Discursive Study of Religion: Approaches, Definitions, Implications
In: Method & Theory in the Study of ReligionAbstract
The article explores recent approaches to historical analysis of discourse that have been developed in disciplines such as the sociology of knowledge and historical epistemology. These approaches have only sporadically been taken seriously in the academic study of religion, although they have a great potential to establish a study of religion that is both academically rigorous and aware of its societal and historical contexts and limitations. The article defines the necessary concepts for a discursive study of religion as an hermeneutical discipline that scrutinizes and historicizes the societal organization of knowledge about religion. This discourse on religion—defined here as religion—generates, legitimizes, and maintains meaning structures and societal realities. The discourse-historical analysis of religion is not itself a method but a research perspective. Nevertheless, this perspective implies several steps in designing a research project that the article describes with concrete examples.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
Albinus Lars Discourse Analysis within the Study of Religion: Processes of Change in Ancient Greece. Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 1997 9 203 232
-
Asad Talal Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam 1993 Baltimore The Johns Hopkins University Press
-
Asad Talal Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity 2003 Stanford Stanford University Press
-
Ashmore Malcolm The Reflexive Thesis: Writing Sociology of Scientific Knowledge 1989 Chicago University of Chicago Press
-
Ashmore Malcolm, Myers G. & Potter Jonathan Jasanoff Sheila et al. Discourse, Rhetoric and Reflexivity: Seven Days in the Library. Handbook of Science and Technology Studies 2002 London Sage 321 342
-
Benavides Gustavo Response: Theory, Quasi-Theory and Pseudo-Theory in the Study of Religion. Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 2010 22 207 219
-
Berger Peter L. & Luckmann Thomas The Social Construction of Reality 1966 Garden City Doubleday
-
Bieder Ulrich Die Unerbittlichkeit der Historizität: Foucault als Historiker 1998 Cologne, Weimar and Vienna Böhlau
-
Bublitz Hannelore Foucaults Archäologie des kulturellen Unbewußten: Zum Wissensarchiv und Wissensbegehren moderner Gesellschaften 1999 Frankfurt/M. and New York
-
Bublitz Hannelore Diskurs 2003 Bielefeld Transcript
-
Bublitz Hannelore Das Wuchern der Diskurse: Perspektiven der Diskursanalyse Foucaults 1999 Frankfurt/M. and New York
-
Bührmann Andrea D. & Schneider Werner Vom Diskurs zum Dispositiv 2008 Bielefeld transcript
-
Busse Dietrich Historische Semantik: Analyse eines Programms 1987 Stuttgart Klett-Cotta
-
Busse Dietrich, Hermanns Fritz & Teubert Wolfgang Begriffsgeschichte und Diskursgeschichte: Methodenfragen und Forschungsergebnisse der historischen Semantik 1994 Opladen Westdeutscher Verlag
-
Dijk Teun van Handbook of Discourse Analysis 1985 London Academic Press
-
Edwards Derek, Ashmore Malcolm & Potter Jonathan Death and Furniture: The Rhetoric, Politics and Theology of Bottom Line Arguments against Relativism. History of the Human Sciences 1995 8 25 49
-
Engler Steven & Stausberg Michael The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in the Study of Religion 2011 London Routledge
-
Fairclough Norman Discourse and Social Change 1992 Oxford Polity Press
-
Fairclough Norman Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research 2003 London Routledge
-
Fleck Ludwik Entstehung und Entwicklung einer wissenschaftlichen Tatsache: Einführung in die Lehre vom Denkstil und Denkkollektiv 1935 Basel Benno Schwabe
-
Foucault Michel Gordon Colin Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972-1977 1980 Brighton The Harvester Press
-
Foucault Michel Aesthetics, Method, and Epistemology 2000 London Penguin Books Essential Works of Foucault, 1954-1984, vol. 2
-
Geertz Clifford Works and Lives: The Anthropologist as Author 1988 Stanford Stanford University Press
-
Heever Gerard van den Making Mysteries: From the Untergang der Mysterien to Imperial Mysteries—Social Discourse in Religion and the Study of Religion. Religion and Theology 2006 12 262 307
-
Hey Barbara Die Entwicklung des gender-Konzepts vor dem Hintergrund poststrukturalistischen Denkens. L’Homme: Europäische Zeitschrift für feministische Geschichtswissenschaft 1994 5 7 27
-
Hjelm Titus Engler Steven & Stausberg Michael Discourse Analysis. The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in the Study of Religion 2011 London Routledge 134 150
-
Honneth Axel & Saar Martin Michel Foucault: Zwischenbilanz einer Rezeption 2002 Frankfurt/M. Suhrkamp
-
Howarth David & Torfing Jacob Discourse Theory in European Politics: Identity, Policy and Governance 2005 Basingstoke Palgrave Macmillan
-
Hyder David & Rheinberger Hans-Jörg Science and the Life-World: Essays on Husserl’s Crisis of European Sciences 2010 Stanford Stanford University Press
-
Jäger Siegfried & Maier Florentine Wodak Ruth & Meyer Michael Theoretical and Methodological Aspects of Foucauldian Critical Discourse Analysis and Dispositive Analysis. Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis 2010 2nd ed. London Sage 34 61
-
Jørgensen Marianne & Phillips Louise Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method 2002 London Sage Original Danish edition 1999.
