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Religion, Language and Power shows that the language of ‘religion’ is far from neutral, and that the packaging and naming of what English speakers call ‘religious’ groups or identities is imbued with the play of power. Religious Studies has all too often served to amplify voices from other centers of power, whether scripturalist or otherwise normative and dominant. This book’s de-centering of English classifications goes beyond the remit of most postcolonial studies in that it explores the classifications used in a range of languages — including Arabic, Sanskrit, Chinese, Greek and English — to achieve a comparative survey of the roles of language and power in the making of ‘religion’ . In contextualizing these uses of language, the ten contributors explore how labels are either imposed or emerge interactively through discursive struggles between dominant and marginal groups. In dealing with the interplay of religion, language and power, there is no other book with the breadth of this volume.
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Religion, Language, and Power
Routledge Studies in Religion
1. Judaism and Collective Life Self and Community in the Religious Kibbutz Aryei Fishman 2. Foucault, Christianity and Interfaith Dialogue Henrique Pinto 3. Religious Conversion and Identity The Semiotic Analysis of Texts Massimo Leone 4. Language, Desire, and Theology A Genealogy of the Will to Speak Noëlle Vahanian 5. Metaphysics and Transcendence Arthur Gibson 6. Sufism and Deconstruction A Comparative Study of Derrida and Ibn ’Arabi Ian Almond 7. Christianity, Tolerance and Pluralism A Theological Engagement with Isaiah Berlin’s Social Theory Michael Jinkins 8. Negative Theology and Modern French Philosophy Arthur Bradley 9. Law and Religion Edited by Peter Radan, Denise Meyerson and Rosalind F. Atherton
10. Religion, Language, and Power Edited by Nile Green and Mary Searle-Chatterjee
Religion, Language, and Power
Edited by Nile Green and Mary Searle-Chatterjee
New York London
First published 2008 by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Simultaneously published in the UK by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2008 Taylor & Francis All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Religion, language, and power / edited by Nile Green and Mary Searle-Chatterjee. p. cm. — (Routledge studies in religion ; 10) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-415-96368-8 (hbk) ISBN-10: 0-415-96368-0 (hbk) ISBN-13: 978-0-203-92685-7 (ebk) ISBN-10: 0-203-92685-4 (ebk) 1. Religion. 2. Religion and sociology. 3. Language and languages—Religious aspects. I. Green, Nile. II. Searle-Chatterjee, Mary. BL50.R42665 2008 200—dc22 ISBN 0-203-92685-4 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0-415-96368-0 (hbk) ISBN10: 0-203-92685-4 (ebk) ISBN13: 978-0-415-96368-8 (hbk) ISBN13: 978-0-203-92685-7 (ebk)
2007047631
I sell here, Sir, what all the world desires to have – Power. —Matthew Boulton, Birmingham industrialist, 1776
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments R