Contested Concepts in the Study of Religion is an anthology of 25 short articles, by 23 scholars, on significant concepts in religious studies which can be contested among researchers or practitioners. Each essay is about 5 to 6 pages and covers a single topic. The editors say that the book should not be thought of as a dictionary or keywords book. Rather, its purpose is to critically explore various uses or misuses of religious concepts and terminology to shed light on those topics. These include general topics such as religion, belief, spirituality, world religion, and worship, having applicability across religions. Others include charisma, cult, magic, new age, prophecy, violence, and so on. All the terms selected are “problematic” for a variety of reasons, but typically this book focuses on how they are being used in scholarly and popular literature. The writers were asked to explore the origins of the concept,...

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