-
Keller Reiner Keller Reiner Wissenssoziologische Diskursanalyse. Handbuch Sozialwissenschaftliche Diskursanalyse 2001 Leverkusen Leske + Budrich 113 142
-
Keller Reiner Geideck Susan & Liebert Wolf-Andreas Kultur als Diskursfeld. Sinnformeln: Linguistische und soziologische Analysen von Leitbildern, Metaphern und anderen kollektiven Orientierungsmustern 2003 Berlin De Gruyter 283 306
-
Keller Reiner Analysing Discourse: An Approach from the Sociology of Knowledge. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung 2005a 6 No. 3 Art. 32
-
Keller Reiner Keller Reiner, Hirseland Andreas, Schneider Werner & Viehöver Willy Wissenssoziologische Diskursanalyse als interpretative Analytik. Die diskursive Konstruktion von Wirklichkeit: Zum Verhältnis von Wissenssoziologie und Diskursforschung (Erfahrung—Wissen—Imagination) 2005b Konstanz UVK 49 76
-
Keller Reiner Wissenssoziologische Diskursanalyse: Grundlegung eines Forschungsprogramms 2011a 3rd ed. Wiesbaden VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften
-
Keller Reiner Diskursforschung: Eine Einführung für SozialwissenschaftlerInnen 2011b 4th ed. Wiesbaden VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften / Springer Fachmedien
-
Keller Reiner & Truschkat Inga Wissenssoziologische Diskursanalyse: Exemplarische Anwendungen 2011 Vol. 1 Wiesbaden VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften
-
Keller Reiner & Truschkat Inga Methodologie und Praxis der Wissenssoziologischen Diskursanalyse: Band 1: Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven 2012 Wiesbaden VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften
-
Kippenberg Hans G. Gladigow Burkhard & Kippenberg Hans G. Diskursive Religionswissenschaft. Gedanken zu einer Religionswissenschaft, die weder auf einer allgemein gültigen Definition von Religion noch auf einer Überlegenheit von Wissenschaft basiert. Neue Ansätze in der Religionswissenschaft 1983 Munich Kösel 9 28
-
Kippenberg Hans G. Biderman Shlomo & Scharfstein Ben-Ami Pragmatic Meanings as a Particular Source for the History of Religion. Interpretation in Religion 1992 Leiden Brill 53 67
-
Kippenberg Hans G. Religious History, Displaced by Modernity. Numen 2001 47 221 243
-
Kittler Friedrich A. Aufschreibesysteme 1800/1900. 1985 Munich Wilhelm Fink Verlag
-
Koselleck Reinhart Futures Past: On the Semantics of Historical Time 2004 [1979] 2nd ed. New York Columbia University Press Original German edition 1979.
-
Krüger Oliver Die mediale Religion: Probleme und Perspektiven der religionswissenschaftlichen und wissenssoziologischen Medienforschung 2012 Bielefeld transcript
-
Laclau Ernesto Weeks Andrew Why do Empty Signifiers Matter to Politics? The Lesser Evil and the Greater Good: The Theory and Politics of Social Diversity 1994 London Rivers Oram Press 167 178
-
Landwehr Achim Historische Diskursanalyse 2009 2nd ed. Frankfurt/M. and New York Campus
-
Larmour David H. J., Allen Miller Paul & Platter Charles Rethinking Sexuality: Foucault and Classical Antiquity 1998 Princeton Princeton University Press
-
Latour Bruno On the Modern Cult of the Factish Gods 2010 Durham and London Duke University Press
-
Lincoln Bruce Discourse and the Construction of Society: Comparative Studies of Myth, Ritual, and Classification 1989 Oxford Oxford University Press
-
Lincoln Bruce Theses on Method. Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 2005 17 8 10
Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 1996 8 225 227
-
Luckmann Thomas The Invisible Religion: The Problem of Religion in Modern Society 1967 New York MacMillan
-
Luhmann Niklas Kieserling André Die Religion der Gesellschaft 2000 Frankfurt/M. Suhrkamp
-
Maingueneau Dominique L’analyse du Discours: Indroduction aux lectures de l’archive 1991 Paris Hachette
-
Masuzawa Tomoko Haar Gerrie ter & Tsuruoka Yoshio Theory without Method: Situating a Discourse Analysis on Religion. Religion and Society: An Agenda for the 21st Century 2007 Leiden and Boston Brill 173 204
-
McCutcheon Russell T. Manufacturing Religion: The Discourse on Sui Generis Religion and the Politics of Nostalgia 1997 New York and Oxford Oxford University Press
-
Miller Paul Allen Toward a Post-Foucauldian History of Discursive Practice. Configurations 1999 7 211 225
-
Mills Sara Discourse 2004 2nd, updated ed. London Routledge
-
Moberg Markus Faster for the Master! Exploring Issues of Religious Expression and Alternative Christian Identity within the Finnish Christian Metal Music Scene 2009 Åbo Åbo Akademi University Press (= PhD dissertation Åbo Akademi University). Available online at https://www.doria.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/59443/MobergMarcus.pdf?sequence=2 (accessed 3 May 2012).
