (1938-2017) was Robert O. Anderson Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of the Humanities at the University of Chicago. He also held appointments in the Committees on the Ancient Mediterranean World and on the History of Culture, and in the College. He was also an associate faculty member in the Divinity School. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Religions, and served as president of the Society of Biblical Literature.
In 2013, when he was named to an Honorary Lifetime Membership in the International Association for the History of Religions, the citation read, in part: "Smith's enormous contributions to the field from the 1960s to the present have unwaveringly insisted upon, and been exemplary of, methodological rigor and self consciousness. He has probably done more than any single scholar to promote an analytic or critical approach to the study of religion."
He was the author of numerous works, including some published by the University of Chicago Press.