This thoroughly updated second edition encourages students to think critically about the theories and methods presented. Students will find arguments for the strengths and limitations of these approaches, understand connections among religious studies and other intellectual movements, and develop their own ideas of how they might want to go about the study of religion. Summary boxes, discussion questions, a glossary, a chronology of key figures and texts, and other pedagogic aids help students grasp key concepts.
Hillary P. Rodrigues (he/him) is Professor Emeritus in Religious Studies at the University of Lethbridge, Canada. A recipient of that institution’s Distinguished Teaching Award (2000) and a Board of Governors Chair in Teaching, he formerly chaired both the Anthropology and Religious Studies departments. His books include Introducing Hinduism (2006, 2016), Studying Hinduism in Practice (2011), and The Study of Religion: A Reader with John S. Harding (2013).
John S. Harding (he/him) is Professor and Chair of Religious Studies at the University of Lethbridge, Canada. He is the founding Coordinator of its Asian Studies Program and coordinated the Global Citizenship Cohort. His books include Studying Buddhism in Practice (2012), The Study of Religion: A Reader with Hillary P. Rodrigues (2013), and Buddhism in the Global Eye: Beyond East and West with Victor Sōgen Hori and Alexander Soucy (2020).