-
Murphy Tim Braun Willi & McCutcheon Russell T. Discourse. Guide to the Study of Religion 2000 London and New York Cassell 396 408
-
Müller-Wille Staffan & Rheinberger Hans-Jörg Heredity Produced: At the Crossroads of Biology, Politics, and Culture, 1500-1870 2007 Cambridge, Mass. MIT Press
-
Nikander Pirjo Holstein James A. & Gubrium Jaber F. Constructionism and Discourse Analysis. Handbook of Constructionist Research 2008 New York The Guilford Press 413 428
-
Parker Ian Social Constructionism, Discourse and Realism 1998 London Sage
-
Phillips Nelson & Hardy Cynthia Discourse Analysis: Investigating Processes of Social Construction 2002 Thousand Oaks and London Sage
-
Potter Jonathan Representing Reality: Discourse, Rhetoric, and Social Construction 1996 London Sage
-
Potter Jonathan & Hepburn Alexa Holstein James A. & Gubrium Jaber F. Discursive Constructionism. Handbook of Constructionist Research 2008 New York The Guilford Press 275 293
-
Reisigl Martin & Wodak Ruth Wodak Ruth & Meyer Michael The Discourse-Historical Approach. Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis 2010 2nd ed. London Sage 87 121
-
Renkema Jan The Texture of Discourse: Towards and Outline of Connectivity Theory 2009 Amsterdam and Philadelphia John Benjamins Publishing Company
-
Rheinberger Hans-Jörg Epistemologie des Konkreten: Studien zur Geschichte der modernen Biologie An Epistemology of the Concrete: Twentieth-Century Histories of Life 2006 Frankfurt/M., Durham Suhrkamp. English as, Duke University Press
-
Rheinberger Hans-Jörg Historische Epistemologie zur Einführung 2008 2nd ed. Hamburg Junius
-
Rheinberger Hans-Jörg Infra-Experimentality: From Traces to Data, from Data to Patterning Facts. History of Science: An Annual Review of Literature, Research and Teaching 2011 49 337 349
-
Rheinberger Hans-Jörg, Hagner Michael & Wahrig-Schmidt Räume des Wissens: Repräsentation, Codierung, Spur 1997 Berlin Akademie Verlag
-
Rorty Richard Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature 1979 Princeton Princeton University Press
-
Rorty Richard The Linguistic Turn: Recent Essays in Philosophical Method 1967 Chicago University of Chicago Press
-
Rüsen Jörn Müller Klaus E. & Rüsen Jörn Was heißt: Sinn der Geschichte? (Mit einem Ausblick auf Vernunft und Widersinn). Historische Sinnbildung: Problemstellungen, Zeitkonzepte, Wahrnehmungshorizonte, Darstellungsstrategien 1997 Reinbek Rowohlt 17 47
-
Sarasin Philipp Geschichtswissenschaft und Diskursanalyse 2003 Frankfurt/M. Suhrkamp
-
Schiffrin Deborah Approaches to Discourse 1994 Oxford and Cambridge, Mass. Blackwell
-
Schiffrin Deborah, Tannen Deborah & Hamilton Heidi E. The Handbook of Discourse Analysis 2000 Oxford Blackwell
-
Schütz Alfred & Luckmann Thomas Strukturen der Lebenswelt 1979-1984 2 vols Frankfurt/M. Suhrkamp
-
Scott Joan W. Gender and the Politics of History 1988 New York Columbia University Press
-
Smith Jonathan Z. Imagining Religion: From Babylon to Jonestown 1982 Chicago and London The University of Chicago Press
-
Stäheli Urs Gesellschaftstheorie und die Unmöglichkeit ihres Gegenstandes: Diskurstheoretische Perspektiven. Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Soziologie 1995 21 361 390
-
Stäheli Urs Poststrukturalistische Soziologien 2000 Bielefeld
-
Stuckrad Kocku von Discursive Study of Religion: From States of the Mind to Communication and Action. Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 2003a 15 255 271
-
Stuckrad Kocku von Relative, Contingent, Determined: The Category ‘History’ and Its Methodological Dilemma. Journal of the American Academy of Religion 2003b 71 905 912
-
Stuckrad Kocku von Locations of Knowledge in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Esoteric Discourse and Western Identities 2010a Leiden and Boston Brill
-
Stuckrad Kocku von Reflections on the Limits of Reflection: An Invitation to Discursive Study of Religion. Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 2010b 22 156 169
-
Taira Teemu Religion as a Discursive Technique: The Politics of Classifying Wicca. Journal of Contemporary Religion 2010 25 3 379 394
-
