New Trends and Recurring Issues in the Study of Religion

The articles in this book contain keynote addresses that were presented at the 10th Conference of the Europian Assosiation for the Study of Religions held from 18 to 22 September 2011 in Budapest, which was hosted by the Hungarian Association for Study of Religions. In addition, two further articles written by the editors of this volume have benn included. This book is divided into three sections according to the themes of the papers. The first section provides an overview of the field written from sociological and historical perspectives. The history provided focuses on the academic study of religion in relation to Eastern Europe, with an emphasis on two seminal Hungarian scholars. A second section deals with current issues in and new approaches to the study of religion as presented by four academics from Finland, Scotland and Hungary. The final part of the book addresses philosophical issues in the study of religion, largerly by presenting a phenomenology of Christian belief and practice. 

Contents: 

New Trends and Reccuring Issues in the Study of Religion: Context and Overview - Ábrahám Kovács and James L. Cox

I. Historical Background and Analysis of the Field

1. New Movements and Trends in the Sociology of Religion: an overview - Roberto Cipriani

2. Raffaele Pettazzoni and Károly Marót, Companions in Arms in the Field of the History of Religions - Giovanni Casadio

3. The First Hungarian handbook on Comparative Religion: Liberal Theology, Science of Religion and the Issue of Classification - Ábrahám Kovács

II. New Approaches and Issues in the Study of Religion

4. Interpretations of Religions Change: Four Models for Examining Conteporary Processes in Central Eastern Europe - András Máté-Tóth

5. Religious Studies and Landscape Studies: Perceptual Strategies and Enviromental Preferences in Religion and Mythology - Veikko Anttonen

6. Phenomenological Persperctives on the Sociel Responsability of the Scholar of Religion - James L. Cox 

7. Are there New Religions Today?  - Vilmos Voigt 

8. Memes, Possible Worlds, and Quantum Theory: New Pespectives in the Study of Religion - Balázs M. Mezei 

III. Philosophical Reflections on Christian Belief and Practice 

9. Prayer as Art. Philosophical Reflections on Christian Belief and Practice - Martin Moors

10. Transcendent Holiness as Divine Perfection: Its Importance for Understanding Theistic Religions and Interreligious Dialogue - Josef Seifert