Search
Your search for 'dc_creator:( "Robert Segal" ) OR dc_contributor:( "Robert Segal" )' returned 9 results. Modify search
Sort Results by Relevance | Newest titles first | Oldest titles first
Myth
(5,688 words)
Abstract: Myth is an applied subject. The disciplines that have most studied myth are anthropology, sociology, psychology, politics, literature, philosophy, and religious studies. Each discipline has…
Date:
2014-09-16
Sacred (the); Sacred and Profane
(4,322 words)
Abstract: The sacred can apply to gods, to places, to times, and to persons. It is one of several terms used to describe the object of worship in religion. Other terms are holy, divine, and gods. The…
Comparative Method
(5,056 words)
Abstract: This entry outlines the four main positions on comparison, by which is meant the comparative method. Those positions are (a) postmodernism, or better radical postmodernism; (b) controlled c…
Explanation and Interpretation
(3,328 words)
Abstract: One perennial issue in the study of religion is the relationship between explanation and interpretation. Explanation provides causes. Interpretation provides meanings. The issue is the rela…
Origins of Religion
(4,165 words)
Abstract: The term “origin” can refer to either the historical, one-time origin of religion — the time and place when and where religion began — or the recurrent origin — the cause of religion whenev…
Reductionism / Anti-reductionism
(4,415 words)
Abstract: This entry discusses several conventional views in religious studies: that “religionists,” as I call those in the tradition of Mircea Eliade, have a monopoly on the study of religion; that …
Theories of Religion
(5,493 words)
Abstract: Theories of anything are generalizations about a category — here religion. Most modern theories of religion come from the social sciences. Older ones came from the humanities, above all fro…
Hero / Heroism
(4,662 words)
Abstract: This entry discusses the changing conceptions of heroism, the relationship between heroes and gods, and the differences between classical heroes and modern ones. It then presents the four m…
Deus otiosus
(1,272 words)
Abstract: The term
deus otiosus refers to the widespread, whether or not universal, belief that the creator God, upon finishing creation, withdrew permanently from the world into inactivity. The concept m…