Torfing Jacob New Theories of Discourse: Laclau, Mouffe and Žižek 1999 Oxford Blackwell
-
Vann Richard T. The Reception of Hayden White. History and Theory 1998 37 143 161
-
White Hayden Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Europe 1973 Baltimore The Johns Hopkins University Press
-
Wodak Ruth & Meyer Michael Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis 2010 2nd ed. London Sage
-
Wuthnow Robert J. Taking Talk Seriously: Religious Discourse as Social Practice. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 2011 50 1 21
-
5
See Müller-Wille and Rheinberger 2007: 3-34; Rheinberger, Hagner and Wahrig-Schmidt 1997. Rheinberger uses the term “infra-experimentality” to indicate the close links between things and acquired knowledge: “Infra-experimentality seeks to understand the game of producing knowledge effects under the hands of the experimenter, in the under-world beneath him. It seeks to grasp and expose those moments—chains of events—in which matter is made to mean and scientific meaning is made to matter. If we looked for a word that could convey the corresponding methodical effort, the choice would be ‘subduction.’ It deals with the interface between the agents of knowing and the objects of their desire” (Rheinberger 2011: 337, italics original).
-
6
Edwards, Ashmore and Potter 1995: 26 (see also Potter and Hepburn 2008: 287-288; Nikander 2008: 413; more generally Parker 1998). I may add the ‘hand-shaking ritual’ as a variant of this ritualized objection: one hour before a roundtable discussion on “Theoretical-Critical Issues in the Study of Religion” at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Gustavo Benavides shook my hand, subsequently asking during the discussion whether this event was “merely” a social construction without any basis in reality. Unfortunately, this episode is not mentioned in Benavides’ response to von Stuckrad 2010b in Benavides 2010: 209-213.
-
7
See Sarasin 2003: 8 and 30; Bührmann and Schneider 2008:16; Nikander 2008: 414 (“Specifying DA [= Discourse Analysis] as a method in any traditional way is difficult, if not impossible. Instead, DA is often described as a methodology or as a theoretical perspective rather than a method”); Landwehr 2009: 100; Keller 2011b: 9.
-
8
See Fairclough 1992: 37-61. If scholars choose the linguistic and textual orientation, it may be easier to talk of a ‘method,’ but it also means to limit the applicability of discourse theory. Examples for such an understanding of discourse analysis are Schiffrin 1994; Schiffrin, Tannen and Hamilton 2001; Renkema 2009; Hjelm 2011 (this may be a reason why his chapter is included in the section “Methods” of the Handbook).
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1469 | 409 | 26 |
| Full Text Views | 532 | 87 | 10 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 415 | 192 | 9 |
Discursive Study of Religion: Approaches, Definitions, Implications
In: Method & Theory in the Study of ReligionAbstract
The article explores recent approaches to historical analysis of discourse that have been developed in disciplines such as the sociology of knowledge and historical epistemology. These approaches have only sporadically been taken seriously in the academic study of religion, although they have a great potential to establish a study of religion that is both academically rigorous and aware of its societal and historical contexts and limitations. The article defines the necessary concepts for a discursive study of religion as an hermeneutical discipline that scrutinizes and historicizes the societal organization of knowledge about religion. This discourse on religion—defined here as religion—generates, legitimizes, and maintains meaning structures and societal realities. The discourse-historical analysis of religion is not itself a method but a research perspective. Nevertheless, this perspective implies several steps in designing a research project that the article describes with concrete examples.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 1469 | 409 | 26 |
| Full Text Views | 532 | 87 | 10 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 415 | 192 | 9 |