In
Religions and Trade a number of international scholars investigate the ways in which eastern and western religions were formed and transformed from the perspective of "trade." Trade changes religions. Religions expand through the help of trade infrastructures, and religions extend and enrich the trade relations with cultural and religious "commodities" which they contribute to the “market place” of human culture and religion. This leads to the inclusion, demarcation and densification as well as the amalgamation of religious traditions.
In an attempt to find new pathways into the world of religious dynamics, this collection of essays focuses on four elements or “commodities” of religious interchange: topologies of religious space, religious symbol systems, religious knowledge, and religious-ethical ways of life.
Contributors include: Christoph Auffarth, Izak Cornelius, Georgios Halkias, Geoffrey Herman, Livia Kohn, Al Makin, Jason Neelis, Volker Rabens, Abhishek Singh Amar, Loren Stuckenbruck, Joan Goodnick Westenholz, Peter Wick, Michael Willis, and Sylvia Winkelmann.
Peter Wick, Ph.D. (1993, Basel), is Professor in New Testament Studies and the History of Early Christianity at the University of Bochum (Germany). He has published a number of books and articles, including
Die urchristlichen Gottesdienste (Kohlhammer, 2002).
Volker Rabens, Ph.D. (2008, London), is postdoctoral researcher in New Testament Studies at the University of Jena (Germany). He has authored numerous publications relating to Biblical Studies, including
The Holy Spirit and Ethics in Paul (Mohr Siebeck, 2010).
"the essays in this collection treat an extremely diverse range of topics, and the effort to tie them together through the theme of religion and trade often feels somewhat forced. [..] Thus, while the individual contributions generally appear to be of a high scholarly standard, their attraction will perhaps be more disciplinary than thematic" - Richard Foltz,
Concordia University Montréal, in:
Entangled Religions 3 (2016), 70-73
- Preface
- List of Contributors
- List of Illustrations
“Trading Religions”: Foundational and Introductory Matters
Peter Wick & Volker Rabens
- PROGRAMMATIC ESSAY
With the Grain Came the Gods from the Orient to Rome: The Example of Serapis and Some Systematic Reflections - Christoph Auffarth
- PART ONE: TRADE AND THE TOPOLOGY OF RELIGIOUS SPACE
Localizing the Buddha’s Presence at Wayside Shrines in Northern Pakistan - Jason Neelis
When the Greeks Converted the Buddha: Asymmetrical Transfers of Knowledge in Indo-Greek Cultures - Georgios Halkias
The Buddhakṣetra of Bodhgaya: Saṅgha, Exchanges and Trade-Networks - Abhishek Singh Amar
- PART TWO: TRADE AND RELIGIOUS SYMBOL SYSTEMS
Trading Religions” and “Visible Religion” in the Ancient Near East - Izak Cornelius
Trading the Symbols of the Goddess Nanaya - Joan Goodnick Westenholz
“Trading Religions” from Bronze Age Iran to Bactria - Sylvia Winkelmann
- PART THREE: TRADE AND RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE
From World Religion to World Dominion: Trading, Translation and Institution-building in Tibet - Michael Willis
Religious Transformation between East and West: Hanukkah in the Babylonian Talmud and Zoroastrianism - Geoffrey Herman
Sharing the Concept of God among Trading Prophets: Reading the Poems Attributed to Umayya b. Abī Ṣalt - Al Makin
- PART FOUR: TRADE AND RELIGIOUS-ETHICAL WAYS OF LIFE
Trading Institutions: The Design of Daoist Monasticism - Livia Kohn
Philo’s Attractive Ethics on the “Religious Market” of Ancient Alexandria Volker Rabens
Traveling Ethics: The Case of the Household Codes in Ephesians 5:21–6:9 in Cross-Cultural Perspective - Loren T. Stuckenbruck